The Haiku project has released Beta 6 after more than 25 years of efforts to preserve the spirit of BeOS. The new release offers support for running Firefox and its derivatives, QEMU hardware virtualization through the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor (NVMM), improved POSIX and hardware compatibility, and bug fixes. Support for 64-bit ARM has not yet been added.
The release can be installed and booted quickly on older laptops thanks to its Pentium II and 256 MB RAM requirements. Tests showed that WiFi and audio support worked immediately after installation on some devices. Beta 5 and nightly builds were reviewed in 2024.
Why it matters
Haiku reaching this stage shows that its long-running approach of preserving the spirit of BeOS remains connected to current usage expectations. Beta 6 makes the project’s claim of being able to run on older computers more practical in terms of web access and hardware support needed for everyday use. This makes the release meaningful for people who want to try a new operating system but cannot use their older devices because of current hardware requirements. Virtualization support also allows Haiku to be tested alongside different working environments. However, the release’s beta status and the lack of 64-bit ARM support leave open questions about hardware coverage and stability.