Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!killer!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Operating Systems (Re: archimedes)
Keywords: Archimedes, OS
Message-ID: <2254@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 17 Nov 88 21:20:23 GMT
References: <1216@dutesta.UUCP> <2212@ficc.uu.net> <372@eutrc3.UUCP>
Organization: SCADA
Lines: 25

In article <372@eutrc3.UUCP>, rcst8@eutrc3.UUCP (Pieter Schoenmakers) writes:
> You're saying that a computer
> without multitasking doesn't have an OS! That's nonsense.

That's more or less what I'm saying. If I might be so bold as to quote from
one of my heroes, Douglas Comer, in _Operating_System_Design,_the_Xinu
Approach_:

	"Although Xinu is small enough to fit in the text, it includes
	 all the components that constitute an ordinary operating system:
	 memory management, process management, process co-ordination and
	 synchronisation, interprocess communication, real-time clock
	 management, device drivers, intermachine communication (networks),
	 and a file system."

Later on in the book he goes into a great deal of depth as to what an
operating system is, or is not. I recommend this book highly.

From your description, what the Archimedes has is a file system, device
drivers, and an excellent standard graphics library. Much like the Apple
Macintosh...
-- 
Peter da Silva  `-_-'  Ferranti International Controls Corporation
"Have you hugged  U  your wolf today?"     uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter
Disclaimer: My typos are my own damn business.   peter@ficc.uu.net