Various news

Dan Dodge
CTO, QNX Software Systems

Last November at Computer 98 in Cologne I promised to deliver an advanced operating system that would once again put Amigans at the forefront of technology. Over the past 7 months we have had a team of over 40 engineers working towards making that promise and vision a reality. We are now in the final stages of development and are poised to put these new technologies into the hands of thousands of serious, enthusiastic developers like yourself.

QNX is often compared to UNIX, LINUX and BSD. We do share the same POSIX APIs, and most code written for these systems ports easily to QNX, but the resemblance ends there. Based on 20 years of OS experience, QNX has a radically more advanced architecture. It's a massively scalable, multi-threaded, fault-tolerant, realtime OS designed for devices and computers of any type or size. QNX provides a unique network architecture where large full-service protocol stacks aren't required on each computer and devices plugged into the network are simply "discovered" automatically by other devices - all services and peripherals of the new device can then be used by any other device in the network. QNX is also the only self-hosted RTOS where the development environment and the runtime target environment are the same. And though we're not open source, we adopt an "open source" policy for hardware-specific drivers. This allows us to continually support the latest hardware advances, while still maintaining control of core technology. More importantly, it ensures QNX has a focused vision for the future.

If you haven't visited our web site before, I invite you to look at the QNX Realtime OS and Photon microGUI®. If you'd like to dig a little deeper, we've included some screen shots of the exciting new look-and-feel for Photon below (click on the image to expand). We've also put the new QNX Neutrino System Architecture manual online.

In a nutshell, QNX is the core and Photon the graphical environment for our new OS foundation:

QNX - Supports POSIX thread services, MMU protected memory for all applications and drivers, variety of file systems (QNX, flash, DOS, CD/DVD-ROM, etc.), TCP/IP stack, transparent distributed networking, and development libraries.

Photon microGUI - Complete windowing system with full Unicode support for integrated internationalization. Also includes visual application builder (PhAB^TM), powerful development environment (layered libraries, over 50 widgets, built-in image support, online documentation, etc.), web browser, multimedia player, 3D graphics, and gaming support.

Although Photon represents a unique new graphical environment, it works seamlessly with existing windowing systems. You can, for example, connect to a Photon desktop from a Windows desktop or connect to a Windows desktop from a Photon desktop. And because a large number of existing source bases use the X Window System, we allow developers to compile an application for X and then run the application under Photon.

QNX Developers Network for Amigans

To deliver this technology to Amiga developers, we're creating the QNX Developers Network for Amigans. Qualified Amiga developers will receive, at no charge, a complete beta development package that includes the QNX Realtime OS, a suite of state-of-the-art multimedia technologies, the unique network-distributed Photon microGUI, and a self-hosted development environment. We will also create a dedicated online newsgroup, as well as a web site to provide technology updates and previews.

Initially, we're looking for beta sites interested in porting existing applications or writing new applications. Companies and individual developers are both invited to join - the only thing we ask is commitment. We want active beta testers, not tire kickers, who will promise to provide valuable feedback.

Of course, commitment goes both ways. So in addition to starting this program, we will, as of now, become active and vocal in all the appropriate newsgroups and magazines. We're looking forward to being a fully active member of the Amiga community, and to working closely with Amigans to create the next revolution in multimedia computing.

Initial Release

Our initial beta release will be for x86 PCs. While this hardware platform may, at first, seem undesirable to some of you, remember that most QNX applications and device drivers are source-identical across CPUs and boards. As a result, any work done on x86 will migrate easily to any other supported platform. We chose x86 because it's the hardware solution most widely available at low cost in the time frame that we wish to release the first beta - this Fall.

Are You Interested?

If you're interested in joining the QNX Developers Network for Amigans, please click here to fill out the application form. If you have any questions, email us at amiga@qnx.com.

If your company already has an application you wish to port, you're also invited to contact the Department of Strategic Alliances at QNX Software Systems. Email: amiga-ports@qnx.com Tel: +1 613 591-0931.