Anybody else ever tried Haiku OS?

[MikeWalsh]

The subject (and question) is in the title.

For those not "in the know", Haiku OS is a modern re-imagining of the revolutionary BeOS from the early 90s:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS

I've been 'watching' this thing for at least 7 or 8 years. It started development in the early noughties, but the 'alpha' stuff was very buggy. It's only since the 'beta' stuff has been available that it's become halfway usable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)

Prior to r1_beta_2, I couldn't do anything with it. It didn't want to know. r1_beta_2, some 3 1/2 years ago, actually installed. Most stuff worked; I had sound, but no video.

With r1_beta_3 a couple of years back, we were reprising the old behaviour; hanging early during the boot process, and dropping out to a console that was simply a long list of complaints. So I gave up on it for a while.

r1_beta_4 was released back in December. I wasn't aware of this until around a week ago. I downloaded & installed it - this thing uses its own, individual file format (BFS), though will read just about everything else - and it happily (and very rapidly) booted to desktop. At last, video works in addition to sound, and they actually have a choice of browsers now; their own Webkit-based WebPositive sort of works, but it's a bit of a dog's dinner if I'm honest. The ported Otter browser isn't much better, and has major certificate issues, so a lot of sites refuse to connect.

However, somebody has ported Gnome's Epiphany browser to Haiku. I've never tried this before, and I'm pretty impressed if I'm honest. It's a kind of mixture between a somewhat older Firefox and the elderly KDE Konqueror, though it's got a load of neat little touches all over the place. I like it, TBH.

The devs are in the middle of trying to port Firefox itself ATM. It's early days, but apparently they're making progress.....

It's an "ongoing project", that's all I can say. But with a large number of familiar apps ported across to Haiku already, along with some uniquely Haiku-only applications, all available through the "Haiku Depot", it's definitely usable on a daily basis, if you don't mind roughing it a bit!

The package management system makes use of OpenSuse's "libsolv" for dependency-checking, and it works pretty darned well, so app installation is a breeze. I think it's worth a look.


Mike.

 

[sphen]

I downloaded the latest 64-bit .iso file to try it out. The checksum matched. There was a boot error and it dropped into a boot debugger. I could not get to an installer, and did not feel like trying to troubleshoot it to go farther. Sorry.

 

[camtaf]

Been using Beta4 since just after release, as an alternative O/S; I'd say that it is getting very near to a release status now.

It is also one of the few graphical O/S to run in just 1GB ram, & that includes browsing the internet.

Well worth putting onto a pendrive, (if not installing to bare metal), & give it a try.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@sphen :-

I downloaded the latest 64-bit .iso file to try it out. The checksum matched. There was a boot error and it dropped into a boot debugger. I could not get to an installer, and did not feel like trying to troubleshoot it to go farther. Sorry.

That's exactly how it was for me with r1_beta_1, and then again with r1_beta_3. r1_beta_2 seemed to have been something of a "blip" for my hardware.....that is, until the current r1_beta_4, which is now fully-functional, I'm pleased to say.

The only flies in the ointment for me are lack of USB support - USB 1.0 only at present - and lack of support for the UVC driver.......so none of my webcams work ATM. But as I said, it's an on-going project.....and for my money, the relatively small dev team have worked plenty of magic, bearing in mind the million-and-one items that go to make up an operating system.

They'll get it to release status, of that I have absolutely no doubt.


Mike.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

I like the concept and how it carries over after BeOS died but it might be incomplete or "too deep" for me...

Late last year as soon as it was released I tried NomadBSD and it's as much Unix-like non-Linux as I could take. I didn't even open a terminal so I should be ashamed of myself.

 

[kc1di]

I downloaded and gave it a spin live , nice but does not as yet play well with my graphics. And reminded me of early 1990's desktops. Not for at the moment I'm afraid. Wish them all the best though.

 

[camtaf]

I've got NomadBSD on one of my thin clients, it works well on it, as does Haiku r1b4 on another.

(HP T520)

 

[KGIII]

If folks are going to try some of the BSDs, I'd highly suggest GhostBSD. It'll be quite familiar and it's well-polished.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

GhostBSD

Just tried a live version (GhostBSD 23.06.01 ISO Mate) as one of the screenshots on the main page showed his system monitor as having an Nvidia RTX 2060. I was excited to see a distro actually showing that support (given my main box specs), so I downloaded by torrent the latest Mate live iso, burned it and booted it up (very clean boot btw).
Changed my desktop resolution to 1920x1080 instead of the standard I get every time I boot a live iso of 3840x2160, and it actually didn't put my screen into a little box like most distros do before installing my drivers (second gold star).
However when I went up to network connections I was met by a "enable wifi" (which I've never seen before), so I clicked it and waited about 15 seconds until my available connections came up. I attempted to connect and after about a full 60 seconds I got an error, So I clicked again, and all that were available were 2.4Ghz (no 5.0Ghz connections), so I tried that instead. Again it errored out. and when I clicked again, I was met with "enable wifi" again.
So I rebooted into the live iso on USB once again, and went through the same exact circus.
My adapter is an Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (rev 20), which is common, and supported in every distro I've booted, and has yet to give me any hint of a problem, and as I'm back in Mint once again, and typing this, I know it's not the adapter.
I know, long story to one simple question:
Is there something I'm missing here, is this a BSD thing (one of the few I have yet to try), or is this just a bug?
tyia

 

[Deleted member 147986]

Used BeOS in the past but not Haiku. The eternal struggle for unestablished operating systems is always compatibility. Not only with commonly used hardware but peripherals as well. An operating system ends up being just a toy if you can't print, can't use your controllers to play games etc. Developing your own operating system seems like great fun, but a real challenge considering what you are competing with.

 

[KGIII]

So I rebooted into the live iso on USB once again, and went through the same exact circus.

Alas, I'm not an expert and just play with it on one system - where it works flawlessly. LOL If it doesn't work, I can't help you. Some of the tools will be similar - even the same.

If I wanted support, I'd go here:

GhostBSD - Index page

 

[xlbooyahlx]

If I wanted support, I'd go here:

Ok thanks bro, I'm not going to mess with it. I figured it might be something I was overlooking, or something having to do with BSD.
If networking is this glitchy with the live usb on my rig, it's really not worth my time.

 

[KGIII]

If networking is this glitchy with the live usb on my rig, it's really not worth my time.

BSD has fewer developers than Linux, so drivers will lag further behind and may have to be poked and prodded. I usually aim to buy stuff with good support - like an Intel, which generally means I can use it in a BSD distro. I hate debugging hardware issues, so I'll spend the time looking ahead before buying. It does make my purchases a bit ponderous and slow, but I figure it saves me headaches later.

 

[Zev]

I have Haiku installed on my old ASUS EEE PC, it breathed new life into the little thing, had a minor issue with graphical drivers but one of the first search results provided the solution.

Playback of Modern YouTube videos on the little thing is kind of choppy, but I am surprised that YouTube runs in any capacity on such old, minimal hardware.

But I would say it is more of a hobbyist type endeavor for me, rather than something I would consider using as a daily driver.

 

[MikeWalsh]

But I would say it is more of a hobbyist type endeavor for me, rather than something I would consider using as a daily driver.

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I WILL spend the whole day with it, occasionally, but I'm not yet happy enough with it to use it on a daily basis. Not yet....

Printing from my old Epson SX218 kinda works, though it's having to use one of the Ghostscript drivers, so.....functionality is pretty minimal. Apart from that, my only real niggle is the lack of 'cam support at present, though as I said further back, I've no doubt they'll eventually get there.

As a long-standing 'Puppy' user, the 'hobbyist' aspect of it is probably what appeals to me about it, since I feel I'm kind of on familiar territory!


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

Playback of Modern YouTube videos on the little thing is kind of choppy, but I am surprised that YouTube runs in any capacity on such old, minimal hardware.

Just a suggestion is in whatever browser you are using check and see if "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled if it is than disable it it may help.

 

[xlbooyahlx]

usually aim to buy stuff with good support - like an Intel

I guess you missed the part of my post

My adapter is an Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX201

It sees the networks, just throws errors when connecting.
I'm a big enough masochist as it is without chasing this down,
Thanks again!

 

[Zev]

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. I WILL spend the whole day with it, occasionally, but I'm not yet happy enough with it to use it on a daily basis. Not yet....

Printing from my old Epson SX218 kinda works, though it's having to use one of the Ghostscript drivers, so.....functionality is pretty minimal. Apart from that, my only real niggle is the lack of 'cam support at present, though as I said further back, I've no doubt they'll eventually get there.

As a long-standing 'Puppy' user, the 'hobbyist' aspect of it is probably what appeals to me about it, since I feel I'm kind of on familiar territory!


Mike.

I toy with my EEE PC every now and then, Haiku is interesting to say the least, I like alternative Operating Systems.

Just a suggestion is in whatever browser you are using check and see if "Hardware Acceleration" is enabled if it is than disable it it may help.

Thank you for the tip, I will try that when I find where I left my EEE PC.

---

I have been curious about BSD (particularly FreeBSD) in the past, but to be fair, I am quite happy with Linux and the, well, astounding amount of progress and growth of the Linux ecosystem in the past two decades, to really consider going through the work of setting up and transitioning over to BSD to test the waters and see what it is like, at least right now.

However, I do plan to do so eventually, when time becomes more available and life less chaotic and more leisurely.

Ater all, I would love to see, first-hand, the font of inspiration that Daniel Robbins of Gentoo fame drew from (he switched to FreeBSD for the good part of a year) when he felt the need to reimagine Gentoo and thereby created Portage.

 

[Deleted member 147986]

Just use a virtual machine and BSD to your heart out.

 

[KGIII]

I guess you missed the part of my post

I did, indeed! LOL

I stand by my ask 'em if you want to go further. Someone'll help you get that sorted. Probably...

There was a brief spell where networking didn't work (for me) in VIrtualBox but I am definitely an outlier there. 'Snot too many folks spinning up GhostBSD VMs for their own amusement, I don't imagine.

I don't think I recorded it, but it was fixed in the next version - or VirtualBox was fixed in the next version. It eventually started working on its own.

Worst case, you can always threaten your computer with a hammer.