So, for ages now I’ve been thinking about sticking BeOS on my old K6-II (the one that’s destined for the garage); why? Because Windows is too virus prone, Linux too slow, RISC OS unavailable and FreeBSD too much like work. BeOS, I recalled, from my university days was quick, small, and pleasant. [hopeless geekitude follows]
So, I decided to download it (from BeOS online and make the disk up (a process which requires actually following instructions; not only that but Linux seemed to have some problems decompressing the Zip archive).
Anyway, having burned the disk, the install couldn’t really have been simpler: install it there; no, sod the stuff on the disk now; boot menu? I guess so; go to make tea, done. And it’s fast. And I don’t just mean a little bit fast. It’s like bloody greased lightning, my K6-II which before took aeons to boot, and when it did using it felt like you were trying to suck a McDonald’s milkshake through a capilary tube (i.e. painful and slow) has been transformed. It’s quick, it’s really quick. Booting is quick, and the machine is really responsive in use (although I admit I’ve not exactly stressed it).
I’ve not had much time to play with it yet, or more accurately, I’ve had lots of time but have not played with it very much yet but I’m already looking at the possibility of moving my AthlonXP over to BeOS. The absence of any decent office applications (the apparent lack of a version of GoBe 3 being the most trying of these); and my inability to work out if the alledged rumours that you can compile / run some linux stuff on BeOS are the one thing that’s bothering me (because there’s some stuff I can’t seem to find for BeOS, and if it’s not available at all, that’d suck).
So, if anyone can give me the answers to these, I’d be grateful!
I’ll have a root around to see if I’ve still got my BeOS stuff when I ran the beta of the mac build. I swear I had some apps included on the disk. I’m thinking John may be the best answer here… John????
Hi Nikki! I’ve just been outclassed by Kate’s geekiness here — I’d never even seen BeOS running before! So no supplies of wierd BeOS code here, I’m afraid. But if you know where I can get a real, live BeBox with the flashing lights, I’d like to get one.