In the UK, Plymouth University’s Portland Square building is the subject of an interactive experiment. Researchers have developed a software called Arch-OS which not only manages the buildings systems but also encourages those working inside to interact with their surroundings. Check the video too.
Introducing Arch-OS
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Interesting project, but a computer operating system it is not.
I see we have another Expose clone…
Long live Apple!
They were using the real thing, not a clone. It was Mac OS X that was being used there.
Did you see the restore animation? They are running this on OSX.
It’s the graph looking program in the video. This is software. From the site.
“System Requirements:
• Macintosh: G4 Processor or higher / OS 9.2 or later / 256MB RAM / Quad-speed CD-ROM Drive / QuickTime 5.
• Windows: Pentium III 700Mhz Processor or higher / Windows 98, 2000 or XP / 256MB RAM / Quad-speed CD-ROM Drive / QuickTime 5”
I love the elevator at the end of the clip…”Doors closing”
very 1987.
definitely using a mac in the video. man, those new cinema displays are sexy.
so, we see macos, expose 4-5 times and a talking elevator.. now, can someone tell me why i looked at this realmedia video?
Hmm, the same thing happens on ITU in Copenhagen, Denmark. University of Information-Technology.
– Simon
That video link crashes my firefox.
Arch-OS is not a desktop operating system or application. As its Web site says, it is “software for buildings”. It runs in the background to monitor and manage the functioning of buildings. From the looks of the video, Arch-OS is being controlled from a Mac.
So Arch-OS is an operating system for buildings that runs on top of MacOS?
Cool.
I remember this http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=8219 about Plan B. There was a quite lengthy video with, at one point, a guy switching the light through /dev/whatever/lights and other stuff.
Why do we have so many OS’s, and on really 2 are so user freindly the average person can use it for anything they need, BeOS was another one, but that is gone.
What the hell is it? I couldn’t get the idea form the info on the page…
Isn’t it incredible to have the freedom of choice?
Well, assuming that you are making that comment out of ignorance, each operating system that is built is targeted at specific tasks. You can categorize operating systems as, Desktop OS, Server OS, RTOS (Embedded systems) etc etc etc.
If you are an average person, you probably don’t even need to know anything other than Windows, MacOS and a few distros of Linux.
From the fact that it requires the presence of either Windows or MacOS, I would say it would be more of a “Controlling Interface” rather than an (computer) Operating System. But, it controls the Operation of the systems in the building, so in remote way, it qualifies for an Operating System.
Still looking at the site to gather more information.
The screensaver is the work of Adam Montandon (He did it as part of his Masters), who I went to university with, it was actually built with Director. From what he said there are a lot of sensors, more than they seemed to be talking about, including not just the infra-red video but CO2 detectors, power usage detectors, and many others.
The whole thing looks like the work of the CAiiA-STAR group, you can tell by the stupid number of made up words, one of the research groups at the university who specialise in digital art.
I beleive that it was mainly a data gathering system, which you could then extract stuff from. Very little actual control over the building systems. As with the made up words claiming that something is doing something much cleverer and more technical than it actually does is highly in keeping with this group so long as it looks pretty.
It’s probably an hosted operating system, same as inferno for example: http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/index.html
“Why do we have so many OS’s, and on really 2 are so user freindly the average person can use it for anything they need, BeOS was another one, but that is gone.”
related to the article,
the elevator/lift’s OS(+ui) may be another one.
average person can operate it.. call the life, select the floor, open door, close door, emergency alarm.
“What the hell is it? I couldn’t get the idea form the info on the page…”
Does it run the Air Conditioner? Sounds like a druggie or politician is in charge. What the heck is it?