World: r3wp

Now Syllable is in VESA mode at QEMU. QEMU is set to one of the two 
QEMU's possible graphics cards: "Cirrus Logic GD 5446 PCI VGA video 
card". The other (unselected) video card possible is "stdvga (stdbga/vesa)".

vmware server is free is it not?

free to use ..

I don't know.

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/4_0#open_source

Unsupported

I consider the following features of Syllable as its strongest points: 
1) Simplicity, and 2) having a precise target: desktop OS. Targetlessness 
makes a bad thing to operating systems... (Though I didn't think 
too much on strongest points, and I don't know much.)

Internal simplicity, I mean.

Kaj: could you draw a total Syllable high-level architecture overview 
diagram (i.e. levels and subsystems)? Is such a diagram present at 
Syllable docs?

Such a diagram could be published on a Syllable development site, 
in the About section.

As in: bird view diagram.

Kaj: What is better --- to take latest sources of Syllable, or to 
take stable network sources? I am hesitating

That's re: network stack

I think I will now work with stable ones

If you have only one Syllable system, it's best to use the stable 
0.6.6 release

However, if you can have multiple installations, development work 
is best done on the development build. The kernel headers have changed 
a lot, which affects the source code of system modules

The development build lacks some parts, though. Most notably cURL, 
so that the Webster browser doesn't work

If you want to install a development build, you may want to wait 
a week. I intend to have a new one for the Syllable Conference coming 
weekend

We don't have a Syllable architecture diagram. It would be nice to 
have one, but unfortunately, I have many other priorities. However, 
much BeOS documentation applies to Syllable, especially the overall 
architecture. Haiku keeps a lot of such documentation, such as the 
BeBook

I prefer to work with stable version first, to not encounter clashes 
with newborn bugs. If I get to anything working, I would like to 
merge it with the development version. So I will not currently install 
a development version. I have one computer with four hard drives 
and multiple partitions, one QEMU Syllable installation, and one 
native HDD Syllable installation.

newborn bugs --- i.e. those bugs caused by other developers.

I've tested Haiku. 1) It does not have pppoe out of the box, and 
afair on its forums there is an unfulfilled request for pppoe. 2) 
Haiku uses VESA mode on my machine, supports more modes than Syllable, 
and is MUCH MUCH faster re: windows dragging with mouse than Syllable. 
Haiku reports: VESA version = 3.0, capabilities 1. Haiku allows for 
1280x1024x32 mode while Syllable only allows 1280x800 mode and shows 
a black screen in 1280x1024 mode.

Haiku is fast in VESA mode, Syllable is extemely slow re: windows 
dragging with mouse in vesa mode.

evgeniy, have you looked to minix3 too?

not yet. at my plans there's plan9 and inferno, too

looked at inferno OS. All is bytecode-compiled, therefore rubbish.

Plan9 is interesting.

I think Plan9 is now forked into Front9.

Minix3. wikipedia: "The main uses of the operating system are envisaged 
to be embedded systems and education, such as universities or the 
OLPC XO-1 laptop.[3]" --- not very intreresting goals for me.

plan9front is the name, sorry

My preference are fast FOSS desktop OSes.

RTOS are also interesing for the abovementioned intent but currently 
are way above my head.

microkernel architecture and selfhealing. perhaps the real hurd? 
;-)

self-healing is one important property to study; yes.

but microkernels are unavoidable. everything will have them with 
time.

Processors will evolve to provide a fast zero-copy read-only safe 
access to kernel's memory for usermode processes.

Yes, Haiku's VESA driver is known to be fast. It could be interesting 
to port it to Syllable

BTW What areas are strong in Syllable over Haiku and in Haike over 
Syllable?

They're quite alike and their development state is also quite alike. 
I can't really list all the details, as I only test Haiku once every 
few years or so, when they make a new alpha release

What I consider the biggest differentiator is that I have been pushing 
Syllable to use REBOL like languages for many years. Red programs 
can run on it, Boron is included, soon REBOL 3 (now on the live CD) 
and the packager is written in ORCA

And of course, I created Syllable Server, an extra Linux companion 
that Haiku doesn't have

And Kaj, now honestly you can tell me (decide for yourself, as this 
group is web public), why some ppl (or it's actually just one person) 
blames you from demotivating others? I always wonder, how such a 
thing as REBOL can make core developers to leave? What do you think 
about the topic? (not neccessary belonging into vent)

I expect Vanders and eventually others leaving projects, just because 
they had different priorities in life?

As for Syllable vs Haiku - I am not sure those can be compared, community 
wise. Feature wise maybe, but I expect Haiku community being vital,no? 
On the other hand, as for all the alternative OS developmens - what 
is their target? Just a hobby? With tonnes of mobile devices out 
there, is there any chance they can find their commercial niche?

That's a very long story. I can't speak for the motivation of the 
Haiku developers, and I can't predict the future of Syllable, so 
I won't try

As to how trolls are born, as you suspect, people left the project 
for different priorities, and for many different reasons

People leave volunteer projects all the time, and it's very easy 
for a troll to make it seem like it has something to do with the 
people remaining. Suffice it to say that this is motivated by their 
own feelings of inferiority, and far beside the truth

I'm releasing a new Syllable Desktop development build tomorrow. 
Here's a torrent download:

http://downloads.syllable.org/development/SyllableDesktop-0.6.7-2012.02.14.i586.iso.7z?torrent

Here's the development files pack, needed for compiling software:

http://downloads.syllable.org/development/SyllableDesktop-0.6.7-2012.02.14-development.i586.zip?torrent