The New OS in the Blue Box

BeBox combines powerful, inexpensive hardware with a state-of-the-art multithreaded OS.

Raymond GA Côté

The BeBox hardware and Be OS software from Be, Inc. make an impressive system--modern, fast, and inexpensive. Inside the blue BeBox sit twin 66-MHz PowerPC 603s--the hardware underpinnings for the multiple threads and database objects that make BeBox a potentially great platform for multimedia development. The motherboard supports industry standards, such as a PCI/ISA expansion bus, an ATA IDE connector, and built-in fast SCSI-2. Using off-the-shelf components is part of the company's strategy to combine high performance with affordability.

We tested BeBox in a beta version with developer release 7 of the Be OS and the first release of Metrowerks' native C odeWarrior C++ development environment. Be bundles a Lite version of CodeWarrior with BeBox; it generates executable files of up to 64 KB only.

BeBox can hold up to 256 MB of RAM, a floppy drive, two internal hard drives, and two 5-1/4-inch drive devices. It takes standard PCI graphics cards (assuming Be-specific drivers), such as Number Nine's GXE64. BeBox also provides a plethora of ports, including two MIDI, four serial, two joystick, three infrared controller, and audio ports. Unique is the 37-pin GeekPort (see the sidebar "Dreaming in GeekPort").

The new OS is an exciting implementation of object-oriented OS concepts (see "The Be-All of Operating Systems," May BYTE). Based on a microkernel design, the OS is composed of multiple servers and software kits. Servers provide such basic functionality as file I/O and, our favorite, a built-in relational database. With just a few lines of code, you can create structured data storage for passing complex information between applications, remembering references, or keeping information important to a particular run of an application. Software kits provide an object-oriented API to the servers and add their own functionality.

BeBox is a programmer's dream, but the average user will find the user interface (UI) a bit rough and inconsistent. For example, inserting a disc in the CD-ROM drive does not make it immediately available for use. Instead, you must select Mount All Disks from a menu.

Although we didn't run formal benchmark tests on BeBox, we were pleased with the overall responsiveness of the multithreaded UI. We don't know yet what the final market will be for Be's new system, but we'd much rather develop custom applications on BeBox than on a Unix box.

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Product Information

BeBox and Be OS.................less than $3000

  (a "full" configuration is yet to be determined)
Be, Inc.
Menlo Park, CA
Phone:    (415) 4
62-4141
Fax:      (415) 462-4129
Internet: 
http://www.be.com

Circle 1087 on Inquiry Card.

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Ratings

Technology       *****
Implementation   ****


Key

***** Outstanding
 **** Very Good
  *** Good
   ** Fair
    * Poor

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BeBox BeBops

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BeBox, with its multiple threads and database objects, is tailor-made for multimedia development.

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Raymond GA Côté is a BYTE consulting editor and vice president of product development for Appropriate Solutions, Inc. You can reach him on the Internet at rgacote@apsol.com .