helge@ucbvax.UUCP (06/11/83)
Newsgroups: net.micro.cpm Subject: Re: S-100 Unix References: <1770@sri-arpa.UUCP> (From: goldfarb.ucf-cs%rand-relay@sri-unix.UUCP) I have no doubt that a good BIOS hacker could figure out how to modify a bootstrap and write device drivers for Unix. And while working with the kernel requires a firm educational foundation in operating systems theory, most of the routines in there were deliberately kept simple, with complex algorithms being used only when they would result in great gains. But, then, there is usually little reason to go poking around in the kernel, anyway, once Unix has been ported to your specific machine (how often do you modify the BDOS?), nor do most Unix installations have the luxury of a source license. Well, I really doubt it. It takes a helluva cp/m hacker to write disk device driver for unix. Not only will he have to now how to deal with the device itself (which he probably knows, being a BIOS hacker), but he will have to know a lot about the internals of Unix since the drivers take care of a lot of buffer handling. If the system source is not readily available, this may make the task impossible since the buffer management may change from one implementation to the next thus invalidating any existing documentation. But if a sample driver is supplied with the system, yes, it could probably be done by a "good BIOS hacker". helge@berkeley