"Visopsys (VISual OPerating SYStem) is an alternative operating system for PC-compatible computers, developed almost exclusively by one person, Andy McLaughlin, since its inception in 1997. Andy is a 30-something programmer from Canada, who, via Boston and San Jose ended up in London, UK, where he spends much of his spare time developing Visopsys. We had the great fortune to catch up with Andy via email and ask him questions about Visopsys, why he started the project in the first place, and where is it going in the future."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2011-01-28
ferrels,
Well, VESA was written ages ago and at that time they performed pretty well because graphics were not accelerated.
The reason I stated the "2012 PC driver standard" was because I envisioned the standard itself to be updated every few years to adopt to new hardware interfaces. Non-standard extensions could be implemented too, but the idea would be for new functionality to ultimately be incorporated into the standard at some point.
The great thing about this is that the standard could be both forward and backward compatible.
As an example. an OS might support the 2012 standard for webcams. Come 2020, when the standard is depreciated, a generic 2012->2020 wrapper layer could never the less assure that all 2020 operating systems could continue to run the 2012 web cam drivers. (I think I uncovered another disincentive for manufacturers to support this 
)
Conversely, it'd be possible to have a generic 2020->2012 conversion driver to allow an older OS to run the newer hardware drivers.
Edit: Extending EOL is only a side benefit, but the intention would be to eliminate the duplication of work in OS drivers and make it much easier for all operating systems to support all hardware at least in their basic modes. More advanced features should still be possible even if they're not supported in all operating systems.
Edited 2012-09-17 18:19 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
Webcams are already more or less covered, by USB video class - don't really even need driver installation (sure, some manufacturer drivers are often/usually provided; but they tend to offer just superfluous trinkets beyond what the OS driver does, and they sometimes introduce some weird issues & performance degradation - that happened to me once, the default OS drivers clearly bogged down the system much less during webcam operation)
PS. Compatibility with USB video class is BTW something made mandatory by MS to get Vista & up logo certificate, on a product - which also brought to, say, Linux much better support of any random webcam than it used to be the case - so overall your "It's a pipe dream though. For it's part, MS would never participate" seems not entirely warranted...
Edited 2012-09-17 19:55 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?
Member since:
2006-08-15
That all sounds good in theory, but in practice it reduces your OS to running on hardware of the least common denominator (in terms of performance)....your driver may work on 98%+ of the hardware out there but the performance suffers immensely. VESA drivers for video are a good example of this. Almost all video hardware will work in VESA mode, but you're essentially left with only the most basic functions and features....i.e. no hardware GPU acceleration, limited color depths and resolutions, etc.
Edited 2012-09-17 18:02 UTC