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[Syllable] The free desktop and server operating system family

Kaj
18-Dec-2007
[1429x2]
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
[1461x7]
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
So now their sales pitch is: here is a unique machine with unique 
software that is good for your kids. It's open source, so it's superior. 
It's just that it's very slow, so you can also choose to boot it 
in this Windows thing. The special kid's environment and all the 
special driver software isn't there, but at least it isn't slow as 
molasses. Oh, we doubled the price of the machine, and to run this 
Windows thing you also have to buy and install this extra memory 
upgrade
Train wreck, anyone?
Ashley
10-Jan-2008
[1468]
One minor comment on the Syllable about page ... the content is fine 
but the page is "too busy". Perhaps moving the "Syllable for ..." 
inline content off on a separate page (or pages) might be a good 
idea. Also need to regroup the bullet points ... it's generally a 
bad idea to have a heading followed by more than about 7 bullet points 
(your first set has 21, so splitting the Desktop and Server points 
into sub-categories should improve things).
Kaj
10-Jan-2008
[1469x2]
Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. It's a work in progress. Indeed I'm 
having trouble making it as accessible as possible, because it's 
quite a lot of information
I'm trying to keep it on one page, though. As soon as you spread 
things over multiple pages, most people simply won't go there
Graham
10-Jan-2008
[1471x2]
Is there enough information to get Syllable desktop on to OLPC?
I have seen the OLPC with AmigaOS running but I guess that's different 
...
Kaj
10-Jan-2008
[1473x5]
You mean hardware documentation?
I've looked into their Linux distro. They stripped it down a lot, 
but otherwise it's fairly standard
It shouldn't be a big problem to get Syllable Server on it. Use their 
kernel configuration and add their drivers for their special hardware
Since it's basically a PC, Syllable Desktop should run as well, but 
it's fiddly to get it on it
The OLPC with AmigaOS is just their own Linux with an Amiga emulator 
on top. That's easy to install
Kaj
13-Jan-2008
[1478]
I broke out the feature lists on the Syllable About page into categories 
now. I only had to move one bullet point