Interview with Ben Hermans of Hyperion
[01.04.02]
For those of you don't know, Hyperion is the company contracted by Amiga,Inc. to produce the next Amiga Operating System, version 4.0. Ben Hermans is a Managing Partner for Hyperion.
Following hot on the heels of Hyperion's Q&A session with the show visitors of Amiga Expo 2002, we decided to further question Ben Hermans on a few areas surrounding OS 4.0.
This is what he had to say..
SWAUG: What steps are you taking to ensure that AmigaOS remains a scalable OS and doesn't become bloated?
BH: Most of the work we are doing does not really consist of adding new libraries to the system but rather we are reworking, reimplementing and extending existing OS libraries and components such as Intuition, Exec, Layers, DOS, AREXX, the CLI ...
Bear in mind that most users already use a lot of third party software in addition to a standard 3.5 or 3.9 install so whilst the overall OS size will go up, this conclusion doesn't hold true when you factor in that third party software (AHI, Warp3D, VisualPrefs, MagicMenu, FullPalette etc.) as well.
SWAUG: As I understand it, RISC code is much larger than it's CISC counterpart and hence AmigaOS & PPC programs will need a lot more memory. Isn't this going to be a problem on CyberstormPPC's that can only have 128Mb of RAM?
BH: Not really. The actual code of the OS is still very small and this holds true for most if not all applications whose size is usually determined not so much by the size of the code as the size of the data they are using. Don't forget that we are bringing in virtual memory so applications can swap out their data to harddisk when memory runs low.
SWAUG: Has Haage&Partner given you access to OS3.9 source code to be used in OS 4.0?
BH: No. Luckily this isn't too much of a problem because of the fact that we entered into new agreements with all the individual OS 3.5 and 3.9 developers. The end-result is that we do have access to all the work for OS 3.5 and 3.9 not produced by H&P themselves.
As to why they have not given us access, this issue you'd better take up with Amiga Inc. as it is entirely unrelated to Hyperion.
Needless to say, we would have preferred to see it otherwise.
SWAUG: Will OS3.9 developments such as EditPad, GlowIcons, AmiDock be re-used or discarded?
BH: They will still be there. As a rule you should remember that we are building on OS 3.9. If certain components are dropped, it is because we are bringing in a better replacement.
Stefan Robl is completely reworking AmiDock and is adding a lot of functionality BTW. I'm very pleased with the way AmiDock is shaping up.
Matt Chaput who did GlowIcons is currently working on new OS related graphics for us so that the default look of OS 4 will look at the same time different than OS 3.9 but is still recognisable.
SWAUG: You have stated that MUI will appear in OS 4.0 as a 'Contribution'. Will you use ReAction in OS 4.0 and will it be the officially endorsed GUI?
BH: The decision to use ClassAct/Reaction was taken with the release of OS 3.5 and this isn't something Hyperion can or wants to go back on. We have entered into a new agreement with Chris Aldi, author of Class Act/Reaction and Reaction will be greatly enhanced in many ways both in terms of functionality and visual appearance thanks to the hard work on the part of people like Chris, Stephan Rupprecht and Massimo Tantignone.
Meanwhile we recognise that MUI too is an excellent product with a large following and that there is quite a number of programs out there using it.
Stefan Stuntz and I negotiated a contract which allows us access to the very latest MUI source-code stored in his CVS repository. Every licensee of MUI is required to feed back all and any changes into this CVS repository.
SWAUG: Can you forsee any compatibility problems with existing WarpOS programs in OS 4.0?
BH: No with the exception of iFusion which manipulates some internals of WarpOS. VP Ltd. has the full source-code of iFusion so an OS 4 version is certainly possible. This would be by far preferable to running the WarpOS version anyway.
SWAUG: Can you clarify how easily I could intergrate an existing FFS partition for use with OS 4.0
BH: Olaf Barthel completely reimplemented FFS (originally in 68K ASM) in C so that we can have a native PPC version with OS 4 for superior performance. Backwards compatibility is near perfect so there won't be any issues when you continue to use your existing FFS partitions. Similarly, Jörg Strohmayer will contribute a PPC native version of SFS for those of you using SFS.
SWAUG: Finally, OS 3.9 is the last 68K OS for Amiga users. Will you allow OS4.0 developments to filter down to 3.9 wherever practical?
BH: Some components of OS 4 will doubtlessly make an appearance on 68K based Amiga's. I'm thinking of Roadshow (Olaf Barthel's TCP/IP stack).
On the whole however Amiga Inc. has expressed a desire to migrate the userbase to PPC as this also ties in with their AmigaDE strategy. TAO doesn't have a VP translator for the 68K line and frankly, the performance point of the 68K line is too limiting in this day and age for quite a number of applications and games.
It's not like Amiga users were forced in the past into a continous upgrade cycle as is the case in the Wintel world.
Commodore went bust in 1994, 060's appeared a while later. Now it's 2002. Time to move on.
Besides, people who are not convinced by OS 4 can still use their existing 3.9 installs.
SWAUG: Thank you very much for your time in answering these questions. Your answers will be of interest to our members and the wider community.
BH: Thank you for taking an interest.
SWAUG would like to extend our gratitude to Mr Hermans for his time and effort in answering these questions.
(C) COPYRIGHT 2002 SWAUG. NO REPOSTING.