3 ms·

I always wondered what is the motivation behind Haiku. Is it a recreation of BeOS for the sake of recreating it, or is it practically usable for daily use?

ranger_danger 5mo ago
IMO For some it is practically usable with an ever-growing repository of new and familiar packages. HaikuPorts has over 4500 packages. For the longest time there was not a modern browser that could run, but now there are multiple chromium-based and firefox-based options.
jdboyd 5mo ago
It appears to be usable for daily use for some people, in that enough of a web browser works that you could mostly get by. It would be hard to say it is really practical, nor that it has a convincing path to being practical in the way that say ReactOS does.
- throwaway27448 5mo ago
  People still find plan9 usable for daily use. The major barrier these days is indeed a web browser. I suspect even there you can get 95% of the way to that goal with a "browser" that is actually a linux VM.
  - MisterTea 5mo ago
    For most Plan 9 users, the lack of a web browser is a feature, not a barrier. 9front features VMX on supported Intel machines so one can run a Linux VM using then connect using VNC.
kouosi 5mo ago
Most people working on kernel/osdev do for the sake of recreating it :)
efficax 5mo ago
i can't speak for the project's maintainers and their motivation, but it is workable as a daily use OS if your hardware is supported and you are willing to use the still beta firefox port.
- shevy-java 5mo ago
  But compared to Linux, why would I want to use Haiku these days?
  - MisterTea 5mo ago
    To explore a different OS.
  - ranger_danger 5mo ago
    For one, it's not being actively targeted with new daily exploits.
wolrah 5mo ago
Can't speak for the project members or main users, but as an alternative OS nerd who actually used BeOS R5 on a 300 MHz Pentium II in-period I see Haiku as having two different "purposes" depending on version. The x86-32 version (and hypothetically the never-complete PowerPC version), as I see it, exists (or would exist) for binary compatibility with legacy BeOS systems. The AMD64 version on the other hand is a hobby OS demonstrating a path not taken where personal computer operating systems remained separate from server operating systems. Also, like others, these days I can do basically everything I need to do on a computer other than gaming as long as I have a browser that supports the modern web and a SSH client so Haiku is absolutely fully usable on the right hardware.
- fragmede 5mo ago
  And even then, there's a webssh client you can setup to run in the appropriate context that you need.

ranger_danger 5mo ago

IMO For some it is practically usable with an ever-growing repository of new and familiar packages. HaikuPorts has over 4500 packages. For the longest time there was not a modern browser that could run, but now there are multiple chromium-based and firefox-based options.

jdboyd 5mo ago

It appears to be usable for daily use for some people, in that enough of a web browser works that you could mostly get by. It would be hard to say it is really practical, nor that it has a convincing path to being practical in the way that say ReactOS does.

throwaway27448 5mo ago
People still find plan9 usable for daily use. The major barrier these days is indeed a web browser. I suspect even there you can get 95% of the way to that goal with a "browser" that is actually a linux VM.
- MisterTea 5mo ago
  For most Plan 9 users, the lack of a web browser is a feature, not a barrier. 9front features VMX on supported Intel machines so one can run a Linux VM using then connect using VNC.

kouosi 5mo ago

Most people working on kernel/osdev do for the sake of recreating it :)

efficax 5mo ago

i can't speak for the project's maintainers and their motivation, but it is workable as a daily use OS if your hardware is supported and you are willing to use the still beta firefox port.

shevy-java 5mo ago
But compared to Linux, why would I want to use Haiku these days?
- MisterTea 5mo ago
  To explore a different OS.
- ranger_danger 5mo ago
  For one, it's not being actively targeted with new daily exploits.

wolrah 5mo ago

Can't speak for the project members or main users, but as an alternative OS nerd who actually used BeOS R5 on a 300 MHz Pentium II in-period I see Haiku as having two different "purposes" depending on version. The x86-32 version (and hypothetically the never-complete PowerPC version), as I see it, exists (or would exist) for binary compatibility with legacy BeOS systems. The AMD64 version on the other hand is a hobby OS demonstrating a path not taken where personal computer operating systems remained separate from server operating systems. Also, like others, these days I can do basically everything I need to do on a computer other than gaming as long as I have a browser that supports the modern web and a SSH client so Haiku is absolutely fully usable on the right hardware.

fragmede 5mo ago
And even then, there's a webssh client you can setup to run in the appropriate context that you need.