I remember reading about a purely Java OS enviroment a few years back (I think). Whatever happened to it? Anyone? ???
I remember dreaming about it. 8)
the company behind the XandrosOS where also working on one but then scrapped it, JNode above looks cool though.
have any one of you heard about picojava processor - native execution of java bytecode, picojava x86 was even able to execute x86 code but it was probably abandoned like javaOS
JavaOS was bundled with Sun JavaStations, and bit the dirt when they did. You can still get a JavaStation off of EBay, but the software is hard to come by. If your JavaStation doesn’t come with the software (because some yahoo installed Linux on it) then you can try searching the 'net for a backup copy. I seem to remember seeing one at some point, but I don’t remember where.
PicoJava was an early attempt by Sun to produce a chip that could compete on the desktop with the Pentium. All the simulations and test chips said it outperformed the Pentium, but Sun never managed to generate any interest in the industry. (Probably because Java was very young at the time.) I think Fujitsu might have produced a few commercial chips, but don’t quote me on that.
Sun has long since eschewed the idea of a Java processor in favor of a Java accelerator called MAJC. MAJC is a VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) processor that is capable of running of supporting high throughput and multitasking needs. While Sun refers to the chip as a “Java” processor, it’s really just a generic CPU that takes advantage of Java’s late compiling to optimize Java code…
As for javaOS, fundementally it was an idea before its time.
Add to that thef atal mistake that they focused on netbooting and never came up with a stand alone desktop version, and it died from lack of customer interest.
I’ve often thought that now, with a FastVM, NativeDirectByteBuffers and Isolates, would be the time to do a JAVAOS. If it were my project, I’d start with a stripped Linux kernel that booted directy into a stripped version of the Sun MVM.
Unfortunately I dont thin kthere is a Linux Hotspot MVM currently There is a solaris version but I cant imaginw stripping down solaris would be nearly as easy…