Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!olivea!oliveb!amdahl!JUTS!duts!kls30 From: kls30@duts.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L Shephard) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: 8-bit death (was Re: What the heck IS "Interactive TV"?) Message-ID: <2brN02no07bc01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> Date: 29 Apr 91 15:54:06 GMT References: <1991Apr21.152513.23054@sugar.hackercorp.com> <02J7020m07rC01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> <1991Apr26.221002.24745@sugar.hackercorp.com> Sender: netnews@ccc.amdahl.com Reply-To: kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA Lines: 44 In article <1991Apr26.221002.24745@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <02J7020m07rC01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Kent L. Shephard) writes: >> Just because MS-DOS doesn't allow swapping and virtual memory directly >> does not mean it is not 16-bit. What is your definition of a 16-bit >> OS? Mine is one that directly supports 16-bit integers, data formats, if >> it is segmented - allows at least 16-bit segments for memory addressing. > >CP/M allows all those things. > >My definitions: "8-bit O/S" written for memory on the order of 64K, single >user, single tasking. "16-bit O/S" written for memory > 64K, multitasking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As long as it is written for 64K or greater it is a 16bit OS. Multitasking has nothing to do with whether an OS is 8,16, or 32bits. If you exclude the multitasking constraint MS-DOS is a 16 bit OS. As long as an OS uses all the features of a CPU, that is 16 bit uses 16 bit data and 32 bit uses 32 bit data etc. that determines the size of the OS. You are confusing features of an OS with what it takes for one to be functional. >"32-bit O/S" written for memory >> 64K, sophissticated VM. Actually 32 bits would require you to address 4 gigabytes of memory. Sophisticated VM is not a requirement. Like I said you confuse req. with features. > >> So is NeXT Os 2.0 which, BTW is what my other machine runs. > >Wish I had that sort of disposable income. >-- >Peter da Silva. `-_-' >. -- /* -The opinions expressed are my own, not my employers. */ /* For I can only express my own opinions. */ /* */ /* Kent L. Shephard : email - kls30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com */