{"slug": "oberon", "name": "Oberon", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 3.689, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-08-10", "why": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "oberon.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://oberon.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Oberon", "Oberon System"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 787958800, "item_id": 49247425, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49247425", "by": "ianbicking", "date": "2026-08-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar", "excerpt": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar then it would scroll position to the top. Like if you click the exact middle of the scrollbar then it would scroll up exactly half a page. Right click went the opposite direction, and middle click went to an absolute position. When reading that means you can choose a paragraph as the break point, click ne", "context": "used it in school", "use_case": "UI design inspiration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: In your experience, what are sound conventions for e-ink UI development?"}, {"id": 764105200, "item_id": 47756575, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47756575", "by": "justin66", "date": "2026-04-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is a really cool thing.", "excerpt": "This is a really cool thing. Thanks Rochus. The Oberon language and the Oberon System were featured in Byte Magazine several times, most notably in Dick Pountain's articles: https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199103_Byte_Magazine_Vol_16-03_Network_Management.pdf https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199305_Byte_Magazine_Vol_18-06_Pentium.pdf https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199501_Byte_Magazine_Vol_20-01_Small_Office_Big", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Oberon System 3 runs natively on Raspberry Pi 3 (with ready SD card)"}, {"id": 750428128, "item_id": 46901758, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901758", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-02-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Surprised no one has mentioned Oberon in this discussion", "excerpt": "Surprised no one has mentioned Oberon in this discussion: https://oberon.org/en Really wish that there were drivers available to make that run nicely/natively on a Raspberry Pi rather than in an emulator: http://pascal.hansotten.com/niklaus-wirth/project-oberon/oberon-pi/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wirth's Revenge"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "ianbicking", "context": "used it in school", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49247425", "date": "2026-08-10"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["ui design inspiration", "teaching operating system"], "compared": [{"slug": "plan-9", "name": "Plan 9", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47739174", "title": "Show HN: Oberon System 3 runs natively on Raspberry Pi 3 (with ready SD card)", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49213660", "title": "Ask HN: In your experience, what are sound conventions for e-ink UI development?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46895381", "title": "Wirth's Revenge", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46357258", "title": "Oberon et al., vs. Rust", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45785858", "title": "Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 787958800, "item_id": 49247425, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49247425", "by": "ianbicking", "date": "2026-08-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar", "excerpt": "I used Oberon [1] in school, and it had a bunch of funky UI ideas. One I liked it if you clicked on the scrollbar then it would scroll position to the top. Like if you click the exact middle of the scrollbar then it would scroll up exactly half a page. Right click went the opposite direction, and middle click went to an absolute position. When reading that means you can choose a paragraph as the break point, click ne", "context": "used it in school", "use_case": "UI design inspiration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: In your experience, what are sound conventions for e-ink UI development?"}, {"id": 765034560, "item_id": 47814660, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47814660", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-04-18", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It is an OS.", "excerpt": "It is an OS. And it is also a programming language, which can run on other OSes as well as on its own native one. Here's a Windows version: https://blackboxframework.org/ Here's a Linux version too: https://blackbox.oberon.org/download Renamed, but \"Component Pascal\" is Oberon. Wirth's Oberon is a compiler, but Oberon can also be compiled with other compilers. Vishaps interpiles Oberon via C using GCC, Clang etc. htt", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Oberon System 3 runs natively on Raspberry Pi 3 (with ready SD card)"}, {"id": 764105200, "item_id": 47756575, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47756575", "by": "justin66", "date": "2026-04-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is a really cool thing.", "excerpt": "This is a really cool thing. Thanks Rochus. The Oberon language and the Oberon System were featured in Byte Magazine several times, most notably in Dick Pountain's articles: https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199103_Byte_Magazine_Vol_16-03_Network_Management.pdf https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199305_Byte_Magazine_Vol_18-06_Pentium.pdf https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199501_Byte_Magazine_Vol_20-01_Small_Office_Big", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Oberon System 3 runs natively on Raspberry Pi 3 (with ready SD card)"}, {"id": 763868560, "item_id": 47741785, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47741785", "by": "Rochus", "date": "2026-04-12", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Oberon is both a programming language and an operating system used mostly for teaching", "excerpt": "Oberon is both a programming language and an operating system used mostly for teaching, much like e.g. xv6 or xinu. Similar to the latter, Wirth has written text books about the system, some of which can be downloaded for free (see https://projectoberon.net/ for the PDF links).", "context": "", "use_case": "Teaching operating system", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Oberon System 3 runs natively on Raspberry Pi 3 (with ready SD card)"}, {"id": 750428128, "item_id": 46901758, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901758", "by": "WillAdams", "date": "2026-02-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Surprised no one has mentioned Oberon in this discussion", "excerpt": "Surprised no one has mentioned Oberon in this discussion: https://oberon.org/en Really wish that there were drivers available to make that run nicely/natively on a Raspberry Pi rather than in an emulator: http://pascal.hansotten.com/niklaus-wirth/project-oberon/oberon-pi/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wirth's Revenge"}, {"id": 743151040, "item_id": 46446940, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46446940", "by": "mikethe", "date": "2025-12-31", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Greetings again.. I have now read more of the book on oberon, and confess that I lost traction. It seems very clear that he is using objects, and my bias against them is very strong. I have heard it said that both oberon and plan9 are beautiful, but completely different. I'd be interested in your take on the two of them, when, if, each of them should be used, and why. I am currently attempting to install plan9/9front", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Oberon et al., vs. Rust"}, {"id": 732665984, "item_id": 45791624, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45791624", "by": "jonjacky", "date": "2025-11-02", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I think it's now considered an historical artifact.", "excerpt": "There is Wirth and Gutknecht's Oberon System. It's still available but is older than Visopsys -- it was created around 1990, then updated in 2013. I think it's now considered an historical artifact. https://www.projectoberon.net/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Visopsys: OS maintained by a single developer since 1997"}]}