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SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

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Re: SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

#181

Sure the aesthetic is old-school, but look how much more informative a proper GUI is. You can tell immediately which item in the task bar is active. "Flat" UI is both lazy and an overreaction to the ridiculous skeuomorphism that plagued us years ago.

> "Flat" UI is both lazy and an overreaction to the ridiculous skeuomorphism that plagued us years ago.

I like to think that by trial and error we will eventually get back there. Microsoft is already moving away from the flat aesthetic to a more "materialish" design.

Re: SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

#182
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a new programming language for that - any type safe, memory safe language with capabilities can do it. Java or C# are good candidates. Especially with the work on Project Loom in the JVM, you could get cooperative multi-tasking controlled by the compiler rather than using processor interrupts (in theory). See Singularity for an example of what kind of interesting OS architectures are enabled by it. The…

It turns out the perfect OS already exists: Inferno OS [1]. It doesn't need a MMU and runs with less than 1 MB of RAM. I did not dive into Limbo yet but at first glance it looks rather sane. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(operating_system)

I think “remote resources are files” paradigm has been definitively attempted and rejected.

At its heart it’s a lie: network resources are not files. They are not yet in RAM.

Unifying two abstractions into one is great, IF the data behaves in a perfectly analogous way. Otherwise the “unification” actually makes the domain of interaction more complex.

There’s a reason HTTP has succeeded.

Re: SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

#184

Dude, the "VB6 like" window builder is amazing. The whole process of put button on form, double click button to put code inside button is what got me started in programming. Will you have something like this?

Hi pcdoodle. I am also very fond of that style of programming, and it's something I'd like to explore down the line.

In the immediate future though, the visual builder tool is limited to generating C++ that you then glue together with the rest of your program. But one day :)

Re: SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

#185
post #77

34 year old here.. about every year I set up a whole OS 9 emulation deal because of my obsession with Mac OS 9, I dont know if I am sad and dwelling on the past, but I just loved that OS so much and keep trying to get back to it and I know I am not alone. I love to see projects like these

I loved the interface dearly. I miss MacOS classic and feel OSX is a step backwards in many ways, UX wise. But I don’t miss how primitive the OS itself was. Tracking down extension conflicts? Manually allocating memory? Cooperative multitasking? I’ll pass on those.

That's why Rhapsody was absolute peak for me. Haiku might beat it, though I'm probably stuck on Linux anyway.

Re: SerenityOS – a graphical Unix-like OS for x86, with 90s aesthetics

#186
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do all my development with 128MB of RAM or less, because I enjoy that sort of challenge I remember being excited that I was able to splurge on a 486 with 4 Mb RAM.

I love working with 2kb of RAM. What is your point?

Well, the first computer on which I wrote programs was a ZX-81[1]. The 486 DX4-75[2] with 4 Mb memory, however, helped me learn C using DJGPP and later build my first Linux kernel (on Debian 1.1), browse Gopher and WWW sites, read newsgroups, play with Cello[3]. I also wrote first versions of my economics experiments on it. Later, I upgraded to Windows 95 from Windows 3.11 WfW so I could have a decent Java experience.

I don't think I have much of a point except that you could do development on that machine in relatively modern ways in a way I could never imagine on a ZX-81 or ZX Spectrum.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_DX4 [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cello_(web_browser)

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