Syllable Operating System

    Syllable logoThe global assortment of operating systems is represented by both sales-oriented commercial names (for example, Mac OS X) and previously not claiming to be something special, but GNU / Linux and FreeBSD that are unusually popular today. Today, it is not possible to calculate the number and clearly classify existing operating systems because of their very large number.

    From time to time interesting projects come across. One of which has become the desktop operating system called Syllable. First, I want to talk about the history of its occurrence.

    In 2002, the creator and chief developer of the AtheOS operating system, Kurt Skauen, suspended work on it. AtheOS developers and users are left without any project news. Of course, admirers and fans of the system are not happy with this situation, because the system gradually gained more and more popularity. Subsequently, a new project was created called Syllable, on which hackers and AtheOS developers began work. The new project was led by Kristian Van Der Vliet (aka "Vanders").

    Syllable grub

    AtheOS itself was conceived as an open clone of AmigaOS for PCs based on x86 processors, but later this idea faded into the background. AtheOS is currently completely stopped, and Syllable is considered its successor. An interesting story is the appearance of the name "Syllable". Vanders once wondered how many syllables would be enough in the name of the new operating system when he realized that “syllable” is an attractive and memorable word in itself! (The word “syllable” is translated from English as “syllable.”)

    In general, Vanders believes that the most popular GNU / Linux is too complex an operating system for a simple desktop user. “Why would a user redo half of the system to install a new version of Gnucash?” He says. GNU / Linux is a server, in his opinion - servers, and Syllable is intended for desktop PCs. Any attempt to make GNU / Linux user friendly is not a good idea, he explains his position. It is possible that modern UNIX-like systems have many features that are not needed by ordinary desktop users. Thus, we see the clear position of Syllable - these are office and home PCs.

    Syllable loading
    What are the features of Syllable? Why do not they use a lot of what is already ready (for example, the same X11)? The difference is that Syllable is a fully thought-out operating system with its architecture and subsystems (unlike GNU / Linux, which is an assembly of many components and elements representing distributions). Less complexity with the interaction of different parts, because in Syllable they are all made for one operating system at once, just as you need it. And if you have to rewrite something (especially the API), then it will be easier than in GNU / Linux, because everything was done within one development team and one project.

    Syllable contains things like bash, glibc. The main compiler is gcc. Many things are used from the GNU project. Syllable - POSIX compatible. This makes it easy to migrate and port applications from existing UNIX systems. As an enthusiastic programmer, I was very pleased with the availability of SDL. (Simple Directmedia Library is a convenient layer library to simplify cross-platform development of multimedia applications and other software.)

    Syllable login
    There are two versions of Syllable - Syllable Desktop and Syllable Server. The first is the main direction of the project, and the server version is a relatively new development based on the Linux kernel (since 2007). Many will ask, why make another GNU / Linux distribution as a Syllable Server? The developers explain this by the fact that two different versions of Syllable have good mutual integration with respect to other OSs.

    At the moment, Syllable Desktop is quite slow in work (at least in VirtualBox), and it is not yet possible to use it in everyday life. But the developers do not pretend to be something unusual - the system is under active development and in the future everything can radically change.

    Syllable working
    I would like to hope that the system will develop even more rapidly. Developers will have to sweat so that Syllable can compete with the popular and “dubbed” GNU / Linux. The system is still very far from a state of full readiness. And it is unlikely that it will be able to surpass the existing OS in the near future. Let's see ... PS: Everything expressed in this short post is the personal opinion of the author. Related links: Syllable official website Syllable Live Syllable CD in various languages ​​of LinuxFormat # 85 with Vanders interview about Syllable Wikipedia page Syllable - The Little OS with a Big Future Short review of Syllable

    Syllable working












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