07/17/2003
miray Software releases on 07/18/2003 the latest version of its embedded and PC operating system µnOS. Besides a number of runtime enhancements of the system core the new version 0.98 contains a vastly improved window server, an all-new intelligent console interface and new system utilities. A dedicated internet platform for developers and interested users will be launched by miray in the near future.
In version 0.98 of µnOS the process manager, being the central controlling system of µnOS, benefits from a number of improvements in speed and stability. The core of µnOS, the Sphere Kernel on the other part, is unchanged compared to the previous version, due to its maturity and the absence of errors since the former release.
The window server in µnOS 0.98 has been expanded and improved continuously. Resizing as well as minimizing and maximizing of windows by the user are now fully supported. Additionally different layers of overlapping windows have been introduced, this enables the realization of different window levels and windows which are always on top.
Completely new is the console interface. It is similar to the VGA text mode with columns and rows as well as foreground and background color for every character. The number of columns and rows as well as font face and size are freely adjustable, and there are 16 M (in contrast to 16) colors possible each for foreground and background. In addition, each program can have several console windows. This enables the programmer to use different windows for input, status and help output of a console application.
Important and substantial for the console interface is the support of sequential driven programs (in contrast to event driven programs with the GUI). Simple tasks are often implemented much faster and easier in a sequential driven program. And there is also no initial programming overhead as known from GUI programs. Console windows can be programmed via matrix functions or via positioning and printing functions.
The output logic (similar to DOS) is also ideal for porting old text mode programs to µnOS. Program structure and logic can be used without changes, which minimizes efforts. Additionally, the new input and output functions are very similar to the old ones regarding names and parameters. Examples for this are the programs Hangman, Snake and PCISniffer on the demo disk. The console API also offers interfaces for simple integration of keyboard and mouse. Because of the high level of optimizing, the console interface is very fast, although it is "just" a virtual text mode.
As usual, a free demo version is available at www.miray.de/download/demodisk.html for download.