Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!udel!mmdf
From: KENC@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (Ken Corey, CSCI Major...)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: MacMINIX, interrupts, and ACK register saving conventions
Message-ID: <55035@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 30 May 91 14:57:25 GMT
Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 35

>I don't know but I really doubt it.  The context switch to finish handling
>the interrupt should happen fairly quickly anyways.

Yeah, it SHOULD, but that's the point...it doesn't right now...8(  The pure
Minix processes work pretty well, but they don't like backgrounding with other
Mac Applications, no way!  However, MacMinix DOES work on my 25Mhz Plus with
system 7...(grin)

>Actually, what I had in mind is having MINIX take control a system startup
>time before the system file and inits have been loaded (Sorry).  I think this
>may only work on systems with the 256k roms because of the resources available
>in these roms.  The only parts of the MacOS that I really want to get away
>from are the file system and the window manager. I would like to see X Windows
>running on MacMINIX also but I think it would be too slow.

The file system, I can understand, but it would be the most difficult.

But why get away from the window manager?  It's much faster than a x-window
clone.  Matter of fact, How hard would it be to make a translater between the
two...sure, you'd have to re-invent the wheel in places, but for the most part,
it would be making this command a true Mac command, no?

>sounds ok to me.  I think I'd be happy with apple handling all interrupts but
>eventually I'd like to replace these with handlers written specifically for
>MacMINIX.  These routines would be pretty machine specific though so I doubt
>any such modification would ever but put in the mainline MINIX.

Naw, these inits could be written to be 100% Apple clean.  Matter of fact, I
figure that a cdev would be even better, as it does provide an interface. 
Then, since it was clean, it could be ported across the different machines.

Just a thought.

\  Ken Corey, VAX/Unix Programmer/Operator  (And GOD am I confused...;)  /
 \          kenc@vaxb.acs.unt.edu  ken@isect.lonestar.org               /