Overcoming one of the primary stumbling blocks to white hardware, NEXTSTEP 3.2 promises to be dramatically easier to install on a wide variety of Intel-based systems. The new version, due out this fall, also includes support for DOS and Windows applications, an improved set of device drivers, and expanded on-line help.
"The main focus of 3.2 is quality," said Eric Chu, product manager for NEXTSTEP 3.2. "Release 3.1 was our first release on the Intel platform. We did everything to make sure that it was at the highest quality possible. However, it's like the first release of anything on a new platform Ð we missed some things."
Users of NEXTSTEP 3.1 have reported a variety of problems with drivers for Intel hardware, including serial drivers that cause the system to crash, echoes with the Pro Audio sound-interface board, and intermittent problems with Ethernet-interface cards. All of these issues have been addressed in NEXTSTEP 3.2, Chu said.
Other 3.2 highlights include:
Also expected in Q4 is NeXT's Portable Distributed Object (PDO) environment for Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX operating system. According to Rick Johnson, NeXT's director of development environment product marketing, the PDO system includes a library that emulates the Mach Interprocess Communication System using UNIX sockets, the Objective-C run-time system, and support for NeXT's distributed objects.
NeXT has also embarked on a port of PDO to SunSoft's Solaris operating system, which "will probably follow the HP port by 60 days," Johnson said.