Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!decvax!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!hao!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!homxb!genesis!hotlg!anumb!eao
From: eao@anumb.UUCP (e.a.olson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: kit wishlist and software
Message-ID: <183@anumb.UUCP>
Date: 26 Feb 88 11:41:07 GMT
References: <880@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> <177@anumb.UUCP> <585@naucse.UUCP> <1006@ur-tut.UUCP> <23506@hi.unm.edu> <862@astroatc.UUCP>
Reply-To: mvuxq!adh@anumb.UUCP (a.d.hay)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - MV
Lines: 28
Keywords: 32k kit, cheap unix.


how about using the CMU Mach kernel?
i believe it's PD, thus cheap/free.
also fast; they essentially re-implemented *n*x (BSD flavor).
i can't peg it, but i recall a speedup of more than 3 times described.
it has networking hooks, too.

one thing i've always wanted to try --
instead of just hanging a uart off the bus to implement a serial port,
why not imbed the tty driver in a single-chip micro with embedded uart?
single-chippers are almost as cheap as a separate uart.
buffer i/o with a byte-wide ram dual-ported by cycle-stealing.

i favor (if there's enough room) of putting as much as possible
on the motherboard. a lot of us are going to want disk
controllers, color graphics ability, etc.
you others, you don't have to install chips just because the
etch is there!

speaking of graphics, i've just seen the sega 3d game box.
this has 2 frame buffers which display alternately (30hz*2),
and lcd glasses which switch to let each eye see only one frame.
imagine if you had a pc which could do this......
3d flight simulator? 3d omega-moria-hack-? yow!

andy hay		+-----------------------------------------------+
			|	"Boom boom boom boom" -- J. L. Hooker	|
ihnp4!mvuxq!adh		+-----------------------------------------------+