Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!reed!psu-cs!kirkenda
From: kirkenda@psu-cs.UUCP (Steve Kirkendall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: A proposal--TOS Replacement Project
Message-ID: <1226@psu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 12 Nov 88 20:09:20 GMT
References: <700@sdcc15.ucsd.edu> <17702@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <1683@netmbx.UUCP>
Reply-To: kirkenda@psu-cs.UUCP (Steve Kirkendall)
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Portland State University; Portland OR
Lines: 46

In article <1683@netmbx.UUCP> hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) writes:
>In article <17702@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> acm@cs.ucla.edu writes:
>>I have a comment.  Why not adopt MINIX as that new OS?  
>
>As far as I know (don't have Minix right now), Minix is no speed demon
>(wha do You exspect from an operating system written in C?).
>It could be build anew (in Assembler of course), but that will take some
>time... (and will not be portable anymore).

Factors that slow Minix down (at least on PCs) are:
	1) The compiler that comes with Minix produces bad code.
	2) The Minix kernal is divided into several tasks which must
	   communicate with each other by passing messages.  Message passing
	   is slow.
	3) The disk I/O is not multi-tasking, so the system stops processing
	   when your disk is busy.

The bad C compiler could be replaced with a better one, such as Sozobon C.
The kernal could be divided into fewer tasks to reduce message passing overhead;
one big help would be to compile device drivers as part of the file system task.
That single-tasking disk I/O is a real bummer.

One problem with Minix: It is not freely redistributable.  Cheap, yes; free, no.
I suspect a PD operating system would have a much better chance of catching on;
can you imagine a typical Atari salesman explaining to a typical Atari customer
why s/he should spend money to replace something as technical as an OS?

>I like OS/9 pretty much (run it on an 020 VME BUS machine) and would
>like to have it on my ST at home as well...

I've tried running OS9 on my ST.  Very disappointing.  Microware's hard disk
driver & support software don't work with my Supra drive.  I managed to get it
running by using somebody else's driver, but the system crashes about every
hour and a half.  Reliability issues aside, OS9 is EXPENSIVE.  The C compiler
costs $500, and other software is priced similarly.  Also, OS9 seems a lot
slower than it should be -- perhaps because of its redundant CRC checking, or
because the kernel makes many recursive system calls, I don't know.

I like the Minix idea, or a PD *NIX clone.

Hey, Atari!  What kind of support would you be willing to give to a project
like this?  Yes, I understand that you all think TOS 1.4 is the greatest thing
since 3.5" disks... but DEC feels the same way about VMS, and a lot of us
customers want an alternative.  Please post a response.

		-- Steve Kirkendall