Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!mordor!sri-spam!sri-unix!quintus!pds
From: pds@quintus.UUCP (Peter Schachte)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AmigaDOS<->Amiga Unix integration (was Re: Amiga IPC should be the Amiga Unix IPC!)
Message-ID: <915@sandino.quintus.UUCP>
Date: 29 Apr 88 20:31:43 GMT
References: <2504@unicus.UUCP> <290@boing.UUCP> <2531@unicus.UUCP> <1556@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: Quintus Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 33
Summary: But AmigaDOS has things unix doesn't

In article <1556@pt.cs.cmu.edu>, ralphw@IUS3.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU (Ralph Hyre) writes:
> AmigaDOS should
> be to AmigaUnix as PC/DOS is to the Sun-386i.  68020/030 support full virtual
> machine models, so that AmigaDOS won't even have to know it's running under
> AmigaUnix, (ie let the Unix kernel do all the trapping and handling of
> Intuition stuff, or whatever.)

There's an important difference between an MSDOS/UNIX interface and an
AmigaDOS/UNIX interface:  MSDOS doesn't have anything to contribute to
UNIX.  It doesn't have lightwait :-) processes.  It doesn't have the
generality of AmigaDOS devices.  It doesn't have ASSIGN.  UNIX doesn't
have these either, but AmigaDOS does.

I'm not just concerned that AmigaDOS run on the same machine as UNIX,
without rebooting.  I'm not just concerned that AmigaDOS programs be
runnable WHILE UNIX is running.  And I'm not just concerned that UNIX
be able to directly run AmigaDOS programs, and vice-versa.  I'm also
concerned that UNIX be able to handle AmigaDOS assigns, devices, etc.
And I'd hate to trade AmigaDOS lightweight processes for UNIX's
behemoths.  I'd hate to have unix programs not use AmigaDOS's shared
libraries (ever looked at the size of a program that uses sunview?).
I'd hate to give up shared memory.  And so on.

Rather than simply porting UNIX to the Amiga, why not add the best
features of UNIX that the Amiga doesn't have to AmigaDOS?  There are
certainly some, but not as many, I think, as important features AmigaDOS
has and UNIX doesn't.

BTW, I'm not talking about the CLI.  Yuck.  I'm not talking about all
those BCPL programs.  I'm talking about the Amiga's "kernel."
-- 
-Peter Schachte
pds@quintus.uucp
...!sun!quintus!pds