DOpE – a windowing system for the realtime OS DROPS, which is based on the microkernel Fiasco (an implementation of the L4 API) provides the realtime facilities of DROPS at the user interface level and is now available for download via CVS. The system is now offered under the GPL, via the project’s CVS.
Windowing System DOpE GPL’ed
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Well if they get Hurd over to L4 from Mach they might finally have a usable gui. As I understand it Hurd has some trouble with X11 and since DROPS seems to be able to run X11 on top of itself, this could solve that problem.
While the look of DOpE might not be very impressive, you have to remember that the look isn’t the hard part of making a GUI. A KDE theme, for example, is only about 1000-2000 lines of code. Once the underlying technology is there, the look can be worked on. Its important to evaluate DOpE in terms of what it is — an experimental GUI for a research OS.
“DOpE – a windowing system”
uh ?
“for the realtime OS DROPS”
DRO– wha ?
“which is based on the microkernel Fiasco”
the hell ?
“(an implementation of the L4 API)”
I .. err .. what ???
Seriously, ready this news and I suddenly feel that I know NOTHING about OS … 4 names in a row that I discover for the first time 🙂
Windows XP is the industry standard? Are you on crack?
What industry? Toys? Windows is a TOY not a real OS.
Let me explain: I own a corporation that hosts websites and does IT work. I advocate almost anything BUT windows. SO the least month or so most other people are freaking out about a virus, a worm, etc. Not me,
Microsoft the best solution? Get your head outta the sand. My webserver has been up and running without problem for over 2 years. MS servers are crashing all over. The mangement system for MS servers lies somewhere between pointless and infantile. There is no real security.
Funny that I can take windows server 2003 and make it crash in minutes with just a few simple commands.
Nope. Microsoft is the worst.
There are so many things I can do with Gnome, KDE, and OSX that MS still has been lax about building in. I cringe when I go to my other job (I work 2 jobs) and am forced to use windows. It just plain SUCKS.
Yes it can replace windows on the desktop. It can move and resize them too.
The L4 Application interface (API) is the result of the work on L3 and L4 microkernels that are real microkernels and deliver very fast inter process communication (IPC) — something that can not be sad for other microkernels such as Mach. One particular implementation of this API is Fiasco (GPL), another is L4Ka (BSD). DROPS (Dresden Realtime Operating System) is built on top of Fiasco and aims to run realtime processes and in parallel a userland version of Linux (L4Linux). DOpE is a realtime GUI on top of DROPS, that means it can guarantee for instance constant frame rates or redraws for certain processes.
This OS is atm at least a technology demonstrator, to show that what they have done is posible, and to prove to themselves that they can do it. The fact that it looks pretty funky into the bargain is all the better.
Every time Eugenia puts up something really interesting like this up, you and people like you come along and scream at the top of your voices “Its not as good as windows” and similarly dumbass remarks. Just something to ask yourself but is it because you are starting to worry that perhaps your choice in Windows wasn’t such a hot idea, or is it that you’ve got way too much time on your hands?
Answers on the back of a post card please.
I might actually download that and have a play with it… seems to mention Atari, Amiga and Mac so am wondering if it will need an emulated environment or something. Will soon find out heh
I think it’s pretty impressive, the last time i checked (early 2002, or so) DOpE just started to draw windows. I was very interested in microkernel architectures at this point and mused about a FIASCO replacing HURD but my interest shifted. After browsing their websites i am thinking that FIASCO is actually more usable than GNU’s Hurd right now. But i will postpone further judgement until i try both in their latest incarnation.
Rayiner Hashem, i agree on your point that the “looks” are a small matter compared to the overall functionality. And i find the current “metallic motif-style” not bad for the beginning.
Concerning the industry standard, don’t we all know that Tron is by far more widely spread than windows? I guess that means windows is crap then
Just tried it, was very interesting, and proved you can do a lot with very little memory (something most programmers seem to forget or just ignore).
Not for dayly use (no apps for a start) but certainly it was a refreshing change from what I normally use.
Everything stops at June? I’d have liked to have seen it continued, hopefully someone who knows how to program these sorts of things would be willing to take it on.
Well done for OSNews and Eugenia for showing us this interesting little diversion from day to day things:-D
Alan,
my impression is that DOpE and DROPS are quite active projects. Read the last published paper about DOpE to get some information about it’s future.
PS: Not to belittle Eugenias efforts for OSNews, but quite a few news are committed by external sources.
While I think that KDE is a very nice project (plug), and Qt a very powerful toolkit (oops, another plug), I wouldn’t consider porting its themeing API to DOpE, knowing that each major change in kdeui or qt makes style authors struggle.
Projects like Fresco with its distributed nature seems to fit the bill much more, and can enforce a common look and feel.
I think the opposite might be a better definition: projects such as KDE might profit from innovations brought to use by new concepts.
Just think about all the discussion about recovering from broken config file changes, which really belongs to the OS level (currently, databases, file systems, installers, editors and other subsystems all handle that on their own, with varying success in clusters etc.). Or KIO slaves for that matter, which should run on top of the system (though a Hurd port to L4 has yet to happen to see if this holds true).
But then again I’m just a random fiasco user so…
> Not to belittle Eugenias efforts for OSNews, but quite a few news are committed by external sources.
Yes, this item was submitted. From a person who signed as “Anonymous” with email “[email protected]”. Sorry, but that won’t make it front page. If that person wants to be credited, he needs to provide a nickname, even a made-up one, and offer no email address if he/she does not wish to. But the current submission name and email address is just ugly/mocking IMHO and this is why I cut it off.
Then, Eugenia, just say that it’s contributed by an anonymous source. Just that you don’t know who he is is no reason to post it as if you had done it yourself.
I DO give credit where credit is due. But not for people who sign as “anonymous”. They can STILL be anonymous by signing as, let’s say “happy Puppy”, and that will get posted as submittors. But signing as “anonymous” with a PHONEY EMAIL, no it won’t.
“my impression is that DOpE and DROPS are quite active projects. Read the last published paper about DOpE to get some information about it’s future. ”
I’ll have to look into it more closely.
Must admit that this little OS does seem to have a definate amount of potential to it even if that is just as a hobby OS.
I definately think that something like this could be used in low spec low power devices such as palmtops and hand helds and hold its own in terms of speed at least.
>>Must admit that this little OS does seem to have a definate amount of potential to it even if that is just as a hobby OS.<<
Umh, it’s a university research project with backing from IBM, Intel and a major german research foundation, the DFG. I don’t think this qualifies as hobby OS in the same sense SkyOs does, won’t you agree?
Eugenia, you are NOT giving attribution. Saying that you do, and not doing it, is stupid.
Attribution to anonymous has been common in literature for over a thousand years, you know.
At least add something in the contribution page saying that anonymous contributions will be attributed to you.
Be nice to have some sort of demo boot disk just to load it up and see what’s going on.
The L4 kernel has always intrigued me since it actually might be able to do what Mach and other microkernels always promised.
Or am I asking too much?