Blogs

Timers (GSoC) Update #1

Blog post by Dustin Howett on Wed, 2008-06-11 05:32
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Just posting a very brief entry to let you all know what's up with HPET support in Haiku.

So far, I've been able to mostly separate all the x86 timers into individual (but still statically linked into the kernel) modules, and have them used based on priority.

Currently, they break booting on my system (qemu works, though, with the ISA timer).

Brief TODO (in no particular order):

  • Modify how each arch advertises which timers it supports
  • Migrate the other arch timers into modules (low priority, since the other architectures are not fully supported, I believe)
  • Move priority & init code into the generic section, out of x86 (this can only be done when all other archs are migrated)
  • Implement HPET support (currently stubbed out, but the module is there.)
  • Work on system_time()
  • Fix the immediate issues with booting and the like

Haiku Code Drive: May 16 update

Blog post by koki on Fri, 2008-05-16 22:12
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It's been approximately 24 hours since we started the Haiku Code Drive 2008, so I thought I would give a quick update on where we stand right now, and also take the opportunity to share with you a few observations based on some of the feedback that we have received so far. I want to start by saying that the response so far from the community has been great. We are exploring somewhat unknown waters with the Haiku Code Drive, so there was a degree of uncertainty as to how the community would respond. This is why it is so rewarding to see the great outpour of generous donations that we have already received in just one day. Contributions are coming in from all over, including Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, the US and many other countries. We have started a list of donors in the donation page, so check it out (to be updated daily).

I am keeping an eye on the contributions, and as I write this I can see we are already at about half of what we need to sponsor one student; we are currently at approximately $1,300.00, but the total changes so fast, that it is hard to keep up! This is absolutely awesome, but it's only the beginning. Remember, this is your program: you fund it, you choose who to sponsor. If you have not yet made your pledge to the cause, please head over to the donation page and show us your love for Haiku. This is your opportunity to make a difference, so don't miss it! :)

Google Summer of Code project: Sub-pixel anti-aliasing

Blog post by Andrej Spielmann on Wed, 2008-05-14 23:22
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Hello Everybody!

My name is Andrej Spielmann and I am the GSoC student who will be implementing anti-aliasing based on LCD sub-pixels to Haiku’s graphics engine (App server, Painter, etc.).
Stephan Assmus is going to be my mentor on this project and Oliver Ruiz Dorantes seems to be my backup mentor and an eager investigator to the Slovak language and cuisine :-)

A short introduction of myself: I was born in Slovakia (Bratislava) and I still live there during vacations. During high school I have spent two years in Germany so I can speak German quite fine (Normally I would say very good but there are many Germans around :-). Now I’m studying at the University of Oxford (UK) at a 4-year undergraduate course in Mathematics & Computer Science. After I finish, I would like to go for a PhD somewhere else in Europe (Norway, Switzerland??) or in the USA. I very much like traveling, tourism, hiking and cooking. I’m most probably going to use a part of the GSoC money for a long trip around Russia including a part of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

I have no prior experience with coding for Haiku but I admire it a lot and will be very pleased to get involved with the community. Right now, I’m a little busy preparing for my exams, which take place between 2nd and 19th of June (but quite sparsely distributed, so there should be time for GSoC).
I am planning to start working on my project by the end of the next week, hopefully a couple of days before the official starting date to compensate for the time during exams when I won’t be able to fully concentrate on GSoC.

I will be coding on a Mac. I have set up all the compilation tools natively and now I’m able to build a hard disk image that runs in Parallels Desktop. If this turns out to be too slow or obstructing I will be considering other alternatives.
Right now the first big challenge for me will be to understand and get familiar with the existing Haiku code that I will be modifying. I will keep you updated on how it is going.

Bye,
Andrej

Contact:
ICQ: 161748133
Skype: andrejspielmann
e-mail: andrej.spielmann@seh.ox.ac.uk

Google Summer of Code Project: Alternate System Timers

Blog post by Dustin Howett on Sun, 2008-05-11 00:45
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Hello, Everybody!
I'm Dustin, the student in the 2008 Summer of Code who is going to implement support for system timers other than the TSC in Haiku.

I've been actively tracking (and trying to involve myself in) Haiku's development for a few months now, but have been passively watching it since Be, Inc. went under and OpenBeOS sprang to life. In that time, I've gained a basic understanding of the Be/Haiku API, and of limited parts of the Haiku kernel.

Couple growing kernel knowledge with studying standards documents such as that for the HPET, and I believe I can finish this, or get a very appreciable start on it, over the summer, and plan to stick around long afterwards.

I can be found in #haiku on Freenode, my nickname is DHowett.

Thanks very much,
Dustin Howett

Anthy Ported to Haiku, Binary Available on Bebits

Blog post by koki on Thu, 2008-05-08 19:05
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Well known Japanese developer SHINTA has been recently working on a port of the Anthy free Japanese conversion engine to Haiku, and the first fruits of his work are now available for download from Bebits.com in the form of an Anthy for Haiku binary. It's great to see SHINTA-san in full development mode, and that he has shown his commitment to Haiku by porting Anthy to our OS. Anthy is definitely the best open source Japanese input method, and being able to use it in Haiku is a great plus for anyone who will want to use Japanese in our platform.

Anthy's claim to fame comes from it's conversion efficiency, which is considered to be much higher than that of other open source alternatives, such as Canna or FreeWnn, and almost on par with proprietary solutions. Licensed under the LGPL, Anthy is not only better than its open source counterparts, but its development is very active and is expected to remain so, as Anthy has become the de facto Japanese input method adopted by most Linux and other open source operating systems.

Premonitions of a rising sun

Blog post by koki on Fri, 2008-05-02 06:48
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Back in the 90s, BeOS had many very faithful followers in Japan, both end users and developers. You can still see on the web photos of how people lined up late at night to get their hands on BeOS 4.5J released by PlatHome, the BeOS distributor in Japan (more pics here). Japanese developers also contributed a good amount of software for BeOS back in those days, some of which has made it into the Haiku code base (ie., the Canna Japanese input method, the MuTerm terminal on which the Haiku terminal is based, etc.). The Konatsu font used in Haiku to display Japanese is also an original creation by Masuda Mitiya, originally designed specifically for BeOS. Sadly but understandably, not many of these former BeOS fans remain active today; in fact, only very very few.

I was one of the founding members of the Japan BeOS Network user group (JPBE.net) in Japan, which we created in 2003 mainly in response to the appearance of ZETA. Back in those days, when Haiku was still at a too early stage to have any appeal, ZETA gave the JPBE.net members hope that BeOS could survive and even evolve. As time went by, our hope gradually changed into to the realization that ZETA was not what we thought it would be, and that realization eventually changed into the final disapointment brought by the sad unraveling of ZETA and yellowTAB. The end was particularly nasty in Japan, where the ZETA distributor sold the shipped product but never had the decency to pay royalties to yellowTAB. Not that this was the direct and only cause of yellowTAB's demise, but in the eyes of Japanese users, this did add a large dose of extra drama to how ZETA went down in history, making the disapointment even greater. The "ok, I've had enough; I am moving on" feeling was quite prevalent.

GSoc Swap File Project

Blog post by upczhsh on Thu, 2008-05-01 05:41
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Hi everyone!
I am the GSoc student to implement the swap file support.

Haven't been here for a long time since I spent a week prepareing for the school's exam. The annoying exam ended yesterday, and now I have time to make some preparations for this summer.

I have got a basic unstanding of the Haiku vm system during the application period. In the next few days, I will investigate how paging is implemented in Linux and FreeBSD (I've stated doing that but was interrupted by the exam)and continue to work on my haiku vm tutorial. :-)

Bye,
Zhao Shuai

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