[aclug-L] Re: BeOS? What is it?

[John Reinke <jmreinke@xxxxxxxxx>]

>I know this is a little off topic, but has anyone heard of something
>called BeOS?
>Two questions spring to mind:
>
>Is it a Unix-like OS?
>AND
>Does it run on an Intel PC?

Yes and yes.

I belive is was recreated from the ground up, in a UNIX-like manner, to
include pre-emptive multitasking and multiprocessing. The company created
dual-processor systems which were quite sweet. I saw a demonstration once,
and it had two rows of LEDs on the front of the case that lit up
corresponding to how much of a load each processor currently had. The OS is
designed as sort of a workstation, intended for use in multimedia
development.

I installed a beta version (2 I think), and it was VERY easy to configure.
It was probably the easiest OS and interface I've used to set up networking
and ISP dialup. While everything is GUI, you can use a UNIX command-line
interface as well. I'm not sure if you can turn the GUI off or not, but
that doesn't really fit what it is intended for.

>Where can I get this, besides http://www.beos.com

I've seen it at CompUSA and I think Best Buy within the last week. The
package includes installers for both PowerPC systems and Intel systems.

John