General Haiku Discussion

I recently filed a few bugs, and to try-out a nightly, which, unfortunately, didn't work. I figured that it might be a good time to upgrade, but don't know where to start. So, basically,

Which nightly would you recommend for an end-user? Which has many of the new features, yet is pretty stable, and mostly bug free. I would very much like a version that is likely to stay compatible with future programs and features, as I am using Haiku as a working system. Which GCC version should I use, and what are the advantages of each?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks. :>

I have a conspiracy theory. I am not saying it is real but there might be some evidence.
It has to do with linux and could happen to Haiku if there is real evidence. Whenever a linux distribution starts to get real traction would it not be easy for developers from the mainstream OS/OS,s to pose as real developers because of qualifications and push under the disguise of innovation new technology that causes instability or incompatibility which then puts a brake on the uptake of the OS.
The reason I say this is in the case of Ubuntu which was getting a larger user uptake, then new technology was applied that wasn,t ready, like pulse audio. In the later two versions of Ubuntu this is causing a lot of problems. There are also complaints about other open source drivers. As far as linux distros go I found Ubuntu 7.10 quite stable and reasonably easy to use but in 9.04 and especially 9.10 more problems have come up with sound and other things related to drivers.
How could anyone joining the developers be screened for been real or an agent? There needs to be good evidence of course for this sort of thing going on. I or we don't need to be paranoid but it is true that companies spy on each other. With open source software it would be so easy to infiltrate. If someone from Microsoft wanted to help develop Haiku we might see it as a great gain.

I am a Linux user. Glad to be a Linux user, and until recently, I was quite the Linux purist. THen I booted a Haiku LiveCD. It blew me away! I love the GUI, the core, I especially love the terminal. I never tried BeOS in my life, but Haiku is really special. This message is to Haiku developers to say, DON'T BE ANOTHER SKYOS! Don't start out with a good idea, then as soon as you get something bootable you quit. Don't. Nor do I want to see you make one final release and quit. I know Haiku has a little more backing, but if developers go missing, haiku will just die. I am writing this on A1 with the Atheros driver installed, in case you were wondering. Haiku has an amazingly powerful environment and GUI in around 700MB of installed space. Now that's pretty special. I would like to join the developers, but I already maintain various dumb utilities across the net, like SpeedNT and OldExplorer and GeekDOS (the latter my flagship thing.) If I get more free time, I will wish to join.

The point of my message:

You have something REALLY great here. Greater than some of you know. Do not fizzle out! I don't mean one release, I mean you could be the next penguin if you try hard enough. Coming from a Linux user.

-Ben

I installed the 1/31/10 nightly build on top of the Alpha R1 release. I can read from 4 GB Sandisk USB drive but I cannot write to it. It is mounted read/write. When I copy using cp file /SANDISK it sits and does not complete. I notice that the USB light blinks randomly. When I pull the disk out I get a kernel panic.

Is this a known issue?

Thanks,
Andrew