Athene has a large set of features, many exclusive to its modern design structure. Here is an overview of some of the key features that are of greatest importance to Athene users:
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Support for all Modern Graphics Cards
The commercial version supports any VESA compliant graphics card and approximately 100 graphics cards are directly supported for full hardware acceleration. This includes cards from NVIDIA, ATI, 3DFX, 3DLabs, Intel, S3, SiS, Matrox and more. Refer to this list for details.
Graphics support is provided by SciTech SNAP technology and has benchmarked 17% faster graphics throughput ahead of Microsoft Windows. |
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The Latest Software Advances and High Levels of Performance
Athene uses a modern graphical user interface that includes the very latest graphics and special effect techniques. Translucent windows & gadgets, fade effects, icon scaling and shadow casting are just a few of the featured capabilities.
The commercial release also boasts the fastest performing desktop of any system based on the Linux kernel and is proven in benchmarks. The OS is compiled specifically for Pentium processors for maximum performance. |
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X11 Compatible
We've developed an X11 compatibility server so that you don't have to go without your favourite Linux programs. Run popular programs like Mozilla, Open Office, GIMP and GAIM all from within the Athene desktop.
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Plug and Play Hardware Support
Plug and play support is provided for multimedia devices such as monitors, graphics cards, audio, mouse and USB devices. Free yourself from ever having to setup your hardware again! |
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Live CDROM
Athene works straight from the CD without pre-installation! Take it with you and use it anywhere. Athene can work with any compatible PC without ever touching the hard drive. When you do install, it takes roughly 10 minutes to do so and partitioning software is available to reorganise your hard-drive. Athene provides a boot menu so that you can keep existing operating systems on your hard drive. |
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Multi-Platform Support
Do you need to run Athene but don't have the ability to install the full version on the hard drive? Or do you need to install it on a corporate PC but just don't have the permission? No problem - we provide Windows and Linux versions for just this situation. These versions are smaller but still capable of running all DML and Pandora compliant software available from us and other developers. |
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Software Plugin Support
Enhance your system by adding data plugins from us and other vendors. Plugins allow your installed software programs to recognise the latest data formats (such as image and audio files) without having to upgrade each application individually. |
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Multimedia Support
Athene includes native support for a number of different multimedia file types. Audio support includes WAV, MOD, S3M, IT and XM files. Image support covers PNG, PCX, JPEG and IFF files. Font support covers TrueType and Windows bitmap standards. |
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International Support
Unicode support is provided as standard for the support of international languages. Enhanced unicode fonts can be installed (available separately) to ensure that unicode characters are displayed correctly. |
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Rewriteable Interface
Create new interfaces or edit the existing ones with Athene's programmable GUI. Now you can generate your own dream interface, either just for you or to share amongst the Athene community. |
Object Based
Everything that 'physically exists' in Athene is an object, whether
it be a file, picture, window or application. This provides more consistent
management of data between software applications and a more predictable
experience when it comes to using the operating system. Network communication
is also much simpler, as the objects themselves can be directly passed
between Athene systems, rather than converting them to files first.
Unified Data Model
Powerful data recognition means that you don't need to worry about file-types
such as pcx, jpeg, iff or png anymore. Any file format supported by
Athene will apply to all programs that run in your desktop. Support
for new file formats can be installed easily and instantly supported
by all your programs regardless of their antiquity.
Object Scripting
Athene supports the Dynamic Markup Language
as standard for editing and recreating the operating system environment,
as well as component-based applications. Power users can edit scripts
to make detailed changes to how the OS works, or create entirely new
scripts to perform specific tasks. Scripts are also responsible for
presentation management, including the way in which components are positioned,
displayed and how they interact with the user.
Rewriteable Applications
Athene's emphasis on object scripting provides a unique application
model that says goodbye to executable files and welcomes an entirely
new method of application development. Using the power of DML scripts,
you can edit, add and remove features from your applications so that
they are more suitable for your working style. As a power user, you
can go so far as to take foreign applications and merge them together,
creating hybrid applications for your own personal use.
Multi-lingual Applications
The development of multi-lingual applications is made easier by storing
the language definitions of an application in a script file, rather
than compiling them into an executable. By easing the development of
multi-lingual applications, international users can benefit from a wider
variety of applications that support multiple languages. Software developers
also benefit from this encouragement by reaching out to a wider audience.
Full support for unicode is included so that international character
sets can be displayed correctly.
Scalability
By allowing users to create the specifications of their own operating
system, it is possible to create truly scalable environments by adding
or removing components. This means that Athene can be scaled down to
work on small embedded devices, or scaled up to take advantage of more
powerful desktops and servers.
Micro-Tasking
Micro-tasking allows large applications like word processors and graphics
editors to be split into multiple tasks instead of operating in a normal
multi-tasking task space. This can prevent large applications from completely
crashing in the event of software failure, as faults are limited to
a smaller operating space. This feature is better than threads, which
are not protected from each other, and is also of great benefit to computers
with two or more processing units.
Publicly Available Source Code
We are committed to making large quantities of the source code available
to the public in order to fertilise development and the addition of
new components to the existing class library. Our source is made available
under the terms of the Open Development License
and is distributed from our download area.
