Xref: utzoo comp.unix.wizards:6122 comp.arch:3155
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!yale!cmcl2!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.arch
Subject: Re: Jerry Pournelle on UNIX (From BYTE)
Message-ID: <3100@phri.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jan 88 16:35:08 GMT
References: <1495@osiris.UUCP> <2126@haddock.ISC.COM> <1497@osiris.UUCP>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 16
Summary: Really about Unix in ROM


	The proposal is to put Unix (the kernel and/or root file system) in
ROM.  The problems are that it's hard to change and there may be problems
with mounting a writeable filesystem on a read-only root.

	As for the first problem, why not use eeprom?  It's non-volitile,
so you get almost-instant boots, but you can still write in it if you have
to under program control for updates.

	As for the second problem, I doubt it's a problem.  We mount (via
NFS; maybe this doesn't work for local disks) lots of rw file systems on a
ro /usr.  Works fine; don't see any reason it shouldn't work for a ro root.
-- 
Roy Smith, {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!roy
System Administrator, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016