Be® Provides Free Update to BeOS Release 3.1

RELEASED JUNE 16, 1998

For more information contact:

Be, Inc.
Scott Paterson, scott@be.com
+1 (650) 462-4126

In Europe:
Jean Calmon, jcalmon@beeurope.com
+33 1 49 06 73 75

BE® PROVIDES FREE UPDATE TO BEOS RELEASE 3.1

Free Download Available to Current BeOS Release 3 Customers

MENLO PARK, California (June 16, 1998) -- Be, Inc. announced today the release of a free update for current Be Operating System Release 3 customers to BeOS Release 3.1 for both Intel Pentium and PowerPC systems. Effective immediately, all new shipments of the BeOS will include Release 3.1. Current BeOS Release 3 customers may download the free update to Release 3.1 from the Be, Inc. web site http://www.be.com.

BeOS Release 3.1 provides support for additional hardware and peripherals and adds the following functionality:

DOS FAT File System Support -- Taking advantage of the modular architecture for supporting foreign file systems, an add-on for DOS FAT16 and FAT32 file systems is now included, and complements existing support for ISO9660, Mac OS (HFS), and Be file systems.

Serial Preferences -- Preliminary support for configuring and using ISA Plug and Play cards, including internal modems.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol -- Preliminary support for automatic TCP/IP address assignment via DHCP.

SCSI Support -- Preliminary support for SCSI storage devices connected via the Buslogic BT948 SCSI card.

Extended Sound Support -- Opti931 (OPTi, Inc) and YMF715 (Yamaha) sound chips are now supported.

Extended Motherboard Support -- Intel Dakota (440LX) motherboards are now supported by the BeOS. Additional changes for different motherboard and BIOS versions improve support for a variety of other motherboards.

Additional Improvements -- Additional network interface card drivers, additional graphics card drivers, and support for extended partitions is also included.

Be, Inc. will demonstrate BeOS Release 3.1 at PC Expo (Booth 1640). At the show, the following third party developers will demonstrate current commercial applications available for the BeOS:

Adamation, Inc. - personalStudio (real-time digital video compositing)

BeatWare, Inc. - BeBasics (productivity suite), Mail-It (email client), and Get-It (Internet file transfer)

Gobe Software, Inc. - Productive (interactive productivity suite)

Mediapede - ultraDV (real-time digital media editor)

ro design, Inc. - Showboat (multimedia presentation), rocolour (color creation), Backrow (background creator).