Submitted by “Since my last blog entry I have mostly completed the implementation of the AWT/Java2D port. It is still in need of a lot of testing, but it is stable enough to run a lot of Swing apps out of the box.” Pretty cool for Haiku. I wonder what the use is – besides Minecraft – but alas.
Minecraft requires 3D support in Java, as well as accelerated OpenGL video drivers. I think by the time Haiku sees both of those, Notch will have moved beyond Java to another language for his games.
It would be fun to play a game like that on Haiku though…
Well there is a Gallium3D port (bounty) in progress which is a major first step.
I doubt Notch himself will ever switch from Java for ‘his’ games, however he now has a company (Mojang) and it’s likely some of their projects will use other languages.
Looking at the grand scheme of things, Java support means one less potential hurdle for anyone interested in using Haiku, and of course the possible availability of popular pure java software (jedit, netbeans, vuze, comes to mind).
Yes, and that is why I chose an AMD video card when building this particular machine. They seem to be more helpful towards the open source community than Nvidia, and my particular card is much better supported in the Gallium based drivers than anything from them. I have a feeling it will help me run Haiku natively on a daily basis much sooner than the equivalent card from Nvidia.
I wonder about that; there has been talk in various Minecraft forums about the inefficiency of the game in general, and how much better it would run if ported to a C variant. Of course, that’s all conjecture from players and not from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m very excited whenever there is an advancement made regarding Haiku. I’ve just learned over the years to be extremely patient with the project, so that I can properly celebrate major advancements. One day I will use Haiku as my main OS!
Just don’t be too surprised if that day comes long after the retirement of the GFX card you mention at the beginning
WRT what the additional uses of Java might be – NASA World Wind is a nice thing to have. Or Kurnik and kiekko.tk online games (quite a few of those, of various kinds, in Java, I think)
Agreed, if I decide to buy another discrete graphics card I will definately go AMD/ATI, part of which are for the reasons you’ve stated and also because the guy working on the Gallium3d has also provided radeon drivers for Haiku.
However given that we see increased gpu performance from solutions like Ivy bridge and that I’m not really pushing the performance of my NVidia cards (I’m happily running Nouveau even in things like Blender) I’m thinking it’s time to jump off the discrete gpu bandwagon once and for all.
It’s almost certain it would perform better (or rather allow for better graphics) if rewritten in native C/C++, but then again it’s not as if it seems to have impacted the sales of this game, nor the enjoyment people get from it.
Heh, yes if it’s true that patience is a virtue then we Haiku fans must truly be virtuous
You and me both I reckon.
This brings me one step closer to be able to use Haiku for my daily work needs, so I’m pretty glad
Being able to do a full build of Android AOSP on Haiku with reasonable performance would make my day!
1. Vuze. I love, love, love this client, and it’ll be a lot easier than dealing with the buggy Transmission builds.
2. Office suites. OpenOffice and LibreOffice are partially written in Java, so this makes a port more feasible.
3. Intro programming courses. The Computer Science department at my university uses Java for their intro courses, with Dr. Java (written in Java) for the IDE, and a custom library for the first semester to ease kids into Java without exposing them to the immensity of the Java API all at once. The next two semesters are C or C++, both of which are obviously possible on Haiku. Once the OpenJDK port catches up with the Linux version, the only thing missing from my CS course workflow would be a FUSE implementation and SSHFS. Oh, and a DNS/routing system that doesn’t shit the bed every hour or so with multiple interfaces active.
Edited 2012-06-22 21:13 UTC
AFAIK OpenOffice and LibreOffice primarily use Java for ‘binfilter’. Without those proprietary file formats there is no need for Java.
I believe you’re right, I’ve noticed recent releases “recommend” the JRE rather than require it. I’m not sure if it’s used for PDF export; that’s one of the killer features of the suite.
Well at least you can print to PDF in any case…
On windows there is Bullzip and I’m pretty sure CUPS can print to pdf.
CUPS is built around PostScript, so I’d be shocked if it didn’t have a ps2pdf filter as a “printer” built in.
I’m glad that Haiku soon gonna get some Java software along with ported Qt applications. It needs some new apps desperately, even if they’re not native.
for netbeans, jftp, jedit, Fiji among others. But they could have implemented swing over Qt (or GTK) and be automatcially crosss platform.
Well the developers already answered that.
Harder to make look native.
More bloated.
Not that much easier… just look how far the support has already gotten with fewer abstractions and therefore fewer bugs. Keep in mind the QT port works well but its still not perfect.