Having loved BeOS when the free demo version 5 came out (I was very late to the game), and also being an OS junkie, I was eager to try out Haiku.
The interface certainly looks 1997, but it feels reasonably smooth. It is lightweight and fast, just that one has to click a lot. So, it feels 1997, when GUIs were a ittle more responsive. (I do really wish the WM would do some more things for me, like SloppyFocus) ...and don't ask about the file manager.
As far as boot speed goes, on my laptop it's a couple of seconds. I'd use it more if not for the below-mentioned issues. (Booting from a disk; the live CD is as slow as you might expect.)
The software support is not bad at all. There's a nice browser (webkit-based), bash, and I didn't have trouble getting a couple of mainstream interpreters running. I believe they're using a slightly older gcc, but I had no trouble getting a couple of my personal projects to build (rsync'd from somewhere or copied from my /home, since Haiku can mount ext3), or a few other programs that I wanted. If something is POSIXy, it'll probably run. Ruby and Python worked for me, as well as a small language I'd put together.
The only thing that keeps me from running it as the main OS for my laptop is drivers. The wireless support is still in development, and the version I have doesn't know when I've plugged in my headphones; my laptop is mostly used to play music, ssh to a larger computer, and browse the web. So, without headphones, I would definitely disturb coworkers, and need an ethernet cable to use besides.
Still I recommend trying it out. It's still under development, but it's solid and fast already. (Just need the danged sound/wifi drivers to work...)
The interface certainly looks 1997, but it feels reasonably smooth. It is lightweight and fast, just that one has to click a lot. So, it feels 1997, when GUIs were a ittle more responsive. (I do really wish the WM would do some more things for me, like SloppyFocus) ...and don't ask about the file manager.
As far as boot speed goes, on my laptop it's a couple of seconds. I'd use it more if not for the below-mentioned issues. (Booting from a disk; the live CD is as slow as you might expect.)
The software support is not bad at all. There's a nice browser (webkit-based), bash, and I didn't have trouble getting a couple of mainstream interpreters running. I believe they're using a slightly older gcc, but I had no trouble getting a couple of my personal projects to build (rsync'd from somewhere or copied from my /home, since Haiku can mount ext3), or a few other programs that I wanted. If something is POSIXy, it'll probably run. Ruby and Python worked for me, as well as a small language I'd put together.
The only thing that keeps me from running it as the main OS for my laptop is drivers. The wireless support is still in development, and the version I have doesn't know when I've plugged in my headphones; my laptop is mostly used to play music, ssh to a larger computer, and browse the web. So, without headphones, I would definitely disturb coworkers, and need an ethernet cable to use besides.
Still I recommend trying it out. It's still under development, but it's solid and fast already. (Just need the danged sound/wifi drivers to work...)