Hi all, I’m new to BeOS since x86 porting. I have couple of queries regarding BeOS.
1, What is the difference between BeOS Max, BeOS Developer Edition from www.beosonline.com and Haiku ?. Is BeOS Dev Ed 2.x Haiku or Zeta.
2, Where can i download Haiku ?.
3, Will newer versions of BeOS run on Apple or any G3, G4 or G5 PPC based machines ?.
Thanks.
Hi all, I'm new to BeOS since x86 porting. I have couple of queries regarding BeOS.1, What is the difference between BeOS Max, BeOS Developer Edition from www.beosonline.com and Haiku ?. Is BeOS Dev Ed 2.x Haiku or Zeta.
2, Where can i download Haiku ?.
3, Will newer versions of BeOS run on Apple or any G3, G4 or G5 PPC based machines ?.
Thanks.
BeOS Max and BeOS Dev Edition are "distributions" of the BeOS R5 Personal Edition that Be, Inc. officiall released for free before they "disappeared". These are essentially re-hashes of the R5 PE files with a bootable CD, installer, the free development tools, and some 3rd party apps and drivers that you can fine on BeBits (www.bebits.com). Neither of these are "Zeta" - but there are probably some Haiku packages included such as drivers and replacement apps like ShowImage and StyleEdit for which the Haiku versions are actually more feature-packed than the originals.
These distro’s generally make a good starting point for people new to BeOS, and I have used both of them in the past. I use a BeOS MAX install for my Haiku development currently.
Haiku is a complete re-write of the OS including the Kernel, many of the already-available open-source drivers, the preferences, the already-open source OpenTracker/Deskbar that is used in many of the other distros as well (this is the UI shell), and the various servers/kits/libraries/add-ons that make up the OS.
You can build Haiku yourself and install it on a separate hard drive - or download a hard drive image, or VMWare image from a couple places which I don’t have URLs for at the moment (search the forums for VMWare or image).
Official builds of Haiku and related packages can be found at the Haiku build factory:
If you want to build Haiku yourself, the easiest way is to install a BeOS system first, and download the necessary build tools. There are some threads here in the forum with instructions on how to do that as well, or you can visit the Haiku wiki which should have some additional instructions:
There is a good possibility that Haiku will be able to run on newer PPC machines - some porting has already taken place, but I am not sure of the status. The last version of BeOS R5 Pro was also available for PPC, but I think it ran on a limited number of older machines, and did not support newer PPCs.
If you are interested in Zeta, you can purchase it from one of YellowTab’s distributors. Zeta is essentially the release of BeOS R6 which was never officially released by Be, Inc. I don’t know much about it other than what I read.
Thanks, You mean BeOS Max & Dev Edition contain modified “Be” code ?. And Zeta and Haiku contain fresh code(BeOS R5 binary compatible) ?.
I still have BeOS Pr4 PPC disks, but don’t have a compatible Mac, not even to run R5 
. I’d like to run BeOS on my oldworld & newworld mac’s. Not going to buy Intel Mac’s.
You can download Zeta 1.1 LiveCD from their site, Free 
:shock: 8)
Thanks, You mean BeOS Max & Dev Edition contain modified "Be" code ?. And Zeta and Haiku contain fresh code(BeOS R5 binary compatible) ?.
BeOS Max & Dev Editions are Based on BeOS Personal R5.3 (I think).
Zeta is based on unreleased source code from Be Inc, now possibly unofficially dubbed "R6".
The odd thing is, that same source code was leaked from Be Inc. and was transformed into Dan0 and PhOS. I for one am not sure if YellowTab just ganked the illeagal Dan0 or if they actually have a license, hence the speculation around Zetas legality.
Haiku, however, is a clone. It is a re-write of BeOS R5, and tries to clone the functionality. Certain platforms (x86), attempt to have binary and source compatability.
Thanks, You mean BeOS Max & Dev Edition contain modified "Be" code ?. And Zeta and Haiku contain fresh code(BeOS R5 binary compatible) ?.
Not exactly - the distros of BeOS R5 PE contain the original binaries from the R5 PE with some improved replacements that have been rewritten from scratch such as ShowImage, etc. The OpenTracker project is original Be code that they open-sourced to the public. Therefore, it can be considered as “modified Be code” - but since it’s open-source, that’s perfectly legal.
Since Yellowtab has licensed rights to modify and re-distribute the Be code from R6 (allegedly, please don’t start a flame war here on this topic), you would probably consider that to be truly modified Be code.
Haiku is all "fresh code" with the exception of OpenTracker (open-sourced by Be as I mentioned)… The kernel is branched off of the NewOS kernel code written by a prior Be employee as a hobby.
Haiku R1 intends to be binary compatible with BeOS R5. I’m not 100% sure about Zeta - some parts of Zeta are not exactly compatible with R5 - specifically some apps compiled on Zeta may not be backward compatible with R5. I do expect most apps built for R5 to be forward compatible with Beta, but maybe only if they were compiled with BONE installed on R5.
My impression is that Haiku will be primarily R5 BONE compatible but possibly also net_server compatible.
I still have BeOS Pr4 PPC disks, but don't have a compatible Mac, not even to run R5 :cry:. I'd like to run BeOS on my oldworld & newworld mac's. Not going to buy Intel Mac's.You can download Zeta 1.1 LiveCD from their site, Free
The Zeta Live CD cannot be installed (i’m sure someone has “hacked” this… but that’s beside the point) - it is intended as a “test” of the Zeta OS and not intended to be installed to a HD. If you want a legal version of Zeta installed on your machine, you’ll need to purchase it.