3 ms·

from BeOS/Haiku i am actually most interested in two things: the way windows are styled/handled. so i'd like to see a BeOS styled compositor/window manager. t

by em-bee 1y ago

from BeOS/Haiku i am actually most interested in two things: the way windows are styled/handled. so i'd like to see a BeOS styled compositor/window manager. the database like filesystem, and of course gui and commandline tools to use it. (can the filesystem features be emulated with extended attributes, or is a full port of the filesystem driver needed to get a filesystem with the same features? (i am not looking for compatibility, just the feature set))

yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
> the way windows are styled/handled. so i'd like to see a BeOS styled compositor/window manager. pekwm with the right theme looks close enough and tabs windows together, which IMHO is the biggest feature: https://www.pekwm.se/themes/benu.html https://www.pekwm.se/themes/benu.html (Of course, that's an X window manager, so AFAIK it can't be combined with this)
- em-bee 1y ago
  funny enough, there is also a haiku theme ;-) but yes, need something for wayland. but maybe cosmoe helps inspire someone to work on that.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
    Hah, so there is! ( https://www.pekwm.se/themes/haiku.html https://www.pekwm.se/themes/haiku.html if anyone else wants it) Actually I like the look of that better too
chrsw 1y ago
A window manager using this library would be very interesting
LeFantome 1y ago
https://gitlab.com/metsatron/BeOS-r5-XFWM https://gitlab.com/metsatron/BeOS-r5-XFWM
tialaramex 1y ago
BeOS only actually had a "database like filesystem" in very early versions, so most likely you're thinking of BeFS, the filesystem used in BeOS R5 (which was given away free) and in Haiku. But all BeFS has in the way of being "database like" is arbitrary named & typed btree indices, chosen by the owner. You can have a btree of filenames, a btree of "sent by" email addresses, maybe one of file types for example. If enabled (which is the default) you pay for this feature with a significant perf overhead on operations because those tree indices must be updated, but if it's disabled (common for disks with lots of small files) you lose the facilities enabled by having such an index. Compared to full text indexing, which was also popular on some systems at about the same time, this doesn't produce very impressive results, yet you're paying for it everywhere. No surprise then that even the text indexing remains a niche feature, I know people who care about it a lot and others who've never been interested. It's probably one of those niche features like wall switches for floor lamps (a socket is run off the lighting circuit and switched just like ceiling lights, but a floor lamp is plugged into that socket). A few people love it, most people aren't bothered, so, it's usually not done.
- ab5tract 1y ago
  I don’t recall any real sluggishness with BeOS, in any category. Come to think of it, I haven’t used an OS that could match the accuracy, speed, or most importantly utility of BeOS’ active queries since 2001.
  - tialaramex 1y ago
    Yes there are UI and UX choices which make it feel less sluggish, which is an important thing to do and e.g. Windows could certainly stand to improve there. But in terms of wallclock time "less sluggish" just translates to it takes longer but you don't notice as much. Maybe the file copy takes 18 seconds but feels butter smooth, in contrast to this alternative where it took 14 seconds but wasn't nice - so for 4 extra seconds you get buttery smooth delay. Those seconds add up.
- bigstrat2003 1y ago
  It may be a US/UK difference, but wall switches for floor lights are actually quite common in my experience. Most houses I've been in have had them. Of course I could just be getting uncommonly lucky to find so many.
calvinmorrison 1y ago
Right? Why wouldn't you want to expose your mailbox in the same file explorer as everything else it's so nifty

by em-bee 1y ago

yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago

> the way windows are styled/handled. so i'd like to see a BeOS styled compositor/window manager. pekwm with the right theme looks close enough and tabs windows together, which IMHO is the biggest feature: https://www.pekwm.se/themes/benu.html https://www.pekwm.se/themes/benu.html (Of course, that's an X window manager, so AFAIK it can't be combined with this)

em-bee 1y ago
funny enough, there is also a haiku theme ;-) but yes, need something for wayland. but maybe cosmoe helps inspire someone to work on that.
- yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
  Hah, so there is! ( https://www.pekwm.se/themes/haiku.html https://www.pekwm.se/themes/haiku.html if anyone else wants it) Actually I like the look of that better too

chrsw 1y ago

A window manager using this library would be very interesting

LeFantome 1y ago

https://gitlab.com/metsatron/BeOS-r5-XFWM https://gitlab.com/metsatron/BeOS-r5-XFWM

tialaramex 1y ago

BeOS only actually had a "database like filesystem" in very early versions, so most likely you're thinking of BeFS, the filesystem used in BeOS R5 (which was given away free) and in Haiku. But all BeFS has in the way of being "database like" is arbitrary named & typed btree indices, chosen by the owner. You can have a btree of filenames, a btree of "sent by" email addresses, maybe one of file types for example. If enabled (which is the default) you pay for this feature with a significant perf overhead on operations because those tree indices must be updated, but if it's disabled (common for disks with lots of small files) you lose the facilities enabled by having such an index. Compared to full text indexing, which was also popular on some systems at about the same time, this doesn't produce very impressive results, yet you're paying for it everywhere. No surprise then that even the text indexing remains a niche feature, I know people who care about it a lot and others who've never been interested. It's probably one of those niche features like wall switches for floor lamps (a socket is run off the lighting circuit and switched just like ceiling lights, but a floor lamp is plugged into that socket). A few people love it, most people aren't bothered, so, it's usually not done.

ab5tract 1y ago
I don’t recall any real sluggishness with BeOS, in any category. Come to think of it, I haven’t used an OS that could match the accuracy, speed, or most importantly utility of BeOS’ active queries since 2001.
- tialaramex 1y ago
  Yes there are UI and UX choices which make it feel less sluggish, which is an important thing to do and e.g. Windows could certainly stand to improve there. But in terms of wallclock time "less sluggish" just translates to it takes longer but you don't notice as much. Maybe the file copy takes 18 seconds but feels butter smooth, in contrast to this alternative where it took 14 seconds but wasn't nice - so for 4 extra seconds you get buttery smooth delay. Those seconds add up.
bigstrat2003 1y ago
It may be a US/UK difference, but wall switches for floor lights are actually quite common in my experience. Most houses I've been in have had them. Of course I could just be getting uncommonly lucky to find so many.

calvinmorrison 1y ago

Right? Why wouldn't you want to expose your mailbox in the same file explorer as everything else it's so nifty