Infinite Mac adds BeOS, the operating system Apple almost bought
Infinite Mac: BeOS
Infinite Mac now runs multiple BeOS versions in the browser, including the PowerPC releases that once dual-booted on mid-90s Macs. Getting there meant fixing DingusPPC quirks around ADB input, screen-depth changes, endianness, and HFS mounting. The author, who dual-booted BeOS on a Power Macintosh 8500, notes the work likely makes DingusPPC the only emulator capable of running PowerPC BeOS, and hopes it helps bring up MkLinux and Rhapsody.
There is a pattern to most of these bug fixes: DingusPPC (and Infinite Mac) have been mostly focused on running Mac OS, and thus accidentally became dependent on its quirks or implementation choices. Adding an independently developed operating system to the mix exercised new paths, and ended up improving the accuracy of the emulated hardware.
- thenewwazoo
> The distinctive tabbed window titles look neat, but they have a reduced draggable area, so I’d have to think harder every time I wanted to move a window.
Now imagine macOS progressing to the point where title bars have been replaced with toolbars, and buttons no longer have borders, so you have to guess what part of the window will drag it.
:-|
- renehsz
To anyone who hasn't already: I really recommend checking out Haiku OS [1], the FOSS successor to BeOS. It's so pleasant to use and supports a surprisingly large catalog of software.
- sfblah
I would be very interested in a writeup that talked about the likely trajectory of Apple's OS if they had bought BeOS instead.
- watersb
I used a BeOS inspired GNOME extension or hack for tabbed windows, signature yellow color, about 20 years ago. Loved it.
I was installing GNOME pieces compiling from source, on top of Sun Solaris. So it was a weird configuration. But FWIW I relied on the tabs a lot.
- Singletail
I loved my BeBox, but what would be the modern equivalent of the GeekPort? I've been using esp32/nRF52/etc boards for uart/spi/i2c/i2s/pwm-type work... it feels like hardware hacking on a desktop is a lost art.