BONE
--- BeOS Network Environment.
Netstack (net_server) replacement programmed by Be Inc, based on the *BSD netstack.
It was meant to make UNIX apps port a lot easier and BeOS networking to be a lot more stable!
It was only released to beta testers for Be Inc. The last release before Be Inc sold their assets to Palm was in heavy beta quality and was numbered 7a.
BONE is leaked and references to it can be found at http://beos.loved.com/projects/bone.html. Loved.com does not have a copy of it to download. References to it being on BeShare http://www.bebits.com/app/1330 ..... (the following added peter at loved dot com): Please notice that some BeShare servers doesn't support the users to share BONE.
Rumors indicate that it will be included in Zeta.
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Installing Bone-7a is known to break printer support and cause problems with finding usable device drivers. Since it is a hybrid beast, my suggestion (if you _must_ try Bone at all) is to look for a copy of Dano instead and install it on a separate partition from BeOS 5.0.3. OR download this:
http://cypress.globeline.ro/apps/warez/printers_preferences_bone.zip
and replace your old Printer prefs.)
Dano is in a much more complete state than Bone-7a. It is definitely a better networking package, much more stable and usable, particularly when connecting through routers and/or into ADSL. It's a great pity Dano was never officially released. Then maybe OpenBeOS would be heading in that direction from the outset. (Note: Zeta seems to be based on Dano). (Note 2: OpenBeOS may not be copying Dano officially, but they are not completely cloning R5 either - OBOS R1 will have the networking done in the kernel, much like with BONE.)
The `rumours' about Zeta come directly from their website, there's nothing hidden about their intention to support Bone. I wonder though where they got permission to use it, whether it will be a complete version or just BeOS-5.0.3 + Bone-7a, and whether anyone will bother writing drivers for a networking system that's essentially incomplete and undocumented.
Addition: "YellowTab" http://www.yellowtab.com (authors of BeOS Zeta) have licensed some or all BeOS / Dano code from Be, Inc. before its Intellectual Property was sold to Palm. Therefore, "YellowTab" have got all possible documentation for BONE as well as for some other beta-quality parts of BeOS, and they are in their rights to insert BONE (and maybe some other parts of BeOS never released for public use, such as new MediaKit) into Zeta. They are also going to write drivers for Zeta and publish guides to help independent developers. For additional info see http://www.yellowtab.com/developers/.
It's true that Zeta is based on Dano; more then that, some beta-testers of Zeta say that it feels and works just like Dano. Nevertheless, hats off for "YellowTab" who defend BeOS grounds in commercial world!
