BeOS

BeOS

Desktop screenshot of BeOS R5.0.1 PE

Website: http://www.beincorporated.com/

Developer: Be Inc.

OS family: BeOS

Source model: Closed source

Latest stable release: BeOS R5.0.3 / March, 2000

Supported platforms: AT&T Hobbit, x86, PowerPC

Kernel type: Modular hybrid kernel

Default user interface: Graphical user interface

License: proprietary

Working state: Stopped

BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware and, unlike some other operating systems of the time, BeOS was written from scratch and took therefore advantage of modern hardware. Optimized for digital media work, its GUI was developed on the principles of clarity and a clean, uncluttered design.

Description

BeOS made full use of multiprocessor systems by utilizing modular I/O bandwidth, pervasive multithreading, preemptive multitasking and a custom 64-bit journaled file system known as BFS. The API was written in C++ for ease of programming. It has POSIX compatibility and access to a command line interface through the bash shell, although internally it is not a Unix-derived operating system.

Versions

Release	Date	Architecture
DR1 - DR5 (Developer Release)	October 1995	AT&T Hobbit
DR6	January 1996	PowerPC
DR7	April 1996
DR8	September 1996
Advanced Access Preview Release	May 1997
PR1 (Preview Release)	June 1997
PR2	October 1997
R3	March 1998	PowerPC Intel x86
R3.1	June 1998
R3.2	July 1998
R4	November 1998
R4.5 "Genki"	June 1999
R5 PE/Pro "Maui"	March 2000
R5.1 "Dano"	November 2001	Intel x86

See also

• Haiku

External links

• Be, Inc. official website.
• BeBits is a resource for BeOS software.