News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by arthurcolle on Monday July 26, 2021 @01:36AM (#27956038)
I've pretty much given up on these new OSes. I tried to run OS/2 and Plan 9 (whatever that relatively recent open sourced version of it was) and I just feel like... maybe I haven't developed the appropriate context to be able to even know what to do with it. Sure, Kali I know I can use my AWUS036ahw network card on, Ubuntu I know I at least have some sensible defaults, Alpine for containers (goddamnit why don't you have vim by default, so annoying to quickly debug stuff), but overall it's just not useful to know these little pieces of computing history. I suppose there are computing archaeologists that benefit from it, but I just get left with a sense of dread that everything I know and have mastered more or less is going to be left for dead and I just get a sense of exhaustion.

I'd say my initial experience of playing around with distros/burning to CDs, etc were instrumental to my learning about what different terminology meant, but overall right now, it's just such a time sink with no real benefit. Same reason why I don't just stop what I'm doing to learn Zig or Objective-S or whatever. There are so many tools to do the same damn thing and while it may be useful for self-learning or potentially a very specific problem set, it's just not worth the mental investment to accomplish any real goals.

It sucks to think about things in this context but it's a real constraint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoAzpa1x7jU

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @07:55AM (#27958334)
It's the unfortunate reality of trying to write an OS these days: we are drowning in hardware. There is just way too huge a variety of hardware out there and basically no standards for interfacing with it requiring a ludicrous number of drivers to support anywhere close to everything.

At this point, my advice to anyone wanting to create a brand new OS would be to limit their scope to something like the Raspberry Pi line so they have a very limited set of hardware they have to support[0]. Of course, Haiku started long before the Raspberry Pi existed so that wasn't really an option for them.

[0] Unless you count USB peripherals of course. Ugh.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by analognoise on Monday July 26, 2021 @11:34PM (#27968332)
I'd go even further:

We pick some basic set of specs, a processor, and run the whole thing on FPGAs so we control all the circuits and can always make an ASIC if we want. Full control, full power. Like what if MiSTer was considered a valid target for productivity software?

Like we agree to go back to nothing and build the whole thing. Graphics drivers a problem? Design a new graphics system, all open.

Would it be current? No. But it would be really open, and easy to develop for.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by arthurcolle on Tuesday July 27, 2021 @09:48PM (#27979574)
Is this feasible?
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by analognoise on Wednesday July 28, 2021 @09:08AM (#27983245)
Yes, definitely.

It's taking a page from retrocomputing and going "What if instead we built productivity software and made it a valid base for modern computing, what would we need?"

I don't really know how many people would be interested in this approach though.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by geon on Monday July 26, 2021 @05:06AM (#27957265)
> Alpine for containers (goddamnit why don't you have vim by default

The whole point of Alpine is to NOT have vim (or anything else) by default.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by swiley on Monday July 26, 2021 @07:43AM (#27958241)
I think keeping people like you out is part of the reason " that recently open sourced version" of Plan9 is covered in Nazi propaganda.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by anthk on Monday July 26, 2021 @03:04PM (#27963805)
False. They even had a "nazi punks fuck off logo" in a release.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by arthurcolle on Tuesday July 27, 2021 @08:12PM (#27979077)
What on Earth is this comment supposed to mean?
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by handelaar on Monday July 26, 2021 @01:58AM (#27956164)
I'm having a little philosophical discussion with myself here about whether something that can't run on an actual computer (as opposed to a VM) is in any meaningful sense an "operating system" at all.

Meanwhile I can definitely boot RiscOS on a Pi containing built-in apps with a 1987 copyright message in them. I mean I can't then really do anything with it, but it's still got Haiku beat.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by pakyr on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:05AM (#27956192)
It's fine to dislike Haiku because it doesn't run on your hardware, but it's pretty ridiculous to assert it isn't an OS because it "can't run on an actual computer". Haiku runs on tons of hardware, including most of the machines I've tried it on, and it probably runs on far more devices than Risc OS ever has/will.

Edit: there's literally a massive thread (https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/computers-compatible-with-hai...) on the Haiku forums that documents just a small fraction of the hardware Haiku works on.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by anilakar on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:27AM (#27956321)
I think the issue is that most spare computers people have at hand are old laptops, which tend to have really finicky hardware when compared to what desktops usually have.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by soapdog on Monday July 26, 2021 @07:36AM (#27958191)
I'm running it on a x230 and it works great. I actually don't remember it not working on any of my old pcs.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by handelaar on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:21AM (#27956279)
It's never once started on anything I own. For over a decade. The most voted-on item in its bug tracker has 9 votes on it.

RiscOS (which was a wilfully-obtuse comparison on my part, but since you're digging in [edit: in fact, creating an account on HN for no reason except to promote it on this thread], I'll run with it for your benefit) has without question already actually run on a number of devices -- though granted, not types of devices -- at least one or two orders of magnitude larger than this thing ever will, at the rate it's going.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by pakyr on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:27AM (#27956318)
Like I said, it sucks that it doesn't start on anything you own, which doesn't take away from the fact that there's literally a massive list of hardware it does actually run on.

And you're right, I created an account to comment on this thread. If you think disagreeing with you on this means I'm "promoting" Haiku as some sort of shill (my two points were literally that it's an OS and it boots on hardware, how controversial) then you're entitled to your opinion I guess.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by handelaar on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:42AM (#27956408)
Why, when it basically apparently doesn't run on laptops, and when it fails to start it provides no hint whatsoever about what to do next, is there no information about what to do next anywhere on the Haiku web site? Why, if your position is that there's a list of hardware (a very well-hidden one, I might add) on which I should be running this, is that list not front-and-centre so I don't waste my time trying to boot it on anything else?

Why, to put it more briefly, does Haiku insist on being treated as a serious operating system when it simultaneously clearly runs on less stuff than most other OSes and yet requires us to pretend that it's in the same class as those other OSes?

(This doesn't happen with ReactOS. But then they don't have the social disability of resolutely insisting that we all pay attention to them as a Very Important Thing.)

[edit: I forgot the big one: after over eleven years would it kill them to at least once spit out a fucking error message? Or is the total lack of information with which a person could file a useful bug report in fact the intent?]

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by kasumispencer2 on Monday July 26, 2021 @03:42AM (#27956746)
> when it basically apparently doesn't run on laptops

i had an old laptop that runs just fine (albeit with a tiny bit of fiddling). you're free not to believe me though, it's your opinion after all.

> requires us to pretend that it's in the same class as those other OSes?

lmfao, did they ever?

shut up and get your shit together.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @07:45AM (#27958261)
Get used to this reaction. Unfortunately, as much as open source software communities want their products to be taken seriously, they will invariably react this way to negative feedback. "works for me", "pick better hardware", etc.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by shrikant on Monday July 26, 2021 @08:11AM (#27958445)
There are various first-level responses "reacting" to OP's "negative feedback" with (what I think are) very reasonable suggestions (try this thing, try that thing, ask on forums, etc.)

This is a sub-thread to the original complaint (which was quite reasonable), where OP is taking on an oddly hostile and aggressive tone, and powerfully punching at various strawmen. I'm not sure what you think an adequate reaction would be.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @09:26AM (#27959056)
OP may be exaggerating a bit with their claim that Haiku isn't an OS, but what is important is their frustration. Haiku is billing itself as an OS that runs on PCs and parent is frustrated because it has never run on any PC they have tried it on. That's the thing to take away here. Either they should make it more explicit[0] what it does and doesn't run on, or work harder to support more hardware. Pointing out that it is clearly labeled as beta software and linking to the compatibility list are reasonable responses, but there's literally a comment telling them to 'shut up and get your shit together'. That kind of defensiveness is not useful to anyone.

[0] since there appears to be a list of known good hardware, maybe it should be prominent?

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by bctnry on Monday July 26, 2021 @10:57AM (#27960186)
So op venting about shit is "maybe exaggerating a bit" and "important frustration" but other people venting is just "defensiveness"? Yeah sure people have to be nice to any one lmao. Ars Technica literally made a long article about how Haiku worked on a cheap-ass laptop, still no, keep on venting about social disability bullshit, and you're here complaining about other people being angry about op being this rude. Truly the moral standard everyone should follow huh.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @11:49AM (#27960931)
> So op venting about shit is "maybe exaggerating a bit" and "important frustration" but other people venting is just "defensiveness"?

From the perspective that Haiku is a product, would you rather have people associate your product with people who took your frustrated feedback to heart or people who told you to shut up because you missed a burreid forum posting about hardware compatibility? If you're an enthusiast of said product, you're doing no one any favors by being hostile.

> Ars Technica literally made a long article about how Haiku worked on a cheap-ass laptop

Which does nothing for someone who couldn't get it to run on any of the hardware they tried it on.

> and you're here complaining about other people being angry about op being this rude

I'm just saying, it's sadly very common, does nothing to help anybody, and leaves people with a negative opinion of their community.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by bctnry on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:02PM (#27961114)
> If you're an enthusiast of said product, you're doing no one any favors by being hostile.

Ah i see you must be too blind to see others have tried not being hostile, failed and get called out as having "social disability".

> Which does nothing for someone who couldn't get it to run on any of the hardware they tried it on.

Sure:

1. People have to help you here no matter what even if you're being very rude. 2. Certainly "it does not work on my machines" to "it does not work on anything" is a very reasonable stretch!

> I'm just saying, it's sadly very common, does nothing to help anybody, and leaves people with a negative opinion of their community.

if someone could just not leave other people with a negative opinion of him/her/themselves lol

> > keep on venting about social disability bullshit

> I don't even know what this means, but have a suspicion that if I did I would have a low opinion of you as a person for saying it.

seriously? lmfao, that phrase goes for you too, shut up and get your shit together.

as for the "does not help anybody" bit, yeah clearly venting like you do helps a heck lot to everybody.

A lot of people have been frustrated about the thing does not work for them (yes including me myself) but why does OP get the hate he/she/they get? If you can't figure that out yourself, you should probably do something else instead of keep posting here.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:21PM (#27961365)
> People have to help you here no matter what even if you're being very rude.

Not at all. It is entirely possible to simply ignore them. We even have a system of downvoting and flagging for people being overly hostile.

> if someone could just not leave other people with a negative opinion of him/her/themselves lol

That's their problem to deal with on their own. When you represent the Haiku community badly, that's everyone in the Haiku community's problem.

> seriously? lmfao, that phrase goes for you too, shut up and get your shit together.

I deleted that part when I read back to find what you were referencing because I realized it didn't at all mean what I suspected it meant. Although my opinion of you as a person is lowering for other reasons.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by bctnry on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:28PM (#27961445)
> When you represent the Haiku community badly, that's everyone in the Haiku community's problem.

it's truly, truly a sad mental state to consider anyone has to be representing some certain community. really hope someday you can pull yourself out of that.

> Although my opinion of you as a person is lowering for other reasons.

lower it as much as you want my friend, seriously wouldn't mind if some random stupid asshole insists considering me a stupid asshole.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by shrikant on Monday July 26, 2021 @11:45AM (#27960866)
I think it's unfair to look past the tone and language of OP's subsequent comments (not an OS in a meaningful way, "can't run on an actual computer", "social disability", "It's just dogshit, and it's getting worse", etc.) and just summarise the core of their complaints as "frustration"... after having decried open source communities for counter-productive reactions.

I feel like when you apply this standard of "overlook the tone, understand the message" asymmetrically to only one "side" of the argument, it highlights your biases.

As an aside, if you look at the proportion of comments (and maybe even the fuzzy timestamps while they're still discernible), the original commenter's hostile comments outnumber their "just frustrated" ones, while a large majority of responses to them are civil and constructive. The 'shut up and get your shit together' was in response some weirdly aggressive attack on the Haiku mantainers/contributors, after OP had also called the OS dogshit.

Anyway, this is all mostly off-topic and I have no affiliation with Haiku at all, but I just didn't want an unwarranted attack on obviously motivated and passionate developers' labour of love go undefended.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday July 26, 2021 @11:55AM (#27961011)
> I feel like when you apply this standard of "overlook the tone, understand the message" asymmetrically to only one "side" of the argument, it highlights your biases.

It's pretty simple. If people have an unfavorable opinion of handelaar, that's handelaar's problem. But if people have a negative opinion of the Haiku community based on how Haiku enthusiasts have treated handelaar, that's Haiku's problem. If you're a supporter of Haiku you're not doing anyone any favors by behaving that way.

> Anyway, this is all mostly off-topic and I have no affiliation with Haiku at all, but I just didn't want an unwarranted attack on obviously motivated and passionate developers' labour of love go undefended.

Eh, I look at it differently. If you're making a product you intend for public consumption, this sort of thing is just something you have to accept. Just because it is a labor of love for somebody doesn't make it good nor excuse it from criticism.

Granted, we'd all be better off if handelaar had expressed themselves more reasonably.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by shrikant on Monday July 26, 2021 @12:20PM (#27961349)
> But if people have a negative opinion of the Haiku community based on how Haiku enthusiasts have treated handelaar, that's Haiku's problem.

Absolutely a fair point.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by ofrzeta on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:53AM (#27956467)
Why are you so upset? I would be if I absolutely required running something and it didn't work. Probably something I paid a lot of money for. But I wouldn't expect that from a hobbyist OS.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by pakyr on Monday July 26, 2021 @02:57AM (#27956483)
It's not my 'position' that there's a list of hardware; there literally is one (edit: and it's not exhaustive).

I really don't see how Haiku "requires" you to take it seriously. It's clearly marked as beta. Even though I disagree with those who might call it daily driver-ready, I don't understand the source of this hostility. If you don't want to "waste your time" with it, then don't. It's beta software developed by volunteers, none of whom are forcing you to download their OS.

Also, if these instructions (https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/welcome/en/bugreports.html#ker...) don't help you with your bug report, then I dunno what to tell you, I guess the gods have decided you shouldn't use Haiku.

Re:Haiku Beta 3 by anthk on Monday July 26, 2021 @07:43AM (#27958239)
ReactOS support it's utter crap compared to Haiku. I could run Haiku in my Celeron pretty fast up to the point on being able to open 4K videos on Intel Mobile 4 series with some qt5 video player. As crazy as it sounds.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by papacho on Monday July 26, 2021 @05:26AM (#27957384)
you should give introspection a try.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by Ygg2 on Monday July 26, 2021 @04:14AM (#27956950)
Windows doesn't run on my fluid based CPU. It's not an OS. 0/10.
Re:Haiku Beta 3 by analognoise on Monday July 26, 2021 @11:37PM (#27968351)
I only need one hydraulic gate: NAND (or NOR). I can build everything else...