Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2016 December 18

= December 18 =

What's the point of Genera OS?
Is Genera OS actually an OS? It seems that Lisp machines are extinct, and it would only run upon a real OS like Linux. What's the purpose of it, besides playing around? What can it do that a Lisp interpreter can't? --Hofhof (talk) 06:22, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
 * Our article says that development of Genera OS effectively stopped in the mid 1990s. Given that most Lisp Machines ceased being manufactured by the early 1990s, it would appear that it was no longer needed.- gadfium 18:33, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
 * I mean the Open Genera version. Although the article does not treat it thoroughly, it's a modern 64-bit OS, run as VM.Hofhof (talk) 21:07, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
 * There are likely some people who still need Genera for various things. But these links        suggest the Open Genera you're referring to is primarily a hobbyist thing as it was ported via leaked source code, and it's not even clear who has the rights to the original code.  Note that the Open Genera port that can run on Linux x86-64 (and maybe other versions) should not be confused with the original Open Genera developed for Alpha's running Tru64 Unix in the 90s by Symbolics, which is possibly still sold by someone who acquired the rights to sell it. Nil Einne (talk) 01:42, 19 December 2016 (UTC)