A new version of the MaXX Desktop hasbeen released. We linked to the project almost two months ago, but the short of it is that it is a continuation of 5dwm.org and intends to bring the IRIX desktop to Linux. New features in this release include new xterm-330 with support for UTF-8 characters, SGI color schemes for GTK applications, a new console, new configuration files, SGI demos, as well as other small fixes.
And I’ll keep putting these in the otherwise entirely useless and defunct SGI database category.
I remember IRIX fondly. It was an amazing OS, especially for the time, but it definitely had its quirks.
Linux does a nice job of being an Irix these days I think. Irix was once high-end “realtime graphics”, and the linux kernel is now low-jitter enough to do this well. If you know how to tweak it. I remember 90hz timer, and renicing X (rather than realtime) was good. However it is still stuck in obscure gnu-land. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAP03GzKgPQ )
No it doesn’t. At best, Linux is equivalent to the kernel of System V SVR4. IRIX was a complete OS and had support for high-end graphics hardware and the latest graphics and video technologies. In fact, it had support for pbuffers a decade before Desktop Linux had it.
Nowadays, Desktop Linux still struggles with stereoscopic output, GPU video encoding and switchable graphics, with Windows having figured those out at least 7 years ago.
So, to recap, Linux is a kernel, and comparing Desktop Linux (an OS that at any given moment fails to support common graphics technologies) with IRIX (an OS that supported graphics technologies that other OSes of the same era didn’t) is quaint.
Edited 2017-07-25 18:14 UTC
I bet there’s a parallel universe where your evil aspie
twin replied pointing out the areas in which linux is light years ahead where Irix ever was.
The limited license they have not only limits architectures but also operating system to Linux only. It’s impossible to use this desktop on any other platform.
Considering it’s binary only x86_64, you ain’t gonna run it on your Pi. I have gotten it working on FreeBSD via emulation and it’s great but very unofficial.
Well that doesn’t change the license. It’s not valid for me to turn it into a port on BSD thus useless.
It would be worth checking with the developers/copyright holders if BSD is an “acceptable from of Linux” for licensing purposes. Sometimes Linux is used as a short-form for Free Software Unix. I don’t see a good reason for them to exclude the BSDs, maybe they’d be open to amending the license.
What I find most impressive about this project is the fact that it’s still around. Back in 2000 (I think, so 17 years ago), I came across the 5Dwm project. It was new and didn’t have any releases. SGI was embracing Linux at the time and had begun to open source various projects and contribute to the kernel, but 4Dwm and the Indigo Magic desktop were still proprietary to SGI. A very small group within the Linux community was interested in making their Linux systems look like an SGI. You see this for other OSes and window manager themes. But 5Dwm claimed to be a full port of actual SGI code for Linux. I emailed the author and asked for details. I got replies saying he was very busy with work, but there would be a release very soon. I asked about source and he said he couldn’t release it because he signed contracts with SGI. I remained skeptical. The project didn’t actually post a usable release until many years later, at which point I had long since lost interest in it. But to see this project still going in the same capacity and in such a strange manner (no source, unusual distribution and installation means, no real active community) is nothing short of amazing.
What this project releases continues to be unusable by me, but that’s fine. Following the project and its near glacial pace at interacting with the community is interesting by itself.
yeah, the lack of source is annoying. I have no idea why there’s still any concern regarding the contract, it must have expired long ago. Plus SGI died long time ago, I doubt the company that bought them gives two shits about 4DWM. So it would be interesting if someone had a contact within the organization and there could be a ball being rolled regarding the release of the code.
SGI already open sourced some of the best parts of Irix eons ago.