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RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

ravynos.com

31–40 of 148 posts

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#31
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now that I have walked over the whole website: Why not a single screenshot anywhere?

I wager that maybe, probably, possibly, perhaps the GUI of this thing looks like ass and feels even worse. There used to be screenshots, you can google them. But maybe don’t.

And, perhaps (?), that ties in with the GUI being the most proprietary thing here, thus, them building that last/less or wanting to de-emphasize it?

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#32
from the faq: > Is this... legally sketchy? No. Consider projects like ReactOS, a from-scratch effort to create an OS compatible with Microsoft Windows, GNUstep, which provides an open implementation of Cocoa APIs and other things, or Darling, a compatibility layer for running Darwin (macOS) binaries on Linux. ravynOS is similar and stands on the shoulders of many such projects.

as far as i understand it, most companies don’t bother sending cease and desists to projects you’ve never heard of. the fact that the aforementioned projects have avoided the banhammer of Apple should not be an indication that a successful MacOS clone would receive the same treatment.

but on the other hand, maybe that’s a champagne problem. if you can make a macos clone good enough to get the attention of Apple, you’ve already done something incredible.

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#33
post #32

from the faq: > Is this... legally sketchy? No. Consider projects like ReactOS, a from-scratch effort to create an OS compatible with Microsoft Windows, GNUstep, which provides an open implementation of Cocoa APIs and other things, or Darling, a compatibility layer for running Darwin (macOS) binaries on Linux. ravynOS is similar and stands on the shoulders of many such projects. as far as i understand it, most compan…

I think the better example is actually GNU, which endured several challenges as a clean room implementation of unix. I think this is legally sound, but IANAL.

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#34
> Developers can port existing Cocoa applications with minimal changes.

I wonder how big the actual gap between close to Cocoa App compatibility and full app compatibility is? Being able to run MacOS apps natively would unlock a huge barrier to adoption here.

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#35
post #32

from the faq: > Is this... legally sketchy? No. Consider projects like ReactOS, a from-scratch effort to create an OS compatible with Microsoft Windows, GNUstep, which provides an open implementation of Cocoa APIs and other things, or Darling, a compatibility layer for running Darwin (macOS) binaries on Linux. ravynOS is similar and stands on the shoulders of many such projects. as far as i understand it, most compan…

I think the core of this is google vs oracle case. I think they'll be in the clear unless they hit some specific (design?) patents.

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#36
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how has that changed over the past 20 years? the proprietary parts of Mac OS X and now macOS have been proprietary from the beginning

There used to be a bootable Darwin instance that Apple published, which on paper would've made things a bit easier, but they stopped publishing it a while ago. It never resulted in any serious OS with a UI however.

There was a community around Darwin for a while, and people released Darwin distros that ran X11 and a variety of ported Unix software. You’re right that it never really amounted to anything serious though. Within Apple, open sourcing Darwin seems to mainly have been a marketing ploy to get Unix/Linux people interested in Mac OS X by tying it to the hype around the open source movement. There’s a good article with more information here: http://www.synack.net/~bbraun/writing/osfail.html

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#38

[flagged]

Perhaps the biggest reason is that the existing FOSS OS world has little to offer for people who like a Mac-style desktop. It's possible to customize DEs to have a very shallow visual resemblance but the details are all wrong, with Windows, legacy Linux desktops, and even mobile operating systems (in e.g. the case of GNOME) exerting the greater bulk of design influence. The question might then, "why not make this a D…

EndeavorOS. I think it's actually the userspace though, which this aims to emulate. The problem is that if you're using a macbook for final cut pro, then endeavorOS doesn't solve your problem.

Re: RavynOS: Pre-alpha open-source OS based on Darwin, FreeBSD, Apple open-source

#40

Everyone gets to name their projects for their own reasons. If the pitch is basically an “alternate apple” macOS, I would have chosen one of the other other (alternate) apple varieties as the root of my OS. Missed opportunity I guess.

Real apple-people would'nt consider this anyways. Open source geeks is were they can get traction. Seems like there is plenty of us that would like fbsd quality and vertical integration to the desktop level. There is effort but no breakthroughs.
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