Wish List

Shaka444 · 2026-07-08T21:58:17+00:00

Post your wishlist for apps and features you would like to have in Haiku. Include any insights on how to achieve it (if you have any ;-) .

Shaka444

A Text To Speech GUI App

I would love a little app that uses pipertts (which we have already) to play text files and maybe read webites. (Like forum pages :-D )

Right now we can copy the text to a text file, then in Terminal type "pipertts -m en_US-john -f /boot/home/Desktop/MyTextFile"
But this is a little tedious. You can pause the reading with CTRL-Z and resume with "fg" command.

A little front end would be nice with a play/pause button and maybe rewind/forward.
Cheers!

clasqm

Shaka444 I would love a little app that uses pipertts (which we have already) to play text files and maybe read webites. (Like forum pages :-D )

Have you tried Firefox extensions like this one?

clasqm

Where to start ...

A system-wide aplication scripting language. There is hey but let's face it, it's impossible for the average user to use. We need something along the lines of Applescript. Yab could have been a good start, but years of neglect have not been kind to it.
A native Office Suite. We have LibreOffice and Calligra and thank you very much, the people who ported them. But "You can run the same software as Linux" is not exactly a Unique Selling Point. Start small: A more stable sum-it, StyledEdit Enhanced, a SQLite front-end, for presentations maybe a front end to mdp or multitalk. No need to compete with MS Office on day 1: in fact I think it is more important to bring out something unique, something that could only be done in Haiku.
A 32-bit subsystem. You want to run old BeOS software? Here you go. Now the rest of us can move on.
A video capture utility that saves to a standard format and also understands the concept of audio.
Email setup procedures that don't require you to enter POP3/IMAP details manually like this was 1995. If I give my address as being whatever@gmail or whatever@icloud.com, then the system should simply know what to do. Apple Mail and Thunderbird have had this for decades.
A way to create Single-Site Browsers. Web apps are not going away, and with the Firefox-based browsers we now have, you can run just about all of them. But being able to run them in a chromeless browser window would be more elegant.
BeOS used to have a LOGO dialect called Squirrel. Years later I tracked down the author and asked him to open-source it. It has been lying on HaikuArchives for 9 years and nobody has touched it. That's right, a beginner-friendly language that can create real Haiku GUI apps and nobody with the required skills thought it was worth reviving. Where would Windows have been without Visual BASIC? New, newbie-friendly ways to create Haiku programs should be an absolute priority.

OK, I'll give someo0ne else a chance now ...

ilfelice

clasqm Email setup procedures that don't require you to enter POP3/IMAP details manually like this was 1995. If I give my address as being whatever@gmail or [whatever@icloud.com](mailto:whatever@icloud.com), then the system should simply know what to do. Apple Mail and Thunderbird have had this for decades.

Hopefully, the upcoming version of EmailViews will be of your liking. 😉 (teaser)

clasqm

One last point: There's nothing that says that only the Desktop can display replicants. One could write a DTP or Presentation program that is a replicant-aware container, plus a few replicant-able apps to display text, graphics and so on. Need a table facility? Just write another little replicant. I'm not saying I'm good enough to do this myself. But it is the kind of big-picture thinking I think we need to engage in. We've been stuck in catch-up mode. We should try things nobody else does. Sure, at times we will fail. You only need to succeed once.

Shaka444

clasqm Have you tried Firefox extensions like this one?

Nice. Works well in LibreWolf. Now if we only had a little speech icon in "Notepad+" I'd be set! ;-)

Null

A fully functional virtualization software to be able to boot other operating systems for software support.

I still run Windows 7 and will never "upgrade" beyond that. If it was possible I would still run Windows 2000. There are a lot of software that I need to use occasionally that do not support Windows 7 and for that I spin up a virtual machine. The same thing will be needed for Haiku for years to come. One example would be accessing banking services.

colmiga

Null The nvmm hypervisor for hardware virtualisation from work done during GSoC 2024 was recently added to the Haiku source tree by waddlesplash but is not enabled as while it works to a point, it's not ready yet due to a number issues. He has been spending the past few months working on making it functional as he mentioned on the Haiku forum, and can be seen by recent commits to the Haiku repo.

This is the link to the nvmm code in the Haiku tree via github in case someone wants to take a look: https://github.com/haiku/haiku/tree/master/src/add-ons/kernel/drivers/nvmm

Shaka444

"Blacklist"
A GUI app with a list of checkboxes to blacklist system servers and services.
Useful for testing alternative versions of servers, troubleshooting and streamlining your system.

dcbeckman

Shaka444 I second this. Part of the reason my Media-OS project hasn't gone public yet, is that blacklisting can be tricky sometimes. Not sure if I remember correctly, but Haiku seems a lot more restrictive than BeOS ever did in this area. Like I swear, under BeOS you could just replace the binary and restart a server or two and you were golden. I also don't understand why the non-packaged folder takes precedent over packaged, but blacklisting is still necessary? Make it make sense.

dcbeckman

@clasqm Nice list. I would like a 32-bit subsystem, not so much for BeOS compatability, than for 32-bit support in WINE. As for replicants, I was thinking of using them in the MIDI Editor I wanted to create, so that people can organize their own window layouts. Perhaps I can pair that up with Squirrel so that it is easier for user to create their own MIDI editor GUI. I never messed with Squirrel, but I remember it bringing us some handy apps back in the day. I am surprised nobody has messed with it. What is its operating status under Haiku?

clasqm

dcbeckman What is its operating status under Haiku?

'E's passed on! This language is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE!!

clasqm

dcbeckman I never messed with Squirrel, but I remember it bringing us some handy apps back in the day. I am surprised nobody has messed with it.

It wasn't that great a language, truth be told. It's the principle of the thing, the "C++ or nothing" approach. I would like to see a dozen languages with access to the Haiku API. There is yab. I love yab. I wrote the book on yab, literally. But it hasn't moved forward in fifteen years. In some respects, it has moved backwards. There are on-again, off-again attempts to integrate python, dating all the way back to the BeOS days.

We need more ways for people to get into the Haiku development universe. If all you know is LOGO, here's a way you can contribute. Know Javascript? Here you go. You're a rusty? Welcome.

dcbeckman

clasqm Personally, I am much more comfortable with Python over C++, as I use it in my day job. So, solid Haiku API libraries for Python would be awesome. Definitely add that to the list.

Akakor

Support for 64 bit Haiku on a 32 bit EFI (e.g. Intel Baytrail tablets, certain Apple machines).

https://github.com/davidkaroly/haiku/tree/efi-x86

https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/uefi-haiku-boot-loader-for-x86-32-bit/11625

Akakor

A DAW built for automation, transformation, and fast musical iteration

https://magda.land/

Shaka444

Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is a 64 bit version of BeOS with a modern browser, Telegram, and a DAW with a 3dmixer.

grexe

I need a usable webcam driver for UVC compatible cameras.
an better touchpad support.

Atomozero

grexe webcam driver for UVC compatible cameras.

Have you tried mine? If you send over your syslog, I can check why it's not working. 🙂

Akakor

Power saving features