tneff@atpal.UUCP (Tom Neff) (04/01/88)
In article <621@mcrware.UUCP> jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones) writes: >In article <117@atpal.UUCP>, tneff@atpal.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes: >> What characterizes the new generation >> of OS's is not their graphical nature per se, but the use of hardware >> independent device *drivers* to control all communication with the user. > >Ah, yes...the "new" generation. Like OS-9, which has supported dynamic linking >and dynamically loadable device drivers on the 6809 since about 1980, and on >the 68xxx since about 1984? You're welcome to those fine examples of sophisticated precursor systems. Providing there was fairly strong enforcement of the output pathway using device drivers (rather than making an end run direct to the hardware as so many Apple II and PC applications do), then a handicapped driver could have been written for those systems. (May have been, for all I know.) What makes the difference in the case of OS/2 is the presumptive size of the installed base in a couple of years. Up till now, the most popular PC on the market has been rife with nonstandardized I/O handling, making it hard to justify developing anything but screen "readers." I think that will change before long. TMN -- Tom Neff