Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: MAB01057%UFRJ.BITNET@cornellc.cit.cornell.edu (Marcelo Amarante Ferreira Gomes) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Unix for Atari 8-bit Message-ID: <20428@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 28 May 90 18:47:35 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 29 I missed this stuff while our link to the net was down, but, as an Atari 8-bit user (I still use it as a terminal for my PC), I have some- thing to say: It's a dream I'd like to see, but I doubt it'll be practical or even pleasant to use, for it's disk drive is sooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooow... I think that on any machine wich communicates to its drive via a serial line, Unix, Minix or *ix will never feel the way it really is. But if you face it as a programming challenge, though, it might be well worth to see if one can write such a piece of code - I'd face it myself if I weren't so busy working on a compiler (during the free hours) with Guy Helmer. Anyway, the request is pending on my (rather long) future projects list. Maybe I can later fix the compiler I'm writting to cross compile code for the 6502. I've already given it a little thought: we could simulate a larger stack using a 2-byte stack pointer on page zero - that wouldn't be so slow, since page zero access is so fast. Regarding the OS itself, one could use the display list interrupt as the time-slice end marker. Well, let's stop here, for old 8-bit Atari fans like me may get nostalgic and start writting the kernel from a series of articles starting with this one. If anyone has suggestions (or would like them), you may get in touch with me and maybe something comes out. Please don't expect me to get too serious about this. I have a college graduating course to finish and I think I'm already much busyer than I can handle, but I sure appreciate a nice chat :-) Marcelo A. Ferreira Gomes (Wally Gator)