[comp.os.os9] Some differences between OS-9 and OS-9000.

ric@mcrware.UUCP (Ric Yeates) (01/08/90)

In article <908@xroads.UUCP> pubtendr@xroads.UUCP (Steve Roberson) writes:
>
>
>Please excuse my ignorance, but what is this new product called OS9000 and
>what is so special about it? How does it differ from OSK and OS9?
>
>Time for a plug from Microware I guess.....

Okay.  Here it is.....

    As requested, here are some of the things that changed between OS-9
and OS-9000.  This is in no way intended to be complete list.

    The most important change between OS-9 and OS-9000 is that OS-9000 can
run on different CPU's.  So far, 68020 and 80386.  This was accomplished by
writing as much code as possible in C.  An offshoot of doing this is that
now system calls can be made directly from C.

Kernel:
    * New system calls in the many areas including events and module
      directories.
    * The module directory is a binary tree that can contain other module
      directories.  This allows each user to have his/her own module
      directory for developing software.

IOMan:
    * IOMan (the I/O related functions of the OS-9 kernel) can handle
      variable length path descriptors.
    * Pathlists can be aliased to one another.  In other words, you can make
      IOMan consider /h1 and /h0/USR/TEST/PROGS/WORK to be equal.
    * the static storage scheme has been enhanced in respect to file
      managers and device drivers.    
    
RBF:
    * Variable-sized sectors are supported (powers of 2).
    * The size of the device is the limit on the size of a file.
    * "Small files" are implemented.  That is, since only about 48 bytes of a
      file descriptor are used, the rest of the FD's sector used to go to
      waste.  Under OS-9000, if the file is small enough to fit in the rest
      of that sector, it is held there until it is too large.
    * The device bitmap is maintained as a file and therefore may be very
      large.  It also may reside anywhere on the disk.
    * A boot may be any size and/or non-contiguous.
    * Hard links to files and directories can be created.  In other words,
      a file may exist only once on the device, but may appear in multiple
      directories.  The same applies for a directory.
    * File names can be longer (44 chars).
    * RBF includes a write-through disk cache.

SCF:
    * advanced line editing (insert char, del word left/right, etc.)
    * time-out on read
    * driver construction has been simplified

Shell:
    * command history is maintained so command lines can be edited and
      reissued easily
    * environment variables can be included in the command line.  This can
      make script files more powerful since they can change depending on the
      environment of the caller.
    * parameters can be passed to procedure files.  Again, making procedure
      files more flexible.
    * procedure files can be executed without forking a child shell.  This
      is useful for changing ones operating environment without logging out
      and relogging in as a different user.

    There are also many minor changes in relation to the utilities and
development tools.

Ric Yeates

jejones@mcrware.UUCP (James Jones) (01/08/90)

In article <1447@mcrware.UUCP> ric@mcrware.UUCP (Ric Yeates) writes:
>    * The module directory is a binary tree that can contain other module
>      directories.  This allows each user to have his/her own module
>      directory for developing software.

...but at least in outward appearance, the OS-9000 module directory
structure is an n-ary tree, not binary.  (I don't know the innards of
the structure, and that's probably as it should be.  :-)  It is definite-
ly true that OS-9000 users can have their own private module directories
in any case.

	James Jones