Subject: FAQ: comp.sys.be Frequently Asked Questions v1.0
Date: 20 Sep 1996 21:31:27 GMT
Summary: A collection of general information about anything related to the
         BeOS operating system and BeBox line of computers. Please read this
         before posting to the comp.sys.be newsgroup.

Reposting article removed by rogue canceller.

Archive-name: be/be-faq
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Version: 1.0


                                COMP.SYS.BE
                     Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Recent changes to this FAQ are listed in the first section after the table of 
contents. This document is under explicit copyright.
Copyright and Disclaimer: See section 2.


Introduction

Be Inc. is a fairly new company (1990) with head office in Menlo Park, 
California. They design and manufacture the BeBox line of computers and BeOS 
operating system. Comp.sys.be is a newsgroup for discussing all things related 
to these products. This document is written with the intention of answering 
the most common questions people may have about products from Be Inc. and 
related issues. Hopefully these questions won't have to be repeated in the 
newsgroup. Should this happen, please do not initiate flames. For one thing 
it is inconsistent with the great positive attitude that the excitement around 
Be products have created in the Be "community". Please simply inform the user 
where to find the FAQ, or mail it to him/her.

There are loads of information available on-line about the Be products. For 
one thing, the Be Inc. WWW-sites ( http://www.be.com and 
http://www.beeurope.com ) are among the most informative of any computer 
manufacturer. Virtually all details about their products can be found there 
and it is the obvious place to start if you know nothing about the BeBox/BeOS. 
This means that not all details of the BeBox and BeOS will be repeated here. 
The FAQ maintainer can take no responsibility that the information here is 
always consistent with Be's plans and ideas. Therefore, please refer to Be 
Inc's web-sites for "official" information.

Authors

This FAQ has been assembled and written by Todd Anthony Nathan 
(todd@montrose.net) and Gunnar Andersson (d1gunnar@dtek.chalmers.se) with the 
help of others in the Be community. Please remember that for all of us, it's 
a hobby, not a job. Read the copyright/disclaimer notice for further details.

Maintenance

This FAQ is maintained on an individual volunteer basis, 
by Gunnar Andersson (d1gunnar@dtek.chalmers.se)

=========================================================================
Table of Contents:
=========================================================================

1..Recent changes to this document

2..Information about this document

3..General questions

3.1.What is a BeBox?
3.2.What is BeOS?
3.3.Is BeOS a complete and finished operating system?
3.4.Can I run BeOS on a Macintosh?
3.5.Will BeOS be supported on 601 based or 68K based PowerPC systems?
3.6.Will BeOS be ported to Intel-based computers?
3.7.What is the history of Be Inc., BeOS and the BeBox?
3.8.What models of BeBox computers are available/planned?
3.9.What attracts people to the BeOS?
3.10.Why should I buy a BeBox if BeOS runs on Macs?
3.11.What attracts people to the BeBox?
3.12.What are the infrared ports?
3.13.Can a BeBox run Linux?
3.14.Is Be Inc. going to offer an Initial Public Offering?
3.15.What User Groups exist for the BeBox?
3.16.Where can I get electronic versions of Be-related documentation?
3.17.What are the Be Newsletters?
3.18.Where can I find more information?
3.19.Is Be Inc. going to offer an IPO?
3.20.How is the BeBox going to be sold?

4..Comp.sys.be netiquette

4.1.I think BeOS/BeBox could really benefit from having
        [choose a feature] from [choose a platform]
4.2.I just saw a very anti-Be post that I found definitely wrong. 
        Why didn't anyone post a response to it? Should I?

5..Marketing, pricing, and the future of Be.

5.1.Is Apple going to buy Be?
5.2.Is Be planning on merging with someone else? (e.g. Power Computing).
5.3.This is what I think would happen if [insert company] bought Be!
        What do other people think?
5.4.What's the deal with Be's developer pricing?
5.5.Won't Be Inc. be killed by the big competitors they are up against?
5.6.Has Be gotten much press coverage?
5.7.What niche markets will BeOS succeed in?

6..BeBox hardware

6.1.Why a multiprocessor system?
6.2.Why does the BeBox have both IDE and SCSI-2 interfaces?
6.3.Can I use my IDE harddrive with the BeBox?
6.4.Can I use my IDE CD-ROM with the BeBox?
6.5.What kind of memory/harddrive/CD-rom/graphics-card/networking card
        can I use in my BeBox?
6.6.How is the BeBox memory system designed?  What about level 2 caches?
6.7.How fast is the BeBox?
6.8.What can be expected of future BeBox models?
6.9.Why is there such poor graphics card support?
6.10.What is the BeBox's audio hardware like?
6.11.What is the GeekPort(tm)?
6.12.What products work with the GeekPort(tm)?
6.13.Can the BeBox run with one processor?
6.14.Is the BeBox FCC and CE approved?
6.15.I am interested in the basic BeBox system.  What else do I need?
6.16.What kind of warranty does Be Inc. give with the purchase of a BeBox?
6.17.What is the largest volume size possible in BeOS?

7..BeOS

7.1.Is the BeOS a multi-user system?
7.2.If it doesn't grep, it's not a real computer!
7.3.What is the BeOS Application Programming Interface like?
7.4.What is the database built into BeOS?
7.5.What kind of MIDI support does BeOS have?
7.6.Can I mount mac drives on my bebox, or vice versa?

8..Software

8.1.Are there any emulators for the BeBox?
8.2.Is there a ray-tracer available?
8.3.Can I run MS Word/Photoshop/Excel on BeOS?
8.4.What applications are available?
8.5.What applications are under development?
8.6.What are my choices for an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 
        for BeOS native?
8.7.Is there a public-domain/free/shareware compiler for the BeOS?
8.8.What UNIX tools have been ported to BeOS? (TAN)
8.9.Why after upgrading to DR8, do some of my programs no longer work?


==========================================================================

1..Recent changes to this document

960920 First version posted to comp.sys.be and *.answers.
960917  FAQ merged with Todd Anthony Nathan's FAQ.
960914  FAQ approved by *.answers moderators.
960816  comp.sys.be FAQ started.

What's important and missing -- please help with these sections!:
- Just about all sections can use additions. 
- More info needed in the software section.
- If anyone wants to specialize in a certain issue that can't be completely 
answered in a compact form, please produce a document and we will refer to 
the URL in the FAQ.


2..Information about this document

This file will be posted monthly to comp.sys.be, comp.answers, and 
news.answers.

It will for now be available on WWW at: 
http://nome.montrose.net/~todd/be/be-faq.html
http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d1gunnar/be/be-faq.html

It will be available --as posted in *.answers-- on rtfm.mit.edu, which 
archives all FAQ files posted to *.answers; see directory: 
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/news.answers/be/be-faq

Any type of feedback for this FAQ (critique, corrections, additions and
suggestions) is happily received via e-mail to Gunnar Andersson at
d1gunnar@dtek.chalmers.se or to Todd Anthony Nathan at todd@montrose.net
Please start the subject-line with "FAQ-FEEDBACK:", and Cc: to both authors
-- Thanks

Credits:

Others have also helped with ideas for questions and answers.
Only when it is relevant to use direct quotes do we do so, and note the 
author's name by the question. A list of thanks to contributors will appear
here in the future.

Copyright notice and Disclaimer:

   The comp.sys.be Frequently Asked Questions is distributed with hope that 
it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. No FAQ maintainer, author or 
distributor accepts responsibility to anyone, for the correctness of the 
information herein, or for any consequences of using it, or for whether it 
serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he/she says so in 
writing.

Report of a product, service, or event, etc., does not constitute an 
endorsement. Opinions (if any) expressed are those of the submitters and/or 
maintainer and just that: opinions -- not facts.

Everyone is granted permission to copy, and redistribute this FAQ, but only 
if the copyright notice and this notice is preserved on all copies and if no 
money is charged for the distribution.

Where section authors are noted, the copyright is held by that author. Where 
no author is noted, the copyright is held by the FAQ maintainer.


3..General questions


3.1.What is a BeBox?

BeBox is a new line of multiprocessor computers, using high-performing PowerPC 
RISC microprocessors combined with an efficient architecture built on PC-
standard components. It is also probably the most complete computer in the 
high-end personal computer market in terms of expandability and flexibility. 
The I/O ports include: external 50-pin SCSI-2 connector, parallel port, 4(!) 
high-speed serial ports, 2 MIDI-in and 2 MIDI-out ports, 3 infrared controller 
ports, 2 high-resolution joystick ports, line-in/line-out/mic-in/headphones-
out connectors to the 16-bit stereo sound system. Finally, there is the 
GeekPort(tm) which is a home-project builders dream -- a 37 pin connector with 
short-circuit protected data buses, A/D and D/A conversion. (phew!)

The BeBox uses a SCSI-2 interface for excellent storage performance but also 
has an IDE interface for increased flexibility. The current models have 3 PCI-
slots and 5 ISA-slots for expansion. Memory is standard 60 ns SIMMs. SCSI CD-
Rom drives are supported, and networking is an integral part of the operating 
system, using cheap and readily available PC ethernet cards for the ISA bus. 
Standard PCI graphics cards are used, (but not kinds all have supporting 
drivers yet!)

3.2.What is BeOS?

BeOS is an efficient new operating system, written from scratch by the 
engineers of Be Inc. The main idea is to rid this platform of old, outdated 
technology present in today's aging operating systems, some of which include 
components that are up to 15 years old and more. Many people agree that it is 
about time to make a fresh new start. Lessons learned from previous designs 
have created a system with the best of Graphical User Interfaces, memory 
protection and virtual memory, true pre-emptive multitasking and 
multithreading, in a very compact and efficient system. Unlike other operating 
systems, BeOS is also designed from the beginning to run symmetrically on 
multiple processors.

The fact that the OS supports multithreading means better performance on both 
uniprocessor and multiprocessor systems. Threads can be part of a "team" that 
shares a common address space. This gives very fast messaging and context 
switching while still keeping memory protection between processes. 
Multithreading is an integral part of the OS, whether the programmer uses it 
or not. As an example, application windows run in separate threads. This means 
that there will naturally be some thread responding to the user's input, even 
when calculation takes place, so that resizing and moving windows, is done 
without interrupting anything else. Many feel this is obvious, but when they 
see an animation running smoothly as the window is resized they are impressed. 
It is not common on plain "multitasking" operating systems and definitely 
never seen in MacOS/Windows.

Prioritized scheduling include support for applications with real-time 
demands which makes it ideal for processing for example audio and video 
streams, among other things.

The operating system is heavily multi-threaded and object-oriented with a 
simple and flexible C++ application programming interface.

Be has also announced further licenses which will be added to the system. 
These include Silicon Graphic's 3D-graphics language OpenGL, and Java 
compilers and virtual machine.

3.3.Is BeOS a complete and finished operating system?

Well, yes and no. The system is complete enough to make it useable. It 
includes all components for development of full-featured applications, a 
complete graphical user interface, and the kernel is complete and stable. It 
is not considered finished because updates to the system are still made and it
is still released as "Developer releases" (DRx). The current release is DR8. A 
consumer release is planned in the first part of 1997. Most additions and 
changes have to do with increased support in the form of software kits. (New 
APIs for things like 3D graphics and drivers). Be Inc. is great when it comes 
to listening to its developers and users which means that one of the 
challenges for Be developers is to be part of this process of creating and 
improving a new operating system.

While previously much programming was cross-development on Macintosh 
computers, the greater part of development is done directly on BeBoxes today. 
Compiler and development tools are provided by Metrowerks.

3.4.Can I run BeOS on a Macintosh?

During MacWorld in Boston in August 1996, Be made the first public display of 
a port of BeOS running on a Power Macintosh. This is, like BeOS for BeBox not 
a system ready for consumer release. The first release is expected in the 
beginning of 1997. Developers who contact Be can probably receive pre-releases 
before that time, for evaluation and testing.

3.5.Will BeOS be supported on 601 based or 68K based PowerPC systems?

Currently, it seems that only newer Mac models will be supported. Newer models 
are PCI-bus based, just like the BeBox while older Macs based on PowerPC 601 
are generally NuBus-based. These are not currently supported and probably 
won't be in the future, since Be wants to move towards a CHRP/PPCP similar 
platform rather than away from it. Motorola 68K-family Macs will most likely 
never be supported.

3.6.Will BeOS be ported to Intel-based computers?

While it shouldn't be impossible, it is unlikely. Be has not announced any 
such plans. Although BeOS is surely written mostly in a portable language (and 
has survived one port already), some parts of an operating system like memory 
management and other hardware-dependent parts, must be written for the 
specific processor. Also, the architecture of PCs differ more from the BeBox 
than Macintosh computers do. There are just too many standards for buses and 
peripherals in the PC-world to support them all.

3.7.What is the history of Be Inc., BeOS and the BeBox?


In summary, Be Incorporated was founded one day after Jean-Louis Gassee left 
Apple Computer as Product Division President in 1990. His initial vision was 
a machine based on the Hobbit technology. The operating system was supposed 
to be free of legacy software, something that he foresaw as a huge problem 
with the MacOS.  To date his vision is true.  MacOS is complex and late in 
delivery.  BeOS is small, sweet and easy to use from a programming interface 
as well as an end user's perspective. When the PowerPC emerged, it was natural 
to switch to that platform.

Be Inc. kept a tight lid on what was going on with BeOS, and the BeBox until 
on October 3, 1995 the BeBox and initial Developer Releases (DRX) of the BeOS 
were released.

For more information, try "About Be" at the Be web site.

3.8.What models of BeBox computers are available/planned?

Currently two models exist. The original BeBox with dual PowerPC 603 
processors at 66MHz each available right away, and a model with dual PowerPC 
603e running at 133MHz each.

_NO_ official announcements have been made about future boxes but rumours 
exist about a new 4-processor box. These rumours are probably not based on 
any actual plans but exist because it is _likely_ that the next box is a 4-
processor box. Despite the fact that the operating system is being ported to 
other platforms, Be has shown no sign that they plan to leave the hardware 
manufacturing business. This means that new boxes are surely planned as of 
now. Whether they will be based on PowerPC 603s or 604s will probably depend 
on what is most cost effective. One Be employee hinted that the specs for 
Motorola's MPC 106 (a PCI bridge and cache controller chip capable of serving 
4 processors) were seen on the hardware engineer's table, but this really says 
nothing, since it is more or less the obligation of a hardware engineer to 
look at current component technology and plan for the future.

In general, Be's policy has always seemed to keep a very open attitude towards 
users and developers. This means that if Be does not give out information, it 
is probably because the information is not finalized. No one will gain 
anything from premature, false promises. Especially considering the hype that 
all of Be's announcements usually create, it would not be surprising if Be 
want to be absolutely sure before they go public with something.

A section in Be Newsletter #40 has a discussion around the effects of 
premature and incorrect company announcements.

3.9.What attracts people to the BeOS?

The BeOS shows promise of becoming _the_ operating system of the future. 
People who are attracted to BeOS find it more technologically advanced, 
graphically prettier, much "snappier"/ more efficient, and/or easier to 
program than any other OS. Developers also enjoy the unique opportunity to be 
part of the evolvement of a new operating system. This is because Be seems to 
listen a lot to developers' suggestions and ideas. 

3.10.Why should I buy a BeBox if BeOS runs on Macs?

It depends on your needs. If the possibility of running MacOS is very 
important to you, a Mac is currently the only choice capable of running it. 
In the future, the BeBox and Macintosh platforms will probably merge in some 
way when the CHRP/PPCP standard is finalized. The BeBox is already today 
designed to be as much compliant with the future standard as possible. 

Since the BeBox hardware will always be fully supported by BeOS, The 
BeBox/BeOS combination will let project-builders concentrate on designing the 
system instead. Controlling an I/O card on the PC equivalent to the GeekPort 
will most probably require hours of reading manuals for IRQ information, 
hardware register bitfields and addresses.

If running BeOS and getting an all around cool system, is your primary concern

See the next question for what makes the BeBox unique.

3.11.What attracts people to the BeBox?

People are attracted to the BeOS and the BeBox due to its uniquenes, geeky 
feeling.  These are usually computer enthusiasts rather than computer users: 
Folks which enjoy a choice that differs from Windows/NT and MacOS.  The 
freshness of the computer and the operating system also have attracted many 
to consider developing software packages, as well as porting existing packages 
from UNIX and Linux.

Some folks just flip out when they see the Input/Output ports. With standard 
parallel port, 4 serial ports, 4 MIDI ports, external SCSI, GeekPort(tm), 3 
Infrared ports and others the BeBox is a tinker's dream come true!  As well, 
the BeBox is a used parts collector's dream. With a standard PC floppy drive 
inteface, SCSI and IDE interfaces, 5 low cost ISA slots, and 3 PCI slots, 
looking around a used computer shop for parts to complete the stripped version 
is quite simple. This means that a lot of common and obscure hardware is 
hardware compatible, though some drivers may need to be written for them.

Last but not least, the BeBox is one of the most blue and beautiful computers 
ever. Check out the photographs at Be's web site to see one of the best 
designed cases of all time.

3.12.What are the infrared ports?

There are 3 infrared ports. The infrared ports are connectors to which 
infrared tranceivers can be connected. There are no actual LEDs or receivers 
built into the BeBox, but the interface is there, so all that is needed is 
basically an infrared LED or phototransistor. The interface does not support 
IrDA or other high-speed protocols. It is there mostly for remote-controlling 
of the BeBox and/or letting the BeBox remote-control something else and has 
hardware support for learning and recognizing remote control codes.

3.13.Can a BeBox run Linux?

Yes. A port of the Linux kernel and related programs has been completed. 
X-windows is not quite finished yet. You may contact the group working on the 
BeBox Linux port at:
http://www.linuxppc.org/linuxppc/bebox.html

3.14.Is Be Inc. going to offer an Initial Public Offering?

Be is a privately held company by its founders and some employees.  The future 
of Be as a public company has not been made public.  When an IPO is offered 
by Be Inc., we will include details of the IPO and who to contact.

3.15.What User Groups exist for the BeBox?

There is a Be User Group National Information Network (BUGiN) which currently 
lives at:

http://nome.montrose.net/~natbug

This is the national repository (should be world wide IMHO) for information
for any and all Be User Group information.  If you want to add information
to this site about a group, please contact:
<todd@montrose.net>

3.16.Where can I get electronic versions of Be-related documentation?

At the Be web or ftp sites. http://www.be.com, or ftp://ftp.be.com/pub/docs

3.17.What are the Be Newsletters?

The Be newsletters are sent to various mailing lists and have a lot of 
interesting information. (You will find we often refer to them in this FAQ). 
They have a light and humorous attitude and are a treat to read. (Thanks Be!) 

Because of the current state of BeOS, they are quite aimed at Be Developers: 
The section "Be Engineering Insights" explain the features and quirks of the 
BeBox and BeOS at a very technical level. "Developer Talk" lets a new 
developer or company present him/herself or the company and their goals. 
BeDevTalk Summary" is a _very_ compact digest of the developers' mailing list. 

The other sections, however, will appeal to non-developers also:
"Be Marketing Mutterings" explains some of the problems and joys of bringing 
a new platform to market. Finally, Jean-Louis Gassee's column can cover just 
about any subject and is always entertaining.

To read the newsletters, subscribe to one of the mailing lists, like beinfo, 
and make use of the archives at: 
http://www.be.com/aboutbe/benewsletter/index.html

3.18.Where can I find more information?

BeUpdated is a compact kind of newsletter, published by Eric Kidd, a student 
at Dartmouth College. It contains very brief summaries of what's happening 
with the BeBox and the BeOS. According to the maintainer, BeUpdated remains 
an experimental project and it is currently not updated!
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~emk/beupdated/

If you wish to join one of the Be mailing lists, look at the information in 
the Be web sites.

Be's own web sites are very informative. 
Be USA's site:         http://www.be.com
Be Europe's site:      http://www.beeurope.com

3.19.Is Be Inc. going to offer an IPO? 

Be is a privately held company by its founders and some employees.  The future 
of Be as a private company hasn't been decided yet.

3.20.How is the BeBox going to be sold?

Be Inc. has stated they are not interested in selling the machines or the BeOS 
thru large chain stores (CompUSA and such).  There is going to be a limited 
number of Value Added Resellers given permission to resell the stripped and 
configured version of the BeBox. 

Be Inc. is going to market the product direct to the consumer on the World 
Wide Web.  There pages will include a system to order a BeBox and BeOS in the 
near future.  See the official Be Inc. WWW pages at http://www.be.com for more 
up-to-date information regarding the Be Reseller program.


4..Comp.sys.be netiquette

As the FAQ maintainer doesn't believe in imposing rules on people (neither do 
I have the authority to), these _suggestions_ will be few. Standard netiquette 
applies of course, but with one extra rule: Since the future of Be is Bright 
and Beautiful, in comp.sys.be we always keep a positive attitude :-)

4.1.I think BeOS/BeBox could really benefit from having
.[choose a feature] from [choose a platform]

Great! Thanks for showing interest! The BeOS is still not completely 
finalized, so why not? First, think it over once more. Is it really a 
plausible addition to the platform? Does it fit in with the current system? 

Great! Then feel free to write a mail to Be -- a "feature request". They 
are attentive listeners. Or better yet, discuss it first with fellow be-
enthusiasts on comp.sys.be or on a mailing list. But as usual, try as far as 
possible to see if the subject has already been covered recently.

4.2.I just saw a very anti-Be post that I found definitely wrong. 
.Why didn't anyone post a response to it? Should I?

Was the post serious and with valid points? Then it probably deserves an 
answer. If you really feel that there is a risk that other readers have been 
persuaded, then reply publicly. Otherwise perhaps a personal e-mail 
discussion with the person will be rewarding for you.

As the Be platform gets more press coverage and becomes increasingly popular, 
however, it will undoubtedly attract people who are jealous or want to 

irritate for some other reason. Please don't hook on to flame bait!


5..Marketing, pricing, and the future of Be.

5.1.Is Apple going to buy Be?

No! This rumour started with an article in the Wall Street Journal, 
where WSJ's sources: "indiviuals close to both parties", claimed that 
preliminary talks were being held. Other magazines, who actually took the time 
to ask Be about it have set the record straight. See:
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_296.html

Jean-Louis Gassee has also denied the rumour in his column in the Be 
Newsletter #39.

5.2.Is Be planning on merging with someone else? (e.g. Power Computing).

Be has from the beginning kept good relations with many companies and 
cooperated with Apple among others. This does not mean that any merge is being 
planned. The last cooperation with engineers from Apple and Power Computing 
has helped Be to port BeOS to the Power Macintosh.

No plan on a merge with Power Computing has been announced. Net people have 
stated that it would be a nice idea, since Power Computing, just like Be, 
seems to be a company moving up, and since the smaller size of the company 
makes it a more attractive choice. A merge is probably not likely at this 
time. Cooperation, though, is a possibility according to an article in 
ComputerWorld, which states that Power Computing plan to bundle BeOS with 
their computers. No official word yet...

See: http://www.computerworld.com/news/960906gassee.html

5.3.This is what I think would happen if [insert company] bought Be!
        What do other people think?

What a supposed Apple acquisition would mean for the future of Be is still 
debated (sometimes wildly) on comp.sys.be. All the different viewpoints and 
ideas people have on this issue can impossibly be summarized here, and the 
relevance of the issue can be debated. Some people enjoy debating hypothetical 
situations, and no one can stop you if you are one of them. Most agree, though
that this is a non-issue for now, until the situation takes another turn. 
Continued cooperation with other companies, though, is not only likely, but 
more or less mandatory for a small company to stay competitive. Also, 
considering Be's excellent line of products, companies seem to be lining up 
to get close to Be's success.

5.4.What's the deal with Be's developer pricing?

Be had established a developer pricing program.  To become a developer you 
must request developer status from Be. This is done by contacting Be with 
information about yourself, previous experience, etc. Both companies and 
individuals can apply. It is not a huge deal. If you are able to produce some 
software that will be useful to the Be community, you can probably be a 
developer. Use this form for applications:

http://www.be.com/developers/devprogramapp.html

to register as a developer.  Expect a to wait a few days until you hear back 
from Be Inc. about your acceptance into the Be Developer program.


5.5.Won't Be Inc. be killed by the big competitors they are up against?

Be is a privately held corporation.  Be's target market is currently tech-
heads or geeks, not the desktop office war. As more technology interested 
people become developers, the number of really useful applications will 
increase. The feeling in the community is that Be is going to be left alone.  
Not many folks feel Be is a competitor to MSDOS or Windows 95/NT for any near 
future.

5.6.Has Be gotten much press coverage?

Yes. But not as much as they deserve! :-) There are numerous articles about 
Be/BeBox/BeOS.  Without exception the operating system has been touted as an 
alternative milestone for users tired of legacy software (Windows/MacOS).

Here are some URLs with articles/pages about the BeOS and Be Inc.

http://www.zdnet.com/zdi/special/be/
http://www.computerworld.com/news/960906gassee.html
http://web.xplain.com/mactech.com/Articles/Vol.11/11.12/Dec-95-Newsbits/text.html

5.7.What niche markets will BeOS succeed in?

The marketplace for BeBox is ever expanding.  The operating system is so 
advanced in both Graphical User Interfacing, Multitasking/Multithreading and 
Real Time scheduling that it has the ability to be superior for just about 
any type of applications. However, the great dominance that Microsoft shows 
among office applications makes it unlikely that BeOS will become a large 
competitor in those markets. Instead Be products will probably succeed on a 
smaller scale in niche markets and among all technology interested computer 
users who want to stay away from outdated technology dominating the markets 
today. Discussions on comp.sys.be in the USENET news groups has focused 
primarily on the BeBox for Web/Multimedia/Music.



6..BeBox hardware

6.1.Why a multiprocessor system?

One of the ideas with the BeBox is to bring multiprocessing to personal 
computers. There are several reasons for multiprocessing. First of all it's 
cool! :-) Secondly, a platform designed for multiprocessing will always have 
the _potential_ to outperform others. A uniprocessor machine can never move 
beyond the current state-of-the-art, no matter what the budget, while a 
multiprocessor machine can be made much more powerful, if the money is 
available.

More importantly, multiprocessing provides a way to achieve the same power at 
a cheaper price. Be's CEO, Jean-Louis Gassee has said something to the effect 
of "staying in the sweet spot of the cost-curve". The well known fact is that 
microprocessors are expensive when they are new and then drop quickly in 
price. That means that it is cheaper to use several slightly less powerful 
processors than to use the most powerful available. Since there is now an 
operating system that supports it properly (BeOS), multiprocessing is a very 
cost effective way to build powerful computers. Currently Be uses PowerPC 
603(e)'s because they provide the best price/performance. As volumes 
increase, the PowerPC 604 and higher clock speeds will be more attractive.

6.2.Why does the BeBox have both IDE and SCSI-2 interfaces?

The BeBox is centered around the SCSI-2 interface because it delivers great 
overall system performance, having the harddrive more or less directly 
connected to the system bus, and is more expandable than IDE. Many peripherals 
like CD-ROM, harddrives, tapedrives, removable media drives (MO, ZIP, etc), 
scanners use SCSI interfaces and will be directly compatible with appropriate 
drivers. IDE interface is included to increase the number of peripherals the 
bebox can use. IDE harddrives are also somewhat cheaper which means a user 
can choose to have for example, one SCSI drive for speed (booting and swap-
space) and another cheaper IDE for extra storage.

6.3.Can I use my IDE harddrive with the BeBox?

Absolutely.  Booting from any SCSI or EIDE drive is possible. CD ROM drives 
may only be SCSI based, and Toshiba and Sony are currently supported.  It is 
recommended to have a fast SCSI hard drive as a boot/swap drive due to 
performance issues. The driver for IDE currently doesn't support DMA, slowing 
down the system if an IDE drive is a boot or swap drive.  Having a small, 
fast, SCSI drive for booting and swap space, and a large IDE drive for files 
is great alternative if you are pinching pennies.

6.4.Can I use my IDE CD-ROM with the BeBox?

Currently, only SCSI CD-Rom drives are supported.  It is thought the IDE/ATAPI 
standard for IDE CD drives is not really a standard which the limited 
resources of Be should focus on.  Don't expect support for IDE CD-ROM in the 
near future.

6.5.What kind of memory/harddrive/CD-rom/graphics-card/networking card
        can I use in my BeBox?

The BeBox is designed to take advantage of cheap and readily available PC-
standard components like SIMM memory, PC keyboards, PC serial or bus ("PS/2") 
mice, PCI graphics cards, ISA Ethernet cards, SCSI and IDE harddrives, SCSI 
CD-ROMs etc.

Most any SCSI CD-ROM drive should work for data transfers but primarily 
Toshiba or Sony are currently supported. The models of Toshiba drives before 
and including the 3501 are not fully supported due to bugs in the SCSI code. 
The Toshiba 3601 is fully supported. Other brands of drives usually do not 
work when it comes to saving sound from and audio CD to a file and 
skipping/scanning through an audio CD. More support for other drives is 
expected. Reasons for this situation is described in the Be Newsletter #28. 

Be extra careful with graphics cards, though, since you can't expect that 
there are drivers for all types. (See question 6.9)

Currently, the best source for details is the BeBox Peripherals FAQ maintained 
by David Orr (orrd@pobox.com).
http://www.pobox.com/~orrd/be/BePeripheralFAQ.txt

Be First, a site maintained by Patrick Deloulay, (pdelou@msn.com) contains an 
area where people can send their hardware configurations and rate how well 
they work. See: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/befirst/

6.6.How is the BeBox memory system designed?   Or: What about 
        level 2 caches?

The current BeBox models use a PCI-bridge and level 2 cache controller chip 
from Motorola called MPC105 which can be used to interface a level 2 cache 
with a PowerPC processor. The chip can also be used to interface 2 processors 
with each other and this is used in current BeBoxes. Future models will use 
other components (possibly the Motorola MPC106) and this will make it possible 
to use one shared or several individual level 2 caches there. If it is 
justifiable depends on price/performance, and while a level 2 cache would 
certainly boost performance some, current models do very well without it. 
Tech-heads can find specs for the PCI-bridge/cache controller/memory 
controller at:

http://www.mot.com/SPS/PowerPC/products/semiconductor/support_chips/105.html
http://www.mot.com/SPS/PowerPC/products/semiconductor/support_chips/106.html

6.7.How fast is the BeBox?

This is as always a very difficult question to answer. In terms of 
satisfaction, you never hear anyone complain that their 66MHz BeBox is slow. 
In fact, some people have reported that they find their BeBox much "snappier" 
than most workstations they have come in contact with! This is probably partly 
due to the efficiency of the BeOS. One way to attempt to measure raw power is 
through various benchmarks, but of course they are never perfect. For an 
interesting type of benchmark which claims to be able to compare any type of 
uniprocessor or multiprocessor computer, take a look at HINT. Measurements 
have been made on the BeBox by Osma Ahvenlampi <oa@iki.fi>: 
http://www.hut.fi/~oahvenla/Be/hint.html

The 133MHz BeBoxes have been reported to be _more_ than twice as fast than 
the 66MHz ones for some things (primarily those that make use of the larger 
caches of the 603e of course). Since the memory bus is the same, the increase 
will be less for memory-intensive applications, like bulk copy, etc.

For general information about microprocessors, including speeds, clock 
frequencies, chip area, manufacturing, etc. a great site is the CPU Info 
Centre. Especially, there is a comparison chart for almost every major type 
of processor in the world and it shows how PowerPC measures up to other 
manufacturers. There are some benchmarks but as usual they are not the 
"absolute truth". Total system performance depends on more things than just 
the processor and some other independent sources have found the PowerPC to 
have a greater performance advantage than stated here. 
http://infopad.eecs.berkeley.edu/CIC/summary/local/

6.8.What can be expected of future BeBox models?

Since hardware has become a commodity item, we can always expect higher 
performance machines from Be in the future.  It has been said Be is working 
on 4 x 603 @ 133 Mhz machines.  Be does not talk about future hareware 
releases, so we are not able to confirm these speculations.

6.9.Why is there such poor graphics card support?

Graphics card support may be considered "poor" when compared to the huge PC-
world. Be Inc is still a fairly small company with a limited amount of 
engineers. They have provided support for some of the most popular graphics 
cards so that BeBox owners can have some to choose from but don't have the 
manpower to waste on supporting every card out there. Be is working on 
releasing more in the future but currently most effort is put into improving 
and finishing the operating system. 

Be will surely provide support to anyone who wants to write their own driver, 
but writing graphics card drivers take more time than people think. A slightly 
humorous story concerning this is in Be Newsletter #40.

6.10.What is the BeBox's audio hardware like?

The BeBox sound system uses the CS4231 Audio Codec from Cirrus Logic, 
providing 16-bit, CD-quality, stereo sound. The system is considered far 
superior to most "soundblaster"-compatible cards shipped with PCs, though a 
dedicated high-end sound card may hold even higher quality. "Standard" line-
out and line-in (for sampling) is provided with "phono"-type contacts, the 
headphones output and microphone input use 3.5mm. "walkman-earphones"-type 
jacks. Tech-heads can find the CS4231 specs at:
http://www.cirrus.com/prodtech/ov.digaudio/cs4231a.html

6.11.What is the GeekPort(tm)?

The geek port is a general, high performance input/output port.  In summary 
the GeekPort(tm) has the following:

The GeekPort has the following features:

- 2 Bidirectional Data Ports Each 8-bits 4 A/D Pins Each of the 4 pins can be 
routed to a high-quality 12-bit A/D converter.
- 4 D/A Pins Each D/A pin is connected to an independent 8-bit D/A converter.
- 11 Power and Grounds 2 pins at +5 V, and 1 pin each of +12 V and -12 V are 
provided.

The GeekPort connector is a37-pin female D-shell connector because:

- Provides plenty of pins.
- Readily Available, available in most shops that cater to the experimenter.
- Mechanically Robust and easy to work with, even with less solder-experience.
- Not Standard on PCs which reduces risk of connecting something else there.


The official specifications for the GeekPort(tm) are available at the Be Web 
site:

http://www.be.com/products/techspecs/dual603comp.html

6.12.What products work with the GeekPort(tm)?

There are folks working on hardware additions for the GeekPort(tm).  As 
companies make announcements to support the GeekPort with hardware/software 
products, we will include them here.

6.13.Can the BeBox run with one processor?

Yes.  There is a programmatical way to turn off a number of CPUs.  By turning 
off all but one of the CPUs, software developers may see how their software 
performs on a single processor system. (Don't turn off the last one - it's 
kind of hard to turn it on again :-)

6.14.Is the BeBox FCC and CE approved?

USA: 
The BeBoxes shipping today are all FCC Approved.  BeBox Dual603-66s are FCC 
Class A approved while the dual 133s are Class B approved. 

Europe:
BeBox is a class A product which complies with CE regulations (as defined by 
EN55022:1995 and EN50082-1:1992 of information Technology Equipment). 

The Revision 5 motherboards shipped last year have been noted as producing 
some RFI noise. Be Inc. has offered to replace those boards at a nominal cost.


6.15.I am interested in the basic BeBox system.  What else do I need?

- A SCSI or IDE harddisk.
- A PC-standard floppy drive
- A SCSI CD ROM drive. 
- A multisync monitor.
- A PCI graphics adapter. 
- An Optional network card.

Also see question 6.5 for more details on what kind of peripherals that can 
be used.

http://www.toshiba.com/taisdpd/contact.htm
A list of vendors may be provided at a later date.  If you would provide 
pointers to Web pages or phone numbers for vendors you have used successfully 
with your BeBox please send them to the maintainer(s) of this list.

6.16.What kind of warranty does Be Inc. give with the purchase of a BeBox?

Be has been very good about fixing machines which are broken.  All machines 
have been distributed to developers.  Since the machines were not available 
to consumers, Be has not given warranty, but been fixing the machines as 
needed, pretty much for free, for any reasons.  Be Inc. will formalize the 
end-user warranty some time in the future.  For more information contact Alex 
Osadzinski at <alex@be.com>.

6.17.What is the largest volume size possible in BeOS?

Currently, the maximum file size is 2GB.  Since DR8 the maximum volume size 
has been expanded to 4 terabytes which is currently far beyond any imaginable
storage device.



7..BeOS

7.1.Is the BeOS a multi-user system?

No. While a lot of work has been put into making the BeOS an excellent platform
for networking, there is currently no multi-user support. Be has kept it in 
mind, though, and therefore the kernel has support for user-IDs built in. 
Currently the user-id's are not used but according to sources at Be, the 
rewriting of the file-system expected for DR9 will include some kind of file 
permission checking.

7.2.If it doesn't grep, it's not a real computer!

While BeOS has one of the nicest and most flexible graphical interfaces out 
there, some things are still best done with the keyboard. Be enthusiasts are 
everything between UNIX lovers to UNIX haters. In any case, BeOS has a command 
line interface based on bash (the Bourne-Again Shell) and GNU's ports of 
famous UNIX-commands, so UNIX-heads can cp, grep, cat, awk, and set up pipes 
as much as they like. Shell scripting is possible and a few different types 
of scripting languages are being ported. Perl has been ported. A more 
system-wide standard for script commands is yet to be created.

7.3.What is the BeOS Application Programming Interface like?

The Be APIs are considered by developers as very nicely designed. They are 
object-oriented, C++ based, and rely on inheritance and virtual functions, 
without diving into the darkest depths of C++ features. This makes the API 
very flexible, but still easy to use and understand. To get a simple 
application up and running, with windows, menus and buttons can often be done 
in a matter of a hours. The messaging system also seems very powerful and 
efficient. The APIs are divided into "Software Kits", which each define 
objects concerning a certain part of the system. BeOS also includes many 
servers with which applications interact, like the Storage server which 
handles all types of persistent media, and database queries, and the 
application server, which is a kind of interface between applications and the 
OS and handles messaging between programs and system resources like the mouse, 
etc.

If you are the slightest bit interested in application programming, looking 
through the BeOS APIs will be a treat, even if you don't own a BeOS-compatible 
computer (yet!). The APIs are described in the BeBook, available on-line at
http://www.be.com/documentation/be_book/index.html

or if you want to download a copy in postscript, acrobat, or HTML formats:
ftp://ftp.be.com/pub/docs/DR8/BeBook/

7.4.What is the database built into BeOS?

The BeOS has a built in database server, closely linked to the file system. 
This means that both application programmers and users can use it to query 
for information in files with certain file types, names, dates modified, 
belonging to a certain application, etc. Programmers can use the server to 
store just about any type of information, modify it and make queries. It is 
a very flexible data storage for any type of program. 

This answer is deliberately somewhat vague, because the database is expected 
change with the file system rewrite expected for the next developer release 
of BeOS

7.5.What kind of MIDI support does BeOS have?

The MIDI support in BeOS is of course closely linked to the built in MIDI 
ports on the BeBox. How this will work with the Mac version is not clear yet. 
Two sets of MIDI in and OUT ports come with every BeBox. BeOS includes APIs 
for programming MIDI applications through the MIDI Kit. Basically, the MIDI 
Kit provides objects that you can base your own MIDI programs on. Objects that 
can produce any type of MIDI message, objects that react to MIDI messages, 
and objects that can be linked together in a chain, allowing a stream of MIDI 
data to flow through filters and modifiers. For full details, see the BeBook.

With DR8 of BeOS, a software based General MIDI file player will be included. 
This is a program that in software synthesizes General MIDI instruments, 
eliminating the need for soundcards with built in General MIDI instruments.

7.6.Can I mount mac drives on my bebox, or vice versa?

Mounting Mac drives on the BeOS should be possible when DR9 is released. As 
far as we know it is currently not possible to use foreign file systems. Since 
there is little to no documentation about the file system, and the BeOS file 
system will be rewritten for the DR9 release, we will get more information in 
the future.


8..Software

8.1.Are there any emulators for the BeBox?

Currently two emulators are available for the BeBox. 
The Amiga emulator "UAE" and Frodo: a Commodore 64 emulator are available at:
Christian Bauer's Be project page:

http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/BBMain.html

8.2.Is there a ray-tracer available?

PovRay has been ported and is available (along with many other programs) at:
ftp://www.bespecific.com/pub/bespecific/incoming/bepov3.tgz

or via their WWW pages:
http://www.bespecific.com/projects/demos.htm

8.3.Can I run MS Word/Photoshop/Excel on BeOS?
Not currently.  It has been rumored that 3 engineers at Adobe are working

on a feasability study for porting Photoshop and other programs to the BeOS.  
As expected, they have not commented.

8.4.What applications are available?
There are a slew of programs/applications that have been ported from

UNIX. Mostly tools are available today.  See question 8.5 for more details.

8.5.What applications are under development?

For a list of Be projects, try one of the following URLs:

Waiting to Be: - a searchable database
http://www.purity.com/be/projects.t

8.6.What are my choices for an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 
for BeOS native?

Metrowerks has developed the CodeWarrior for BeBox.  It is currently in 
release DR2.  Until DR3 you can purchase it at an introductory price of 
$149.00 US + shipping/handling.  After which time the price will be increased 
to $299.00 US + shipping/handling.  There are free updates for both purchases 
thru DR5.  No matter when you buy, you get 3 free updates to the product.  You 
may contact Metrowerks at:

http://www.metrowerks.com

All the BeBoxes sold today come with a limited version of Codewarrior.  The 
limited version can only link up to 64Kb. 64Kb is more than most think in the 
BeOS world, so it works well for small projects. For real applications, and 
UNIX ports (some of which tend to get quite large), you will need the full 
version.

There aren't many alternatives to CodeWarrior at this time. For more 
information about this, see question 8.8.

8.7.Is there a public-domain/free/shareware compiler for the BeOS?

Currently, Fred Fish is working on porting GCC. The main problem is that the 
linker format used in BeOS is Apple's own format, PEF. This format must be 
licensed (Be licensed it for free, but Apple still owns it), and can therefore 
not be used in a public-domain compiler. Fred has suggested that GCC could be 
used for everything but the linking, for which Metrowerks linker would be 
used. The problem is that the Be system software/libraries, etc. are built 
with Metrowerks tools and not always compatible with other tools.

8.8.What UNIX tools have been ported to BeOS?

There are currently approximately 100 UNIX tools available for BeOS. A 
complete list will probably not appear here but we will try to give some 
examples later.

8.9.Why after upgrading to DR8, do some of my programs no longer work?

DR8 is a major release, and some of the internals and objects of the system 
have changed.  Make sure you have the latest binary release of the program, 
or if you have the source code, the project should be recompiled for DR8. 
Projects may have to be recompiled for as long as BeOS is in developer release 
stage. Be has said that once the OS is released for consumers, future versions 
will have binary compatibility.

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   End of COMP.SYS.BE Frequently Asked Questions. Feedback is appreciated.
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