5 ms·

BeFS was amazing. I miss BeOS, TBH. I ran a heavily customized BeOS R5.05 install that had upgraded bits from OpenBeOS (later, HaikuOS), ZetaOS etc. I ran it

by helf 4y ago

BeFS was amazing. I miss BeOS, TBH. I ran a heavily customized BeOS R5.05 install that had upgraded bits from OpenBeOS (later, HaikuOS), ZetaOS etc. I ran it as a daily driver on a Dell GX1 SFF that I swear was designed for BeOS: Max RAM the BeOS kernel supported without hackery was 768MB - The GX maxed out at 768MB; The GX1 had a Rage GPU that BeOS natively supported (Including 3D Acceleration!) which was a very short list; the GX1 had a supported NIC, IDE controllers, etc etc. I had upgraded the CPU to a 1.4GHz Tualatin-S that, sadly, had to run at 1.04GHz as the GX1 wouldn't run a FSB higher than 100mhz so my 133mhz FSB Tualatin had to bop down a little. Still screamed. sigh I miss that system. I would still be running it if lightning hadn't fried it. It sat next to my NeXTstation Turbo Color that I used for way longer than was reasonable as my primary system, lol. The NeXT was a daily driver till 2008. 33mhz 040 w/ 128MB 60NS EDO. OPENSTEP4.2 + lots of ported goodies friends and I did. Even managed to get SSLv3 working and load newer websites! :D ... wish I hadn't sold it. Oh yeah! I also had a Pre-FCC certification dual 66mhz BeBox. Cool machine. Slow as shit though. The 603e in it wasn't natively SMP capable IIRC. The GLU chip could either run one CPU with L2 cache or dual CPUs with L2 cache disabled. Coherency was done in software. Unless I am horribly misremembering. It was a nasty hack and showed. My BeBox! https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/72157621937392496/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/7215762193739249... My GX-1 and my NeXT :D https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/6676203105/in/photolist-73AQ7K-baXhA6-7u6dAA https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/6676203105/in/photolist...

helf 4y ago
My NeXT kit that I sold: https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/72157623700712983 https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/7215762370071298...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
classichasclass 4y ago
You remember correctly: the 603 was never intended for multiprocessing. It was amazing it worked as well as it did on the BeBox, but AFAIK it was the only 603-based computer ever to try. The G3, the 603's more-or-less direct follow-on, doesn't support it either. From the BeBox FAQ: "We use the Motorola 105 'Eagle' support chip, which allows for either one processor and an L2 cache or two processors without L2 caches. So, our two-processor PowerPC BeBox has no provision for an L2 cache."
- helf 4y ago
  Aha! I am mildly surprised I remembered that correctly as I hadn't thought about it in yeeears. Thanks for the info :) Is there any memoir, book, whatever detailing out decisions on the hardware? Like why did they go with the 603? etc? I really wish there was some deep-dive book on the early history. I can't (well, couldnt. Havent looked in a while) find much info on the original hobbit based system.
  - smallstepforman 4y ago
    The initial BeBox prototypes used AT&T Hobbit processors and DSP’s. When AT&T dropped the Hobbit, they chose PowerPC over a risc system from HP. At that point in time, all these non x86 systems seemed to be gathering industry support. Then WinTel exploded into the market hungry for cheap vanilla systems.
  - memsom 4y ago
    IIRC, there was a big load of details on everything to do with the BeBox and all the decisions made and even a timeline and an interview with Joe Palmer on BeBox.nu. You can probably still read it via Archive.org. I wonder what happened to Andrew Lampert... he vanished off the web. I really miss BeBox.nu and lost touch with a bunch of people when it vanished. Cale Lewis/Dlazlo - if you read this or if anyone knows him please chime in below ;-) He was like the best guy on those forums. Miss that guy.
- rektide 4y ago
  Semi-related, I keep wondering how long we'll keep scaling hardware coherency out. I'd like to some 128 core+ chips that act like 2+ disconnected systems, just with high speed fabric.
- memsom 4y ago
  The 604[e] did have the necessary hardware.
amatecha 4y ago
You daily-drove a NeXTstation until 2008?! That's badass! kudos. I always appreciate people using stuff for as long as possible, especially when it's something awesome like a NeXT system, haha :) Dude.. just found the "for ebay" album on your Flickr profile... omg :( (Oooh also SGI Onyx2.. nice. I search the term "sgi" on Craigslist every day. All I have is a pair of O2's)
- UweSchmidt 4y ago
  Just curious, how did you find OP's Flickr profile? HN profile is empty. Are you personally acquainted? Or do people routinely run 3rd party intelligence tools to connect online profiles?
  - fragmede 4y ago
    it's linked on another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33605127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33605127
    - UweSchmidt 4y ago
      thanks
- pjmlp 4y ago
  That is indeed incredbible, my graduation thesis was porting my supervisors' particle engine from Objective-C/OpenGL into C++/OpenGL/MFC, because his NeXT Cube was going to be decommissioned. This was still during the 1990's.
  - BirAdam 4y ago
    I have a non-working Indigo 2 10k that I keep meaning to refurbish, but finding a monitor that supports sync on green that still works is exceedingly difficult.
    - wazoox 4y ago
memsom 4y ago
Helf!!! I haven't seen you online in years! Maybe not since the demise of bebox.nu? I'm still plugging away with BeOS, have a few Macs running the PowerPC version still.
- helf 4y ago
  Dude! Ltns! Hit me up on telegram @ressedue !
BirAdam 4y ago
If you can recall how you got SSL going, please let everyone know! Edit: also, you're photos made me quite happy. Beautiful machines.
- helf 4y ago
  Thanks :) I wish I had kept more of them. I had to move a few times and got married and just didn’t have the space for 2000lbs of furniture sized systems lol. The IRIS3130 went to a museum, at least! As for the SSL… I’ll dig through my stuff and see what I have. On it. I have a screenshot of gmail loaded up… lemme find that.
  - helf 4y ago
    Screenshot of gmail on my NeXTStation Turbo Color. It’s dated 2009 so I think I may actually have been using my NeXT through 2010 and had my dates off. https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/3947037084/in/photolist-71MABw# https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/3947037084/in/photolist...
rbanffy 4y ago
I played a bit with BeOS on an x86 box back then, and it always felt extremely responsive. The only machine that came close to that was the SGI that ended up on my secondary desk.
wazoox 4y ago
I also notice the SGI 320, with its friggin' 3.3V PCI slots from hell :)
Rediscover 4y ago
BeOS was amazing. At AT&T (the mothership) we inherited a bunch of NeXT machines from the cellular company they invested in. Me, I had next to my engineering books multiple BeOS boxed OS copies. Carried them with me to <large U.S. airplane company> where I installed them on every machine possible. Great times. Running a NeXT pizza box one one side and BeOS on a Dell Latitude on the other, and showing off the multitasking made some of my co-workers weep. (Turbo Color on the NeXT side with the frickin' sound box and monitor). One of the <research scientists/future tech> co-workers was absolutely into Objective-C. Those were fantastic time showing what /could/ be done. Edit: until 2016.

by helf 4y ago

helf 4y ago

My NeXT kit that I sold: https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/72157623700712983 https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/albums/7215762370071298...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

classichasclass 4y ago

You remember correctly: the 603 was never intended for multiprocessing. It was amazing it worked as well as it did on the BeBox, but AFAIK it was the only 603-based computer ever to try. The G3, the 603's more-or-less direct follow-on, doesn't support it either. From the BeBox FAQ: "We use the Motorola 105 'Eagle' support chip, which allows for either one processor and an L2 cache or two processors without L2 caches. So, our two-processor PowerPC BeBox has no provision for an L2 cache."

helf 4y ago
Aha! I am mildly surprised I remembered that correctly as I hadn't thought about it in yeeears. Thanks for the info :) Is there any memoir, book, whatever detailing out decisions on the hardware? Like why did they go with the 603? etc? I really wish there was some deep-dive book on the early history. I can't (well, couldnt. Havent looked in a while) find much info on the original hobbit based system.
- smallstepforman 4y ago
  The initial BeBox prototypes used AT&T Hobbit processors and DSP’s. When AT&T dropped the Hobbit, they chose PowerPC over a risc system from HP. At that point in time, all these non x86 systems seemed to be gathering industry support. Then WinTel exploded into the market hungry for cheap vanilla systems.
- memsom 4y ago
  IIRC, there was a big load of details on everything to do with the BeBox and all the decisions made and even a timeline and an interview with Joe Palmer on BeBox.nu. You can probably still read it via Archive.org. I wonder what happened to Andrew Lampert... he vanished off the web. I really miss BeBox.nu and lost touch with a bunch of people when it vanished. Cale Lewis/Dlazlo - if you read this or if anyone knows him please chime in below ;-) He was like the best guy on those forums. Miss that guy.
rektide 4y ago
Semi-related, I keep wondering how long we'll keep scaling hardware coherency out. I'd like to some 128 core+ chips that act like 2+ disconnected systems, just with high speed fabric.
memsom 4y ago
The 604[e] did have the necessary hardware.

amatecha 4y ago

You daily-drove a NeXTstation until 2008?! That's badass! kudos. I always appreciate people using stuff for as long as possible, especially when it's something awesome like a NeXT system, haha :) Dude.. just found the "for ebay" album on your Flickr profile... omg :( (Oooh also SGI Onyx2.. nice. I search the term "sgi" on Craigslist every day. All I have is a pair of O2's)

UweSchmidt 4y ago
Just curious, how did you find OP's Flickr profile? HN profile is empty. Are you personally acquainted? Or do people routinely run 3rd party intelligence tools to connect online profiles?
- fragmede 4y ago
  it's linked on another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33605127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33605127
  - UweSchmidt 4y ago
    thanks
pjmlp 4y ago
That is indeed incredbible, my graduation thesis was porting my supervisors' particle engine from Objective-C/OpenGL into C++/OpenGL/MFC, because his NeXT Cube was going to be decommissioned. This was still during the 1990's.
- BirAdam 4y ago
  I have a non-working Indigo 2 10k that I keep meaning to refurbish, but finding a monitor that supports sync on green that still works is exceedingly difficult.
  - wazoox 4y ago

memsom 4y ago

Helf!!! I haven't seen you online in years! Maybe not since the demise of bebox.nu? I'm still plugging away with BeOS, have a few Macs running the PowerPC version still.

helf 4y ago
Dude! Ltns! Hit me up on telegram @ressedue !

BirAdam 4y ago

If you can recall how you got SSL going, please let everyone know! Edit: also, you're photos made me quite happy. Beautiful machines.

helf 4y ago
Thanks :) I wish I had kept more of them. I had to move a few times and got married and just didn’t have the space for 2000lbs of furniture sized systems lol. The IRIS3130 went to a museum, at least! As for the SSL… I’ll dig through my stuff and see what I have. On it. I have a screenshot of gmail loaded up… lemme find that.
- helf 4y ago
  Screenshot of gmail on my NeXTStation Turbo Color. It’s dated 2009 so I think I may actually have been using my NeXT through 2010 and had my dates off. https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/3947037084/in/photolist-71MABw# https://www.flickr.com/photos/helfer/3947037084/in/photolist...

rbanffy 4y ago

I played a bit with BeOS on an x86 box back then, and it always felt extremely responsive. The only machine that came close to that was the SGI that ended up on my secondary desk.

wazoox 4y ago

I also notice the SGI 320, with its friggin' 3.3V PCI slots from hell :)

Rediscover 4y ago

BeOS was amazing. At AT&T (the mothership) we inherited a bunch of NeXT machines from the cellular company they invested in. Me, I had next to my engineering books multiple BeOS boxed OS copies. Carried them with me to <large U.S. airplane company> where I installed them on every machine possible. Great times. Running a NeXT pizza box one one side and BeOS on a Dell Latitude on the other, and showing off the multitasking made some of my co-workers weep. (Turbo Color on the NeXT side with the frickin' sound box and monitor). One of the <research scientists/future tech> co-workers was absolutely into Objective-C. Those were fantastic time showing what /could/ be done. Edit: until 2016.