Peter Tattam Of The PetrOS Project Talks To OSNews

Eugenia writes: "Trumpet Software is mostly known for their Internet communications software package, Trumpet Winsock, which has been adopted by the Internet world back in 1995, at the times where Windows 3.1 and Win95 did not come as standard with full internet connetion capabilities. But the main product these days for Trumpet Software is PetrOS, a 32-bit Operating System, which has the goal to be compatible by all means (binary and API compatible) with Microsoft Windows. OSNews is interviewing the main architect behind the project, Peter Tattam, who talks in depth about PetrOS, and also there is shown an early screenshot of the PetrOS GUI, which is still under heavy development." And it's been (not surprizingly) under heavy development for a while. Building a Windows-compatible OS from scratch surely isn't easy, but from this interview (including screenshots) they're having quite a go of it.

What language is PETROS® written in?

[1010011010]

From the FAQ:

PETROS® is written using an in-house Object Pascal compiler. This enables us to generate machine code with roughly the same efficiency as C or C++, but with very strict type checking. The language is compatible with Borland Delphi Pascal allowing code to be interchanged with many of the existing applications that Trumpet has developed to date.

Aiiiiiieeeieieieieie!

"small is beautiful"

[Ridge2001]

From the article:

The fundamental design concept behind PetrOS is that "small is beautiful".

Then why are they copying Windows?

System requirements

[micromoog]

486 DX processor.
2MB System RAM (4MB recommended).
At least 2MB Hard drive space. This struck me as funny. I understand the point they're trying to make, but does this mean I'd better go out and get that 2MB upgrade I've been looking at for the past ten years for the 486DX I intend to run this on?

The guy has balls!

[MSBob]

Whoa! This guy has guts. Not only is he trying to battle William Gates III he's also named Bill's OS after himself! Even Bill Gates himself wasn't arrogant enough to instill a "BillOS" upon us! Sheesh.

Re:Dead on arrival

[Anonymous Coward]

Next thing you know someone will be trying to implement the x86 architecture cheaper and better than Intel!

Re:quotes...

[jimhill]

Of course, you could argue that his company's product didn't coexist with Windows so much as it provided a functionality that only a few people needed...until the Web came, and then everyone needed it, Microsoft folded it into Windows, and Trumpet was thrown out like a sorority girl the morning after a good party.

Re:Fair use

[Ridge2001]

Note the similarity between the Slashdot "article" and the introduction to the linked article

And what's more, the person who submitted the Slashdot article [slashdot.org] had the gall to steal the name "Eugenia" from the person who wrote the linked article [osnews.com]! It's not just copyright infringement, it's identity theft as well!

Re:this rings a bell

[TekPolitik]

you're right. (cough) DR-DOS. (cough)

Perhaps he figures Caldera will buy it. After all, they'll buy the rights to any software as long as it has no apparent future.