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World: r3wp

[Syllable] The free desktop and server operating system family

Kaj
17-Dec-2007
[1416x4]
Syllable Server is the Linux I have been telling you about in the 
past
Server and Desktop are as similar as possible, enabled by my build 
system and the fact that Syllable Desktop was already POSIX compatible. 
But the lower layers of Server are Linux: the kernel and support 
software around it
We are porting the userspace of Desktop to Linux. My build system 
and package management are already there, including ORCA. We are 
working on porting Syllable's graphics system and desktop environment. 
It will not be based on X11
The Linux gives us stability right now, drivers and applications. 
One of those is REBOL/Core, which is included in Syllable Server
Henrik
18-Dec-2007
[1420]
We are working on porting Syllable's graphics system and desktop 
environment. It will not be based on X11
 <--- I like it better already.
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1421x2]
We're using DirectFB on Syllable Server and are going to put our 
own graphics system on top of that
The prototype is currently running on SDL
Henrik
18-Dec-2007
[1423]
very nice. I like that someone finally has the guts to ditch X11.
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1424]
Thanks :-)
Pekr
18-Dec-2007
[1425]
DirectFB?
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1426]
directfb.org
Henrik
18-Dec-2007
[1427]
how are they doing on drivers and such?
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1428x3]
Roughly the same as Syllable Desktop. In fact, some of Syllable's 
graphics drivers are ports from DirectFB instead of X11
So we won't have as much video support as X11, but we will have a 
relatively lightweight driver system to build our own stuff on
It should definitely suffice for a server
Henrik
18-Dec-2007
[1431x2]
I wouldn't worry too much about driver support anyway. What I hate 
about X11 is the complexity and how easy it is to knock over. I encounter 
many people who move away from Ubuntu and back to Windows simply 
because X11 screws up its own configuration.
so DirectFB is reliable and simple to work with?
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1433x5]
We hope so :-)
It's rather unknown, but used quite a bit in embedded systems
There were a few ancient Linux distros using it, but we will bring 
it to the desktop/server again
The operating system for the Palm Folio that was recently cancelled 
used it the same way we are going to
Word was it performed extraordinarily
Henrik
18-Dec-2007
[1438]
a shame it was cancelled
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1439]
Yes, a law of computing, it seems. Any interesting graphics system 
will be shot down
Robert
18-Dec-2007
[1440x3]
Kaj, ok got it.
Why not use the Desktop kernel for the server as well?
I mean, on the server I just need a text interface and no GUI frills. 
Just lean and mean machine.
Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1443x4]
We've been doing that for the past half decade, and we have not achieved 
a breakthrough yet
It takes longer to get stability and apps, especially for server 
requirements. And we are not going to design our kernel for server 
requirements, because it is optimised for desktop
Syllable Desktop doesn't have a text-only mode. It's really a desktop 
system, and Linux is really a server system
Other considerations include that systems such as Amazon EC2 run 
on Linux, not our own kernel
Kaj
8-Jan-2008
[1447x6]
OK, we beat REBOL 3 to the release
I give you Syllable Desktop 0.6.5:
http://osnews.com/story.php/19126/Syllable-Desktop-0.6.5-Released
It has improvements all over. One of them is a new ORCA version
If you want to know more about it, I wrote a new introduction document:
http://web.syllable.org/pages/about.html
Henrik
8-Jan-2008
[1453]
Kaj, who's working on ORCA these days?
Kaj
8-Jan-2008
[1454]
Karl is making fixes and small enhancements every once in a while, 
and I am making package releases
btiffin
8-Jan-2008
[1455]
Congrats Kaj.
Kaj
8-Jan-2008
[1456]
Thanks
Pekr
8-Jan-2008
[1457]
hehe, Kaj ... just by few hours? :-) R3 is supposedly to be released 
today :-)
Kaj
8-Jan-2008
[1458x2]
There can be only one winner ;-)
And we released last night. Sorry, but I had to sleep before thinking 
of you guys
Graham
9-Jan-2008
[1460]
Linux's year on the desktop http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=260&tag=nl.e590
Kaj
9-Jan-2008
[1461x5]
Well, yeah, like the previous seven years or so...
But have a look here:
http://web.syllable.org/pages/about.html#technology
By the way, OLPC is now working with Microsoft to get Windows XP 
on their laptop, and they're so pleased with it because it is so 
much faster than they could get their Red Hat Linux to work in several 
years of development
Of course, the memory needs to be doubled to get XP on it in the 
first place... After they already doubled the main memory and upgraded 
the processor to get their Linux to run