Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!emory!mephisto!mcnc!ecsgate!ecsvax!utoddl
From: utoddl@uncecs.edu (Todd M. Lewis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: 3 games on CD-ROM for Amiga
Message-ID: <1990May9.205501.19130@uncecs.edu>
Date: 9 May 90 20:55:01 GMT
References: <1990May3.174527.18593@uncecs.edu> <1774@corpane.UUCP>
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Lines: 48

In article <1774@corpane.UUCP> sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) writes:
>Er, just because you have the storage space to hold Unix, doesn't mean
>you can run it. Two problems with unix on CD-ROM:
>
>1> You need an MMU to run unix. 500's and 2000's don't have them. You need
>a 2500 and up.

Well, yes and no.  To run what you normally think of at Today's UNIX
this is true.  You could, however, run a flavor of UNIX without
the protections of an MMU, but it would probably crash a lot.  So
what do you want for $1000?

>
>2> You can't write to a CD-ROM. Unix does a lot of housekeeping and writes
>lots of logs and temp files all the time. You need a lot of diskspace for
>this. Writable diskspace.

Most of the logs can be on /dev/null, and there are disk drives
available for writing on an A500.  Not a lot of space, but on the
other hand, nobody (not even root) could screw up any of the
bazillion files which make up UNIX and are never changed.  The
things you have to customize could live on a floppy (/etc, etc.).
It would take some work, and it wouldn't be a workstation, but
in 10 years there'l be a thread on the network talking about
record sales of early computers and they will say "It doesn't
count unless it had a keyboard, a screen, a mouse, and it ran
UNIX."  (Scatter some :-> around, and giggle as you read this--
nobody is taking this idea as anything other than a toy for the
mind.)

>I wanna WARM optical drive! (Write and Read Many)

Actually, I'm hoping they are obsolete by the time they are affordable.
[placing tongue in cheek...]  I wanna see something about the size of
a credit card, maybe 3 times thicker, with a non-volatile crystal-based
memory inside.  32 address and data connections, power, ground, and
_read_ finger connections on the side, 10-20ms access times, no
moving parts, for under $50.  Every computer would come standard with
at least two (one for 4Gig RAM, the other for a removable file
system) and a socket for a third (for making backups).  I just
haven't decided on the color yet :->

>-- 
>John Sparks  | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 2400bps. Accessable via Starlink (Louisville KY)
>sparks@corpane.UUCP |                                     | PH: (502) 968-DISK 
>A virtuous life is its own punishment.

--Todd