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In your opinion, what's the best GUI-capable OS, other than Linux, but more exactly one like the ones built here?

I have in mind like 3 or 4 of them, but don't want to mention them to not bias opinion, although I'm sure they are already known by virtually everybody.

What is required for "GUI capability"? If I add a 640x480x16 color mode to my kernel, and a mouse driver, can I apply with it?

I meant the one with most GUI window controls and actual OS capabilities, ranging from anything useful (and the eye-candy), and flexible...

I liked Plan 9's GUI. It was new, intuitive, and inventive. Like the system, it didn't restrict itself to the restraints of tradition. *cough*dependence on the keyboard*cough*

It used the mouse and mouse motions, and just sometimes strange stuff. Yet, it was good.

The only problem was, that it died....and they never got to the point of something useful. (Too very ugly.)

Edit: Oh...just read....should be a hobby OS, eh? Well....whichever.....Plan 9 is almost a hobby OS, right?

~ wrote:In your opinion, what's the best GUI-capable OS, other than Linux, but more exactly one like the ones built here?

I have in mind like 3 or 4 of them, but don't want to mention them to not bias opinion, although I'm sure they are already known by virtually everybody.

AtheOS (now Syllable), it is AMAZING considering it is a hobby os project (full gui, c++ api, symettric multiprocessing, KHTML port, 64-bit journally fs (Athe File System, AFS) and 99% posix compliance, all from a hobby OS, developed by one person (however, since he dropped the project, it has become a community project, called Syllable (syllable.org)).

http://atheos.syllable-norden.info/

I would go for MenuetOS and SolarOS .

for features in the GUI, I would'nt go pass OS X .
Note also that X Windows is the most flexible as it allows you to create your own controls

You can create your own controls in any half decent GUI. If you can't, the GUI is fundamentally flawed, because almost any non-trivial application needs at least some custom controls.

I'm not sure I can agree about X11 being flexible though, at least if we consider Xlib part of the package.

Well, then maybe it would be interesting to comment them out in a way to leave them explained in a wiki-like fashion (why not document those OS'es there?), of course, if most people don't already understand how everything they do actually work.

By the way, by those comments I deduce that these small OS'es cannot create their custom controls, maybe I'm wrong, but that is yet to be seen...

OS X Quartz/Aqua and plan9 rio. They're both incredibly close to perfection in my mind.

Alboin: "The only problem was, that it died....and they never got to the point of something useful. (Too very ugly.) " Plan9 is not dead. It's contributed to daily, weekly snapshots are built, and the 9fans mailing list and #plan9 irc channel are very active. (Also, people using Plan9 as their primary OS would tend to disagree with you )

Shamefuly they are both closed-source and over-patented, so they cannot apply to learn from and document them. Actually that could lead this board to be effectively sued, but anyway that effort from us wouldn't prosper...

What?! Plan9 is open source! http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/

Mainly MacOS, surely is the best GUI OS, I can't think that being so famous in graphical design is behind Windows Vista... so that's a shame it can't be a learning source.

Maybe Beryl graphical environment for Linux, but that most certainly needs an nVidia card to run, so there are limitations and too complex.

Better to start to learn from the small ones they already mentioned, Menuet, Solar, VisOpSys, etc... so way to go for them.

OS X also requires a gfx card like that. Frankly, I think Apple's OS is good enough to warrant me paying them for it. They've open sourced the kernel and a lot more too, plus they're very developer-friendly, so it's not like using Windows or something.

~ wrote:Mainly MacOS, surely is the best GUI OS, I can't think that being so famous in graphical design is behind Windows Vista... so that's a shame it can't be a learning source.

Window's GUI is nothing special. MacOSX's GUI has had opengl acceleration for years, however, the only features used are transparency and the neat minimize effect. Vista's GUI takes up HUGE amounts of memory and although it has opengl acceleration, the number of features included are minimal, and dont even APPROACH beryl. Plus, Vista's GUI likely relies on other parts of the proprietary OS, so studying something that is hosted by a free OS (compiz, beryl) would be more beneficial.