denbeste@bbn.COM (Steven Den Beste) (12/20/87)
I used QNX at work for quite a while about two years ago. (I've changed
companies, so I cannot reference the documentation. All of this is from
memory.)
I believe that QNX is to the 8X86 family what OS9 is to the 6809 and 68000 - a
multi-tasking operating system specifically designed around the characteristics
of the processor, to make it as fast as possible.
To run QNX on the 68000 would take not only a rewrite but a re-engineer, since
such things as the interrupt structure and the lack of segment registers
completely change the game. In other words, don't expect it. Buy OS9 instead.
(In fact, when Microware came out with OS9/68K, they did have to substantially
re-engineer it, though not as much as a port of QNX to the 68000 would take;
the 6809 and 68000 at least share conceptual architectures, even if the details
are quite different - the same cannot be said of the 8086 and 68000.)
With regard to a 2000, however, there isn't any fundamental reason why it
wouldn't work just fine on the far side of the Bridgecard. But...
But, QNX uses its own device drivers, it doesn't use the MS-DOS BIOS. This
means that it probably won't be able to use a partition on the 68000-side
hard-drive, and maybe won't be able to use any of the floppies on that side
either. You'd at the very least need an XT hard drive for QNX to live on and
use.
I wasn't all that impressed by QNX anyway. Just why do you want it instead of
AmigaDos or OS9?
--
Steven C. Den Beste, Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge MA
denbeste@bbn.com(ARPA/CSNET/UUCP) harvard!bbn.com!denbeste(UUCP)
I don't think BBN cares what I think about this stuff.
And that's probably just as well.