SkyOS 4.0a has now been released. This release supports USB. USB mice/keyboard, HUB’s, card readers, harddisks and digital cameras should all work once they are plugged in. SkyOS 4.0a also includes a lot of kernel and application bugfixes. For more infomation, go to the SkyOS website.
I really like this project. It impresses me how far it has come.
I have e-mailed a few times asking about beeing able to run SkyOS my my powerbook, no response though.
Does anyone know how well Virtual PC will support it?
-Jason
I mean having a separate competing project is fine but why whould I want to run it?
Never tried Virtual PC with SkyOS, but VMWARE 4.0 works very fine. Also, all VMWARE emulated hardware (Graphic card, Sound Card, Network Card and USB) is supported by SkyOS.
I mean having separate car companies is fine but why whould I want to run a toyota?
Why is it that every hobbyist OS, or Linux distro, or *nix window manager, or anything else similar gets greated with “that’s great but why do we need it”? The short answer is, no we don’t need it. However, to be quite honest, do we need anything more than one OS? If people had said that, we still be using IBM mainframes. Simple as that. Is that the kind of innovationless world you want?
Yes, its true, we don’t need Apple, we don’t need the BSDs, we don’t need Linux, we don’t need Windows, we could get by just fine using good ol’ fashioned MS-DOS or any of the myriad OSes that came before it.
However, diversity is good. There still is no “perfect OS” and there never will be. However there are OSes that fill certain niches better than others.
Now to specifically answer your question “why would i want to run it?” Well, you would want to run it because you’re curious about it, and you want to try something new, you want to go off the beaten path, there’s even the possibility you might actually *GASP* LIKE IT.
I say, download it, and give it a try. What’s it hurt? Just make sure you backup anything important on the computer you try it on. (You do keep current backups, right?)
Looks like a Win95 clone made by a 14 year old QBASIC hacker..
I’ve always been, and continue to be, very impressed with SkyOS. It amazes me that a mostly one man project could come so far.
The thing I’d like to see, really, is an improvement to the way SkyGI displays things. What I mean is, it seems that some of the widgets and things like that are just a tough “Off” from where they should be. The internals of the OS show great promise, but the GUI needs some minor work. More of a facelift and some makeup, rather than a full overhaul.
Overall, I give SkyOS an 8.5 out of 10, and hope to one day give it a perfect 10.
Looks like a Win95 clone made by a 14 year old QBASIC hacker..
Gah, you know nothing about programming geeks. It looks more like its made by 35-45 years old expert in computer sciences who, for the moment, cares more about the core of the system than fancy graphics that can be changed later on anyway. And that’s probably a really wise decision.
So, troll elsewhere.
just looking through the webpage, regarding SMP he’s says it can support up to 16 processors, for a small project that’s fairly impressive still wonder how it would perform benchmark wise compared to other OS’s that are SMP capable
SkyGI overhaul is already in progress. Indeed, the new SkyGI (not included in SkyOS 4.0) uses non-rectangular windows and window transparency already. Every window can be made transparent with a slider which pops up when pressing the title bar.
As you can see, work is already in progress, but for SkyOS 4.0 system internals where much more important than the GUI.
The next release will come with a complete new gui. You can take a look at some previews on the SkyOS GUI discussion forum at http://www.skyos.org already.
Hey, Robert! That sounds really very very cool. Can’t wait to test drive a new GUI
. Keep up the good work, you guys.
SkyGI sounds pretty interesting, correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t it be quite easy to add network transparency to SkyGI, such as a port of VNC? Any plans for this already? Just curious.
Looks like a very impressive project.
I have to say, having now seen those mockups, that if the new DE for SkyOD looks anything like most of those mockups, it’ll be a big improvement.
However, if you don’t mind my saying so, (And I hope you don’t) I think that a clean, simple gui, with just enough eye candy to look good without getting in the way, would be just great. Something like a cross between the BeOS UI and the OS X Aqua stuff, but more towards the Be side. (I’m talking about widget appearance, not the structure of the UI itself)
Also, I think you should avoid making it resemble other OSs too closely (Though a little resemblance in parts is just fine), since, if you copy interface Y too closely, some people will expect your OS to act like the OS interface Y came from. When it doesn’t, they might see it as a fault in your OS. IF, however, the OS is different enough to be recognizable, while still being usable, then people will be more willing to accept the differences. I can attest to that, because in my so-far-suceessful attempts to introduce my family to alternative OSs, I first started by making the UI as windows-like as possible. This worked out badly. I then switched them all to XFCE, and now they seem much better able to get around, I think because it helps them put aside the expectations of similarity that I had inadvertantly given them.
It’s apparent that this ‘Robert Szeleney’ has a problem understanding the difference between “author” and “guy who downloaded it off a website and compiled it”
Among stuff he’s written he includes
MESA, Quake 2 and the GNU toolchain
Of course we all know he didn’t write any of that stuff. The trouble is – how much of SkyOS did he write?
The site has now stopped working while I was trying to find out whether source code is available for _any_ of the software, even just the GNU parts (which legally must be provided) so that I can see how much is Robert’s work, and how much is just ‘Oops. Well, I don’t know how that got there’
I’m fairly certain that you only have to distribute source to GPL licenced stuff if you modify it, and distribute the resulting binaries. If you just recompile it, as I’ll wager he did, then you have no need to distribute sources.
Now please, stop being rude. That kind of thing is of no help to anyone.
It’s apparent that this ‘Robert Szeleney’ has a problem understanding the difference between “author” and “guy who downloaded it off a website and compiled it”
There’s MUCH more to porting software than just “downloading off a website and compiling it”
And he doesn’t ever claim to have written MESA, Quake 2 and the GNU toolchain, he just says that those are features, just like they are features of RedHat, Mandrake, Gentoo, etc.
You are a moron. At least be slightly more intelligent with your trolling. Even the trolls are going downhill on OSNews *Sigh*
I still believe some government is behind this operating system or something….one day we will hear a surprise announcment that all PC’s in China or Switzerland will start using SkyOS 🙂 I’m all for it!! 😉
And to the trolls, get started writing your OS and post a URL to it so we can see the “right way” to do things.
… and mr. robert szeleney is from austria (‘deeehre!’) as I am. I’d rather suggest those who are obviously trying to troll around to write an operating system from scratch themselves as I and many others do -> those trolls ‘d understand what they talk about. further more, to do a good troll requires more intelligency than what the ‘trollers’ showing up here have obtained so far.
tack sa mycket
its looking better and better.
@Robert,
keep up the good work.
In Austria one day has 48 hours – right?
How do you manage to do all this stuff and have a life?
Would be great to see an in-depth interview with you on OSNews!
BTW: Are USB-Ethernet Linksys (USB100T/M) devices working on SkyOS?
@Kyle,
Just saw you are working on your OS too (ClassicOS).
I thought you are working on RoxOS…, did you leave it?
<- Sorry for this little bit off-topic stuff, but I’m impressed with people that have enough understanding to work on the internals of an OS…
Where are these pics of the new Gui? I have been to the forum and all the links to pics are dead. Did we kill it?
Dave
[QUOTE]
Why is it that every hobbyist OS, or Linux distro, or *nix window manager, or anything else similar gets greated with “that’s great but why do we need it”? The short answer is, no we don’t need it. However, to be quite honest, do we need anything more than one OS? If people had said that, we still be using IBM mainframes. Simple as that. Is that the kind of innovationless world you want?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, just think of how linux started out. A one man project for his studies. And look at Linux now. Granted, he didn’t start from scratch (unix). But still, who knows…in a couple of years time this might be a contender. Just look at how far this one-man project has come. Unlike OpenBeOS, which is still stuck in alpha, and pre-alpha (for all the important segments, http://open-beos.sourceforge.net/status.php).
SkyOS gets things done! With this kind of commitment it makes you wonder what it will look like in 2 years time. Go, go, go! Two thumbs up!
No, I’m still the FS Team leader of Rox OS. Things have quieted down a little with that project, though it should pick up as soon as I find the time to finish the final version of the FS document.
ClassicOS is an entirely unrelated side project of mine, that I’ve had precious little time for. I really effed up early on, but it’ll turn around eventually. Ignore it for now, but come back to it later, please.
http://www.msu.edu/~rushkell/public/skyos/aquaris_2.jpg
http://www.msu.edu/~rushkell/public/skyos/skyos_gui_lg_07_nontrans….
http://www.msu.edu/~rushkell/public/x_interface_explorers_2354.jpg
I like these screenshots. Personally I like the first one. Just my opinion though.
“I mean having a separate competing project is fine but why whould I want to run it?”
… And why lose your time on a web site named “OS News” if you’re not driven by pure love of OS and hobby OS ?
In other words : why the hell are you coming in this site if you don’t love trying lots of OS just for the fun of it ?
I’m amazed at this project like many other people here, and am anxious to see what GUI innovations and evolutions you implement. Please take the appropriate time to plan out usability over smoke and mirrors. I highly suggest “About Face”, or similiar book on user interface design.
One of the mock ups shows a large horizontal scroll bar for the main file explorer window. Thats already a major bad sign.
With OpenGL you are free to do some more exotic things like make the mouse a dynamic light source, casting shadows on icons and windows, or having a drive icon change from opaque to transparent upon opening.
Ideally, I think you should try to create a system where the functionality of the applications are separate from the GUI, and allow heavy skinning. By heavy I mean the widgets are not at fixed locations, etc. There’s a large skinning group of fanatics that constantly fight with their systems to find capabilities at the expense of stability and consistency. Now would be the time to do it right.
Also I’m sure you are aware that hardware accelerated GUI will be the norm in the next major releases of OSes.
I’m already planning to implemented OpenGL for the GUI too.
Currently I’m not sure if OpenGL supports heavy multitasking/threading in a good performance.
Awesome work Robert! I’m amazed at the speed that SkyOs is progressing.
As for the new GUI, I like the first two mockups the best. There are some things I dislike about both, in the first mockup some parts are unnecessarly bulky. Aslo, it looks a liitle too WinXP-ish. The Second one is nice, but the dock/launcher bars on the top and left side of the screen might take up too much space. Also they seem redundent. Why is there on at the top, and on the left?
There are two pieces of advice I’d like to mention. First, don’t bog down the OS with too much eyecandy. Some is fine, but if it starts to noticably slow down the system it’s usualy not worth it. Or, have a way to turn specific items off.
Secondly, don’t use other companies icons (such as the windows xp harddrive icon). Look for a free set of icons on the internet that you can use, or (if you have a little cash) get someone to liscense (or even design) you a set of cool looking icons. I know a guy who liscensed a set of icons from… I think ionfactory.com… for under $400 and they looked awesome.
Ofcourse, that is kind of expensive, so it might be better to look for some free icons.
Hi all,
I am one of the GUI designers for the new SkyOS GUI mockups. I did the second one (with the bars on the top, bottom, and left). I encourage you to visit the forum and look around, because my longer description of the GUI that I made can be found there. But to makes things simple:
Top bar: shortcuts bar. Provides quick links to either user-specified programs, or commonly used programs placed by the OS.
Left bar: Minimized bar. When programs get minimized, they go here. A left click will bring up a list of all instances of the open program (example: Internet Explorer with multiple sessions opened). A right click brings up controls for the front window of said program (close, new window, etc.).
Bottom bar: Start menu. This was put in by popular demand. I really dislike the start menu system, and it will definitely be an option to not have it on the desktop. But for those that like the start menu, there it is. The taskbar portion will be used for things like widgets and stuff that can be integrated into the OS.
Hope that helps. HUGE props to Robert on his amazing project, can’t wait to see which of our designs makes it in!
/Hexydes
Oh, by the way, to the guy that suggested you back your stuff up before using SkyOS. SkyOS has a “live boot” option on the same CD as the installation CD, so if you want to try it out (albeit limited in saving files and such), try this route. I still have not installed SkyOS on my computer because I need Windows to do my GUI mockups FOR SkyOS =) But I have used the “live boot” option a number of times to get a feel for what SkyOS currently has to offer.
/Hexydes
>tack sa mycket
wow, they speak Swedish in Austria no! That explains everything?! (Shouldn’t that be some ‘Dank’ related line..)
i’m the designer of the first mock-up, yea some parts are slightly bulky, and the XPish styling is to make it more user friendly for Window Converts, so they dont feel to alienated by the Os
we are only using Win, Mac & Linux icons for our mockups of course were not gonna use there icons because then we wud b open to be sued, and were not wantin tht now
Well, I’ve done my commenting on SkyOS as well. I still believe this ‘hobby’OS has more potential than others in its category.
Keep up the good work, Robert!
That’s an ugly GUI
By Max (IP: —.mcbone.net) – Posted on 2003-08-19 13:01:49
Looks like a Win95 clone made by a 14 year old QBASIC hacker..
Well no, that would be GIMI, not SkyOS….
http://gimi.sourceforge.net/about.php
downloaded the Live ISo.. everything looked ok at first then when the first boot seqyuence was colplete the video screen split in two, a kind of double vision thing, and from that point i was unable to continue. Nice OS that I would like to try out, I hope the VMWare issuses are resolved soon
Which VMWARE issues?
Normally SkyOS works perfectly using vmware (including all devices like graphic, audio, usb and network)
The GUI is not ugly. It would be more precise to say it’s… sober. It looks as if the focus is on functionality, not eye candy.
My computer is really brought to it’s knees when opening the screenshotspage, since the thumbnails have to be scaled down by the browser, and there are 21 MB of images, which requires a bit of memory and CPU by my computer.
becoming a real contender IMO
As someone using but quite frankly hacked off completely with LInux, I think SKYOS could really become something rather good and wonderful. (if it’s not already)
Keep it coming…. I need a third way!
The first mockup is very nice,but also the second mockup could be great for newbies if it was a little more XP-ish (integrate the top bar and the left bar into the bottom bar)
P.S.Why don’t you use Crystal icons?They are very nice and free!Also,there are Bluecurve icons!Think about it!!!
Can someone tell me with license use SkyOS?
thx
SkyOs looks pretty cool, and to hell with the trolls that have nothing else to do but bitch about stuff they wouldn’t be able to realize in their lifetime.
Somehow people always seem to complain about things they can’t get or do.
That Aqauris one is forsure the Lead contendor, well done
Youlle. I can’t wait to see SkyOS get that new look.
@Robert: You seem to manage to pull a whole heap of coding tricks from up your sleaves it seems… AMR modem support coming anytime soon?