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From: mash@mips.com (John Mashey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m88k
Subject: Re: Open Hardware
Message-ID: <2731@spim.mips.COM>
Date: 26 Apr 91 21:13:08 GMT
References: <16@metran.UUCP> <1991Apr26.184514.21951@motcad.portal.com>
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In article <1991Apr26.184514.21951@motcad.portal.com> jtc@motcad.portal.com (J.T. Conklin) writes:
>In article <16@metran.UUCP> jay@metran.UUCP (Jay Ts) writes:
>>A few days ago, I referred to the recently-formed ACE alliance, made up
>>of such industry heavyweights as DEC, SCO, Microsoft, MIPS and Compaq.
>>The group is planning to form standards for the MIPS RISC architecture
>>similar to what 88open has been doing for the 88k, but with some major
>>differences.  This got me thinking, so I posted a question:  "Does 88open
>>define a hardware standard that would allow a company to develop a UNIX
>>port to run unmodified on all 88open-compliant machines?"

>>The answer is: "No."  A few of those who replied to my post went on to
>>explain that 88open's standards applied to software only -- the interface
>>between third party software and the operating system.
>
>I don't know if this is true.  I am able to run binaries compiled on a
>Motorola MPC on a DG Aviion and binaries compiled on the Avvion in the
>m88kbcs development environment.

I think Jay and J.T. are talking about different levels of things,
and since ACE was mentioned as the start of this, let me explain exactly
what is and isn't going on.
	1) J.T. was talking about being able to run the same binaries
	of applications on various different machines from different vendors.
	This is what you get from:
		88Open
		SPARC clones (running SunOS versions)
		Various people who use RISC/os in MIPS world.
		ACE(1): under ODT, or any OS that will run those binaries
		ACE(2): under OS/2 3.0 (NT)
	2) What Jay was asking about, was the part of ACE that says that
	shrink-wrapped OPERATING SYSTEMS [ODT, OS/2 3.0] would run across
	multiple vendors' machines, if they complied with an appropriate
	set of specifications [which turns out to include things like
	minimum necessary stuff to boot, media interchange formats,
	keyboard layouts, etc ... but NOT I/O bus, so that you can have
	busless, EISA, TurboChannel, etc, etc systems, and still be able
	to run the shrink-wrapped operating systems.  (Note, of course,
	that such things already exist in the MSDOS, etc. & SCO ODT worlds,
	and usually within any single vendor's product lines, you often
	have a base kernel that can boot on most, if not all machines
	in that product line, although you may well reconfigure to throw
	out and/or add device drivers.)
	Anyway, this is hardly a strange concept; it is certainly easier to do
	when you start from scratch and think about it :-)
-- 
-john mashey	DISCLAIMER: <generic disclaimer, I speak for me only, etc>
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