BeBox is a Haiku application that emulates Be Inc.'s BeBox
A new application for the Haiku operating system allows users to emulate the vintage BeBox computer. The software replicates the original hardware architecture, including processors and peripheral interfaces, to run legacy BeOS software.
Why it matters
It demonstrates the ongoing interest in retro-computing and the preservation of niche operating systems through modern emulation.
BeBox is a Haiku application that emulates Be Inc.'s BeBox, the dual-processor computer that BeOS was born on. It runs both PowerPC models from their original boot ROMs, with BeOS for PowerPC from Developer Release 6 through R5.0.3. It also runs the Hobbit prototypes that came before them, built around two AT&T Hobbit processors, with Be's 1993-94 system from their surviving disks.
The window shows the emulated screen between the two front panel LED columns (the "blinkenlights"), sixteen light pipe segments each: a CPU load bar of fifteen LEDs over the power LED (left) or the disk LED (right), lime and amber like the real ones (or red and green, if you prefer).
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