Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.micro.68k
Subject: Re: Holy Holistic, Batman!  (OS-9 and the art of being holistic)
Message-ID: <6140@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Nov-85 16:26:30 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.6140
Posted: Thu Nov 14 16:26:30 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 14-Nov-85 16:26:30 EST
References: <576@sftig.UUCP> <1001@bnl44.UUCP> <11467@rochester.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 15

> As I said, UNIX-sheltered.  Try to comprehend I/O devices that have no
> association with the disks.  An "inode" is not required for OS-9 pipes or
> any other device, and therefore needs no disk access to open such....

How about OS-9-sheltered?  Try to comprehend that Unix file systems do not
have to use any particular storage technology; in particular, they do not
need to be on disks.  It's easy to have them in RAM, almost as easy to have
them in ROM.  Furthermore, Unix pipes do not have to be implemented as files
at all -- that's just the way most Unixes happen to do them.  On the system
I'm writing this on, pipes live in a little RAM filesystem; the resulting
improvement in speed is substantial.  We haven't bothered bypassing the
file machinery completely because we no longer have much incentive to.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry