Be Newsletter
Issue 22, May 8, 1996
Table of Contents
Be Demo Tour: Washington, DC
Be there!
We'll be making a full presentation and demo at the
Washington Apple Pi General Meeting
Washington Mac Users Group
(http://www.wap.org)
Saturday May 11, starting at 9:30 am.
Community Cultural Center
Northern Virginia Community College,
Annandale Campus
8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, Virginia
For more information about the demo tour, please check out
our web site at: http://www.be.com
BE ENGINEERING INSIGHTS: Do It
Yourself BeBox, Part 2
By Joe Palmer, Director of Hardware Engineering
The last time I wrote
(issue 9, February 7,
1996 ), I discussed the first part of the design process
-- the part that gets you 90% of the way there. Now let's
finish the job and build some systems.
We built only three prototypes of our first board (Rev 01).
This was, in essence, a "learning board," so it was good to
start small. We learned several things about overlapped
transfers on the processor bus, and found mistakes in the
placement and pinouts of the board's components. But these
boards served us well as we tested the CPU and RAM, the disk
systems, and the devices on the PCI and ISA busses. To
arbitrate communication between these different appendages,
you need a controller; luckily, we received our first
controller chips (the MPC105 "Eagle") the same day that we
got the Rev 01 prototypes back from the fabricator.
I designed the PCB of the I/O card while the software team
started using the Rev 01 boards. The I/O card was a
difficult design: It fit on 4 layers with lots of EMI
features on the inner planes. The component density was
higher than the motherboard, especially around the
GeekPort(TM).
Rev 02 of the motherboard saw about 10 prototypes. We used
these boards to really shake down the I/O cards and the chip
sets, and ended up adding some glue logic in the form of two
GALs to solve some problems.
Rev 03 was a build of about 45 boards that went to the
engineering team and a few guinea pigs outside the company.
These systems incorporated the glue logic and are quite
similar to what you are seeing now. The one major difference
is the ISA I/O chip set: With Rev 03, we experienced a
problem with the mouse port, so we replaced the part that
contained the keyboard/mouse, floppy, parallel port, RTC,
and serial port with separate chips. Later, it turned out
that the problem probably wasn't in the part we replaced --
but in a bit of perverse luck, that part went on severe
allocation and the price jumped dramatically. Thus, by
swapping parts, we indeed solved a problem -- we just didn't
realize, at the time, that it was an economic and not a
technological one.
Rev 04 was another short build to test the new I/O solution.
To save time and set-up costs, these boards were hand-built,
with the exception of the BGA, which was soldered to the
board in the standard reflow process. A couple of nits were
found and fixed with rework wires. Rev 04 was the first
board to see the new chassis, so new mounting slots and
holes were added, as was the new front panel.
Rev 05 was our first big build -- more than 400 -- and our
first general shipment to developers. If you have a system
now it's probably a Rev 05. The machines were built
in-house: Half of our floor space was given over to a
make-shift factory, complete with an ad hoc assembly line.
These systems were shipped in a preproduction chassis
without the front panel.
Rev 06 is a build of 450 units that is hitting the streets
as we speak. For the first time we have in-circuit tests in
place at the board factory to locate problems before the
boards leave the production line; so far we've had a 91%
first pass yield, the remaining units requiring minor
touch-up to pass. Rev 06 is being shipped in a production
chassis with an LED board and an untextured front panel.
This build is (finally!) being handled by an outside service
that's experienced in the business of assembling, testing,
and shipping PC clones.
Enough for this time, except to say that Be is seeking a
hardware engineer to join our team. If you would like to
join us, read the job posting on our web site.
BE DEVELOPER PROFILE: Shooting
Star Systems
Eric Berdahl, Mitch Adler, and John Townsend could write
a "how-to" book on new, object-oriented operating systems.
That's because they're all former Taligent employees who
jumped ship in January 1996 to form Shooting Star Systems, a
company that develops OEM solutions for professional video
production.
What sort of solutions? Take an evening news broadcast as an
example. The opportunities Shooting Star is looking at
include: Editing and sequencing raw video footage into
broadcast-ready clips complete with titles and graphics;
compositing and wiping between a live video feed and a
studio feed within the same news segment; and compositing a
weather person on top of a computer-generated map, so the
presenter can appear to manipulate the map on-screen.
As Eric Berdahl puts it, "One of the advantages of taking an
OEM approach to these problems is that the customer often
doesn't know -- and usually doesn't care -- about the name
of the computer that's at the heart of the system. They just
want the best solution." And that's exactly what the BeBox
will help Shooting Star deliver.
Given their pedigree, it isn't surprising that the folks at
Shooting Star are quite familiar with the problems inherent
in OS and application models. Eric observes that "Be appears
to have skirted most of the tar pits."
"While other developers are worrying about obeying standards
and maintaining market share, Be is one of the few companies
that's adopting a don't-swallow-the-elephant attitude. Be
has simple solutions to difficult problems and isn't trying
to solve world hunger with its offering."
On the business side, Eric believes the BeBox is an ideal
platform for OEM models. "With the Be OS(TM), we can develop
solutions with a minimum of interference from the underlying
OS and a maximum of support for general programming
problems, such as multitasking and memory management."
"We have some very interesting PCI boards available to us
for building video production systems," says Eric. "We plan
to use these in conjunction with a PCI chassis and our own
custom software."
Shooting Star is writing BeBox drivers for some of its PCI
cards now, and plans to begin development of its first BeBox
product in a month or two. They expect their product to be
available by the end of 1996, but aren't quite ready to
reveal the details yet -- so stay tuned.
For more information on Shooting Star Systems, send e-mail
to Eric at
berdahl@serendipity.org.
When, Where Can I Buy One?
By Jean-Louis Gassée
We get the question on-line, by fax, by phone, and even in
person sometimes when people see the T-shirt. We're very
grateful for the interest and we'd like to respond in the
most appropriate and most durable fashion. Which is to say
we'd like to build happy relationships, create positive word
of mouth, not just expedite locally profitable transactions.
There are a number of obstacles on the road to this blissful
state of affairs. Some are regulatory, some are connected to
the status of product development, the availability of
applications and more generally, the resources and learning
process involved in building a new platform.
On the regulatory side, we're in line for FCC approval and
expect it early July. In the meantime, the units coming out
of the manufacturing pipe will continue to be allocated to
developers. Even with healthy caution applied to the size of
our backlog of unfilled developer requests, we'll need the
next two months to catch up. Then, FCC approval in hand, we
turn to customers.
As we advertised earlier using various metaphors, this isn't
a mainstream machine. This time, to make the point I'll use
the following four qualifying questions for a prospective
customer: Do you own two or more personal computers already,
do you use or love C++, do you have Internet access, and do
you have two thousand dollars on your credit card?
The first question addresses the lack or paucity of
applications at the time we start selling customer units.
You must already have personal computers (we're brand
agnostic) to take care of the daily bread and butter needs
the BeBox cannot fulfill. Also, good working knowledge of
the pluses and minuses of existing platforms will add
realism to expectations and enjoyment to ownership of a
well-balanced stable of computers.
Then, the C++ question. I've been advised it's impossible to
use AND love C++. More to the point, for some time,
CodeWarrior will be the only -- or one of the very few --
applications available on the BeBox. We expect Java tools to
be available from Metrowerks and other sources at a later
date, but in the meantime, our customers have to be
interested in C++ programming. CodeWarrior's award-winning
IDE and the speed of the BeBox will add to the enjoyment of
C++ programming.
The Internet access shouldn't be a problem. It's almost a
self-selecting mechanism. The Web constitutes our best
marketing and support channel. Be developers will use the
Web to promote and distribute their applications as well.
Just as important, even at this very early stage of our
life, there are many active Web sites and substantial
traffic on comp.sys.be. These will grow and provide useful
information and technical support to BeBox users -- and Be
engineers and marketers. It bears repeating that without the
Internet and the Web, this company probably wouldn't exist.
When I started Be, in October 1990, I thought we'd begin
with a small BBS to interconnect our developers, our users,
and ourselves in order to exchange information, arguments,
and software. I even watched with glee as I saw FirstClass
(from SoftArc, a Canadian company), one of the nicest BBS
systems ever, take off and gain worldwide respect for the
quality of their product. I even hoped we could bundle a Be
version of FirstClass with our product, a nice and useful
communication tool for early adopters. The Web has fulfilled
that dream and much more, without asking us to become a BBS
operator in order to do business from Australia to
Finland.
As to the credit card question, this is the payment
mechanism we've used thus far. But we'll take any reasonably
current and reliable instrument. And we'll refund your
money, as indicated in the small print to come on the Web
site, if you're not happy. Yes, we need money. Happy money,
good word of mouth that brings new customers and repeat
business. If we do a good job processing your images, or
serving your web site, we hope you'll buy more BeBoxes and
recommend us to your envious friends.
Initially, we'll offer our products on the Web and run a
small number of experiments with the geekiest of retailers.
Even if some of us have prior experience marketing computers
(or because of it), we know this is new territory. We don't
like it when bystanders label us quixotic, when they are
polite, or crazy, when they are honest, for launching a new
platform. We explained and we'll keep explaining how this
isn't so lunatic in view of the state of aging platforms and
the emergence of undominated digital media and
communications applications. But they have a point. There's
the expectation that launching a new platform requires
almost infinite Procter & Gamble financial resources.
We, in the microbrewery school of business, plan to deploy
the BeBox in the market as we developed it, patiently.
Premature marketing expenditures kill many a start-up. We'll
step up spending only when we have traction, when we have
proven where the BeBox works and where it needs more
development. That's what we'll do in the next few months and
we hope you'll lend us a hand by developing software, buying
our product, or just sharing your observations.
A last anecdote. Last week I mentioned selling T-shirts. It
looks like the price just went up. This morning our
housekeeper walked in ten feet tall and handed me a VHS
tape. On it there was a segment of David Letterman's show,
prominently featuring Robin Williams, and less prominently,
two glimpses of said housekeeper in the first row proudly
displaying a Be T-shirt. Expect the customary "As Seen on
National TV" label real soon now.
Be World Tour: New York
Last week, three Beings (Mark Gonzales, Dominic Giampaolo
and Alex Osadzinski) spent three days in New York City
taking the BeBox and Be OS on the road. We did press
interviews, radio and TV shows, and three user group
meetings. At every event we demonstrated the BeBox and Be OS
and then had discussions about our company, its strategy,
and products.
The press interviews were with The New York Times, Business
Week, and Unigram. The Times and Business Week seemed to
really like the demo and asked a lot of technical as well as
business-related questions. This type of interview will
build good relationships with these important journals for
the future and, who knows, may even generate short-term
coverage. The folks from Unigram, an open systems industry
weekly newsletter, were interested to hear about a new
system platform, even if it doesn't run UNIX! Of course,
they were most interested in our POSIX compliance, and
seemed pleased that Linux is running on the BeBox.
After the print interviews, we moved on to TV and radio.
"High-Tech Shower" (!), a Japanese-language technology show
that can be seen in Manhattan, asked us to their studios to
video tape Mr. Gonzales' demo performance (he'll be
translated into Japanese for the broadcast). Then we rushed
over to WBAI (99.5 FM) for an interview that included a live
phone-in segment. We fielded a lot of very good Be questions
-- there are more Be people out there than we'd guessed.
The most important part of the trip was attending and
speaking at three user group meetings: The New York Mac
User's Group (NYMUG) and two meetings sponsored by the Amiga
Users' Group (AMUSE). Because of a tight agenda, we only had
time for a quick demo at the NYMUG, although even that
generated a lot of interest. At the two AMUSE meetings we
had more time and enjoyed lively Q&A sessions. After the
second meeting, we just made it out of the building before
they locked the doors, and could easily have spent a couple
more hours talking with the Amiga folks.
Altogether, about 400 people saw the BeBox and Be OS during
three very hectic days. Many, many thanks to Bhima Hogan,
Livingston Hinckley, Linus Lys, Eugene Pisman, Chris Bastian
and many others in the New York area who helped us set
things up and who hosted us most graciously.
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