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New runtime for Linux, maybe OS/2?

Started by sXwamp, 2007.06.04, 06:00:38

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sXwamp

It says that it will be open source. Maybe it can be ported to eComStation.

http://www.openlina.com/index.html

With LINA, a single executable written and compiled for Linux can be run with native look and feel on Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX operating systems.

    * LINA brings Open Source to the vast majority of users who use commercial operating systems.

    * LINA enables developers and independent software vendors to build Linux applications that run on all operating systems.

Look for LINA's public release in June, 2007, under the GNU General Public License, Version 2 and the LINA commercial license.

LINA will be available for Windows, Mac OS X, and several Linux distributions including Ubuntu, Fedora, and Open SUSE.

rcsteiner

Quote from: sXwamp on 2007.06.04, 06:00:38
With LINA, a single executable written and compiled for Linux can be run with native look and feel on Windows, Mac OS X, and UNIX operating systems.

Sounds useful.  :-)  I wonder how well such programs will perform on older hardware?
--
-Rich Steiner >>>---> Mableton, GA USA
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.

Pete

Hi Guys (and/or Gals  :-)


LINA caught my interest as well to the degree that I thought I'd email and ask about any plans for OS/2 support.

I post the response, from saill.white@earthlink.net, along with my original email below and suggest you encourage some interest in OS/2  support.

Regards

Pete


Wow, OS/2, that's really a stretch. The virtual layer we use doesn't currently support OS/2, and it would require a bit of work to get it running there. We might do it in the future, depending on demand.

Thanks for the question!

Saill

Peter Brown wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > That looks promising.
> >
> > Any chance of adding eComStation (OS/2) to the abilities of the package?
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Pete
> >



sXwamp

To bad, it sound like every other response about OS/2.  If this isn't vaporware. But it does sound great for Linux.  It's funny to me is that most comments from Linux users think that there is no need for an unified way of doing things. I guess they are use to installing one program 26 and a half ways.

Write a program for OS/2 ten years ago and it will still run on eComstation!!!!

Cheers,


Greggory Shaw

Quote from: Pete on 2007.06.09, 00:41:04

Wow, OS/2, that's really a stretch. The virtual layer we use doesn't currently support OS/2, and it would require a bit of work to get it running there. We might do it in the future, depending on demand.

Thanks for the question!

Saill


Pete

Hi Greggory

I had a flurry of email exchanges with Saill of openlina. See what you think about his most recent response:-


Hi Peter,

Wow, you guys have a lot going on over at netlabs.org. I had no idea.

Virtualbox looks like it's pretty far along on being a robust virtualization layer - just needs a few scripts to take away the build-it-yourself factor. The one missing piece to getting LINA fully operable on OS/2 is the porting of GUI libraries. I see at netlabs that the project everblue ports X Windows APIs to your "Presentation Manager" (adorable name, by the way). This is a good start - there is already some demand for LINA to support X APIs, and we intend to implement that down the road a ways, once we have full ports of the GTK and QT APIs. I also see that, as you say, quite a few applications have been ported individually. A great way to kick start making all of Linux run on OS/2 is to change the focus away from porting individual applications to OS/2's PM, and instead to port the APIs used by these applications. The work is very similar but you get a lot more bang for your buck. The end result is that any Linux app using APIs that have been ported to OS/2 will do the
native-look-and-feel thing for you. As an example, instead of working to port GIMP to OS/2, one might work to port the portion of the GTK library that GIMP uses. The end result would be that not just GIMP but a hefty chunk of other Linux GTK apps could run with native look and feel on LINA for OS/2.

Probably the best thing would be to set up an OS/2 project page when we release the code. My guess is it wouldn't be too hard to get the basic LINA platform running by swapping in virtualbox where we use QEMU. Then application developers could start working on porting libraries apprpriately

One of my million projects right now is setting up the LINA developer site. Having a project like this in mind helps me understand what is necessary to make the site useful and complete.

I'm looking forward to collaborating with the OS/2 gang!

Saill



So, looks like LINA for OS/2 could be a "goer" at some time in the future - if those who are into porting *nix stuff to OS/2 get interested in the idea.

Regards

Pete