chris@gestetner.oz.au (Mario Mendes) (08/20/90)
This is actually for johnr@systech, sorry but I couldn't seem to get to you directly over email - our network doesn't seem to like your address. Here's the letter: Date: Fri, 17 Aug 90 10:48:08 EST From: chris@gestetner (Mario Mendes) To: systech!johnr@uunet Subject: XINU John, I have done a fair amount of reading about the 960 and XINU and I think that I have overcome some major hurdles. I will probably start porting over the next two weeks. The target is the EV960CA evaluation board . Last year, a student working for us ported XINU to a 68000 board of our own design. It was very successful. The main problems that we had then were data types. That was overcome and it made XINU a bit more portable. As for the 960CA, context switching and task creation seem to pose the biggest problems. Also, on the 960, the stack grows from low to high addresses - XINU assumes the opposite in some places, most notably, in the memory allocation area. The 960 has 3 stacks, which can make context switching a pain - I have thought of ways to overcome this and I will try them out a.s.a.p. We have been contacted by another company in Australia wo is also porting XINU to the 960. We are investigating a joint venture so , just now, I am not able to communicate too much because we have not yet discussed the terms of our agreement ( ie: non-disclosure clauses etc.). I am very keen to share ideas with you so please keep in touch. I am meeting with the engineers from this other company next week ( Labtam - they make X terminals and workstations ) and I will contact you as soon as we have come to an understanding. I am very appreciative of your response. It certainly makes the world seem like a better place ! Chris Mendes Design Engineer ( Software Systems ) Gestetner Lasers Pty Ltd 12 A Rodborough Rd Frenches Forest NSW 2086 Ph: +61 2 975 0555 x546 Fx: +61 2 975 0448 ps: please send me your fax number a.s.a.p.