rose@galtee.cs.wisc.edu (Alice Waters) (04/06/91)
Before folks get too excited about the prospect of porting big things like TCP/IP or X11R-anything to Coherent, allow me to point out one little thing that might rain on that parade a wee bit-- the compiler only supports small model. That means 64K code and 64K data, max. Now, you could do some creative things with a ram disk to make things work, but it isn't going to be a matter of just changing a few defines in the code to get big things to compile-- its going to be the sort of port where you really get your hands dirty. I personally would want to have a good assurance that a 32-bit version of the operating system was not going to come out the day after I finished a port like that, but that might just indicate a character flaw on my part. -- Scott Rose rose@cs.wisc.edu (608) 238-3801
winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) (04/08/91)
In article <1991Apr5.163104.28033@spool.cs.wisc.edu> rose@galtee.cs.wisc.edu (Alice Waters) writes: >Before folks get too excited about the prospect of porting big things like >TCP/IP or X11R-anything to Coherent, allow me to point out one little thing >that might rain on that parade a wee bit-- the compiler only supports small >model. That means 64K code and 64K data, max. Now, you could do some creative >things with a ram disk to make things work, but it isn't going to be a matter >of just changing a few defines in the code to get big things to compile-- its >going to be the sort of port where you really get your hands dirty. I >personally would want to have a good assurance that a 32-bit version of the >operating system was not going to come out the day after I finished a port like >that, but that might just indicate a character flaw on my part. Perhaps it is my age showing. But I remember when 64K for both code AND data was "more than anyone would ever want." *SIGH* Ahh. The good ol' days :'( But times do change & as an observation (that I am sure MWC has made too) a 32 bit version of Coherent for less than $500 would probably become THE OS of the 90's. Even if there is no source available for the thing. Just don't loose the loadable device driver stuff and I think us hacker types will stay happy. -- ! John Winans Advanced Computing Research Facility ! ! winans@mcs.anl.gov Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois ! ! ! !"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away"-- Tom Waits !
cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Conway Yee) (04/10/91)
In article <1991Apr8.155202.27275@mcs.anl.gov> winans@sirius.mcs.anl.gov (John Winans) writes: >But times do change & as an observation (that I am sure MWC has >made too) a 32 bit version of Coherent for less than $500 would >probably become THE OS of the 90's. Even if there is no source >available for the thing. Just don't loose the loadable device <driver stuff and I think us hacker types will stay happy. Why? For most UNIX sites, the suits demand AT&T UNIX. Commercial software is not sold for Coherent or even most flavors of UNIX. Instead, binaries only & vendor specific (i.e. SCO) packages are the rule. A 32 bit Coherent would not change this. Most if not all commercial software vendors will not come out with Coherent specific versions. Besides, a 32 bit version of MINIX exists and you get the source. Few would argue that the existance of a 32 bit MINIX has caused it to become a runaway bestseller. In order to call a 32 bit Coherent THE OS of the 90's, you have to justify why it would be better than: 1) the many flavors of AT&T UNIX (you can claim cost advantages but not third party support) 2) MINIX which comes with source and is similarly priced. Conway Yee, N2JWQ yee@ming.mipg.upenn.edu (preferred) 231 S. Melville St. cy5@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (forwarded to above) Philadelphia, Pa 19139 yee@bnlx26.nsls.bnl.gov (rarely checked) (215) 386-1312