Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!ctrsol!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!indri!uflorida!haven!adm!xadmx!RUSOFFMH@ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu From: RUSOFFMH@ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu (T B A L) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: RE: What should GNU run on (was Re: what kinds of things . . .) Message-ID: <20581@adm.BRL.MIL> Date: 11 Aug 89 08:49:35 GMT Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL Lines: 28 There are really several issues involved in the selection of a platform. Part of the point of writing a kernel in a high level language is that it really should not matter what platform you develop on. One of the things that everyone forgets is that in "cloning" UNIX, it is not necessary to duplicate its structure. Many operating systems have been produced that have a more rational structure. Among them is Mach. Another is Amoeba. Both are very portable, and both support virtual memory. While GNU OS has to "look" like UNIX, it does not have to "be" like UNIX. Perhaps, if RS could send out his basic ideas on what the kernel structure should be and we all could comment... Anyway, if you have to pick a platform, select systems that are based on chips with MMUs, select systems that have been around long enough for programmers to really understand them. Choose cheap systems that have inexpensive compilers. This essentially means 68030, 803/4/86 or 88000. One forward looking choice might be the 860. It holds the promise of inexpensive workstations and shares the 386 MMU (kind of). Probably, the 386 family offers the best immediate choice. It is, sadly, brain damaged, but then no one ever said anything was perfect... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Martin H. Rusoff Vanderbilt University My opinions are not that of my employer or any other organization with which I may or may not be affiliated...