Editing Oberon (operating system) (section)

== Versions and availability ==
V1 was the first usable version some time before the Oberon Trilogy<ref name="PIO"/><ref name="PO"/><ref name="OS"/> was published. A major change in the text model together with the editor named Write<ref name="Write"/> yielded V2. As foreshadowed in the table in section [[#History|History]] above, there was a major fork in the early 1990s: V4 vs. System 3: The group around [[Jürg Gutknecht]] introduced persistent objects and object-libraries thereby extending the kernel. The group around [[:de:Hanspeter Mössenböck|Hanspeter Mössenböck]] realized similar features by introducing active elements mapped to a special character thereby extending fonts without changing the kernel. System 3 was sometimes also named Spirit of Oberon and later renamed ETH Oberon, whereas V4 was sometimes also named Linz Oberon.

[[File:XO.A2.Oberon.jpg|255px|thumb|The Oberon subsystem in [[A2 (operating system)|A2]] on an [[w:OLPC XO#Release history|XO-1.5]].]] As of 2017, the Oberon OS is available for several hardware [[computing platform]]s, generally in no cost versions and from several sources, which is quite confusing. The Oberon OS is typically extremely compact. Even with an Oberon [[compiler]], assorted utilities including a [[web browser]], [[TCP/IP]] networking, and a GUI, the full package can be compressed to one 3.5" [[floppy disk]]. There are versions which emulated the Oberon OS on another operating system and versions which run on bare hardware. The latter ones are named [[#Native Oberon|Native Oberon]]. There are native versions for the [[Ceres (workstation)|Ceres]], Intel [[IA-32]], and [[StrongARM|ARM]] platforms. In 2013, [[Niklaus Wirth]] adapted the basic system as described in "Project Oberon"<ref name="PO" /> to a current [[FPGA]] design. According to the preface of the 2013 edition, the whole system compiles in less than 10 seconds on a Spartan-3 board. This version is sometimes also named V5, despite it being much more similar functionally to the original V1 running on the Ceres than any of the later versions.

===Plugin Oberon and ''slim binaries''===
A version of the Oberon System 3,<ref name="Sys3"/> which is more integrated in the Microsoft Windows OS than other implementations was named Plugin Oberon.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:26257/eth-26257-02.pdf |title=Fine-grained integration of Oberon into Windows using pluggable objects |last=Zeller |first=Emil Johann |date=2002}}</ref> Plugin Oberon had support for [[Object Linking and Embedding|OLE]], [[NPAPI|Netscape Plugins]], and the binary format named Oberon Module Interchange (OMI) or ''slim binaries'', which allowed portable object code between Intel [[x86]], Motorola [[68K]], and [[PowerPC]] architectures. Slim binaries were invented by [[Michael Franz]] in the early 1990s. They were motivated and opposed to the ''fat binaries'' invented by Apple during the transition from 68k to PowerPC architectures.<ref name="OMI">{{Cite book |last=Franz |first=Michael |date=1 March 1994 |title=Code-Generation On-the-Fly: A Key to Portable Software |publisher=Verlag der Fachvereine Hochschulverlag AG an der ETH Zurich |location=Zürich |isbn=978-3728121158}}</ref> OMI provided portable code based on a compressed version of the abstract syntax tree. The approach of a compressed abstract syntax tree for portable code representation is revived in the [[Java (programming language)|Java]] world for [[GraalVM]] and [[GraalVM#Truffle Language Implementation Framework|Truffle]].

===Oberon V4===
The version named Oberon V4 (see also [[#History|History]]) is closer to the original operating system developed by Wirth and Gutknecht. It was originally developed at ETHZ, but when H.P. Mössenböck went to [http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/Oberon.html Institut für Systemsoftware at Johannes-Kepler University in Linz (JKU)], the development of V4 moved also. Thus, V4 is sometimes also called Linz-Oberon in contrast to ETH-Oberon. The most recent version of V4 and extensions are available at [http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/Oberon.html JKU]. Oberon V4 appears to be orphaned, there are almost no changes since 2000. Another repository of V4 is Claudio Nieder's [http://www.claudio.ch/V4/ Oberon V4], which also shows difference between the different V4 implementations. Since 2013 this page moved to/is mirrored at [http://sourceforge.net/projects/oberon/ SourceForge]. V4 is closer to what would now be called an [[integrated development environment]] than an operating system of its own. There were many extensions written for V4, which are still available from the [ftp://ftp.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/pub/Oberon/LinzTools/ ftp server of SSW at JKU]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}; some documentation can be found on their [http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/Research/Projects/OberonDownloads.html web-pages], more information is normally included in the packages and it is given in Oberon's special rich text format.


===AOS/Bluebottle/A2===
{{Main|A2 (operating system)}}
Around 2010, the computer science department at [[ETH Zurich]] began exploring [[active object]]s and [[Concurrency (computer science)|concurrency]] for operating systems, and has released an early version of a new language [[Active Oberon]] and a new operating system for it, first named ''Active Object System'' (AOS) in 2002,<ref name="AOSthesis"/> then due to trademark issues, renamed ''Bluebottle'' in 2005, then renamed ''A2'' in 2008. It is available from [[ETH Zurich]] with most source via the [[Internet]]. Native versions of A2 run on single- and multi-processor [[IA-32]] and [[x86-64]] hardware, both on bare metal and inside virtual machines. It was previously also available for the [[StrongARM]] CPU family. Versions which execute as programs under other operating systems are available on [[Windows]] (WinAos), [[Unix]] (UnixAos), [[Linux]] (LinuxAos), and [[macOS]] (DarwinAos). More detailed information about A2 is on the [[:ru:A2 (операционная система)|Russian Wikipedia pages about A2]].
[[File:Oberon A2Desktop Screen.png|thumb|The Oberon A2 desktop screen with the installer application open, along with a calendar and clock. (Using the default style)]]
===stailaOS===
As a part of an industrial research project<ref>[http://nativesystems.inf.ethz.ch/Main/WebHomeResearchStaila stailaOS (ETHZ) Project Page] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004170705/http://www.nativesystems.inf.ethz.ch/Main/WebHomeResearchStaila |date=2011-10-04}}
</ref> the Native Systems Group of [[ETH Zurich]] has developed an application-specific [[operating system]] named ''stailaOS'' which is based on the latest version Oberon OS. It is intended for uses such as [[Real-time computing|real-time]] [[analytics]], financial applications, main memory based [[enterprise resource planning]] (ERP), etc.

===Native Oberon===
[[File:Oberon0UnderQEMU.png|thumb|320px|The Oberon0 installer running on [[QEMU]] in [[Debian]] Wheezy. The presentation of the [[Master boot record#PT|partition table]] illustrates the comprehensibility of the system in general.]]
Native Oberon is an Oberon System that runs on bare hardware.<ref>[ftp://ftp.ethoberon.ethz.ch/ETHOberon/Native/StdAlone/ Archives of the Oberon Website]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.</ref> ''PC-Native Oberon'' is a version that runs on [[IA-32]] PC hardware. There has never been a V4 Native Oberon, so all information in this section implicitly assumes that it is System 3. Native Oberon has small hardware requirements: 133&nbsp;MHz Pentium, 100MB hard disk, [[VESA]] 2 graphics card with resolution minimum of 1024x768 pixels, optional [[3Com]] network card. The basic system runs from one HD floppy disk, and more software can be installed through a network. The full installation includes the Gadgets GUI. It is written fully in the language Oberon. The latest available version was 2.3.7. It is dated 5. January 2003 and sometimes also labeled as Update/Alpha, especially on the ftp-server of ETHZ. Later versions were incorporated in [[A2 (operating system)|AOS/BlueBottle/A2]].

===LNO===
A version named Linux Native Oberon (LNO) uses [[Linux]] as a [[hardware abstraction layer]] (HAL). Its goal is to be as compatible as possible to PC-Native Oberon. Other versions of the Oberon System, without ''Native'' in the name, had partly modified interfaces of low level modules. In 2015, Peter Matthias revitalized LNO under the name Oberon Linux Revival (OLR)<ref name="OLR2"/> as a multi-platform distribution running seamlessly on Intel x86, [[ARM architecture|ARM]], [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], and [[RISC-V]]. It runs well on the [[Raspberry Pi]] and on the low cost (discontinued) [[CHIP (computer)|CHIP]] computer; with some tweaking (adjusting group membership or/and permissions on some devices) it runs well on [[Tiny Core Linux]]. OLR interfaces with [[Linux kernel]] by direct [[system call]]s. {{As of|2017|06}}, OLR lacks a network layer.