Qube 2p by InteractiveStudio was released on September 19th, and it is the same as Qube but by supporting two platforms this time. There is Qube for Windows and Qube for MS-DOS. Qube for Windows runs under DirectX and all applications or libraries are compatible with DOS version. Michal Stencl, the Qube developer, says that “It took some time for the Windows port, because of some incompatibility of Microsoft Visual C++ with GNUC. But now, Qube for Windows supports Windows2000/NT/98/ME without problems. You need to have already installed DirectX to run Qube for Windows.” The SDK for Qube will be released imidiately after the release of the Linux version. Michal has to be sure first of clear out any compatibility problems with all versions so the developers will be free to copy their applications from System to System and run unmodified. Qube 3p will be available for three platforms soon – Linux, Windows and DOS with LAN support, not just modem. You can also refer to our exclusive interivew we held with Michal a month ago regarding this Qube project.
Qube 2p Released With DOS and Windows Support
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Well I just fired up the Win2k etc version of Qube. First impression of filebrowser and interface was wow! Very responsive, clean interface and did not crash Windows… heh.
Look foward to the Linux version and the release of the Developer kit. Good work guys
Also runs under WindozeXP
Yeah, it’s very nice. I would love to see this run under BSD (or Linux…), it would be awesome to have…
I was fiddling about with the System / Registry in Qube to see what was able to be mangled colour wise (3D etc), and discovered to my disappointment that if you change the background colour it has a none – too pretty Qube bitmap which doesn’t change colour and can’t be removed.
Also noticed that ALT+TAB to windows and back is not a good idea as the desktop does not redraw properly (taskbar area remains black).
Perhaps the directx window implementation needs to refresh (or store a static state) if ALT+TAB is going to be allowed back to windows.
Apart from those few issues (eyecandy/customisation being a huge issue in end-user adoption) Qube looks quit promising.
A question I had for the developers was if JPEG or PNG compresion is supported, and if so whether this will be/is an OS service (as in BeOS) or a stand-alone library as in other OSes.
Can I run Windows apps under Qube?
No. But if Qube is installed on a windows machine you can always ALT + TAB out to windows to run those windows apps. A lot simpler than having to do a total reboot into another standalone OS.
I just downloaded Qube, and after just briefly looking around I noticed a lack of support for broadband internet connections, there just appeared to be support for dial-up, am I missing somthing or is this a feature that has yet to be implemented.