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From: ftw@datacube.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: OS/9 and other operating systems
Message-ID: <105100035@datacube>
Date: Mon, 7-Dec-87 11:43:00 EST
Article-I.D.: datacube.105100035
Posted: Mon Dec  7 11:43:00 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Dec-87 09:46:02 EST
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Nf-From: datacube.UUCP!ftw    Dec  7 11:43:00 1987


AB084@DK0RRZK0.BITNET.UUCP writes:



> 1. A good OS should have very few (favorably no) bugs. It should
>    do what the documentation says, be predictable. No surprises
>    wanted.

Agreed.  The most important part is doing what the documentation says.

> 2. It should be well documented and function in an intelligible way.
>    It should have a clear concept, e.g. of files, processes, etc.

No arguments here either.

> 3. It should be stable. This means it runs for days or even weeks
>    without crashing and it does so even if it is not left alone, if
>    there is somebody working all the time and if this someone makes
>    mistakes.

Your caveat is difficult to achieve.  The ST is an unmapped system; the
only memory protection is for the lower part of the address space.  If
the OS has code or data elsewhere, it is subject to corruption by an
errant or malicious user program.

> 4. There should be good software available for it or at least become
>    avalilable in the near future. Some kind of compatibility with a
>    "standard" such as UNIX would be nice. It would make porting easy.

> 5. It should provide (or be integrated with) a modern developing
>    system. Editor, compilers, linker, debugger, make, and so on.
>    All powerful, fast, and easy to use. Compilers should of course
>    generate quick code.

> 6. Multitasking is a must.

> 7. Real time capabilities might be useful.

No arguemnts on any of these points.

> Nice but not absolutely neccessary would be:

> 8. A TOS/GEM emulator. Don't want to lose all the games. And the few
>    excellent programs (like gulam or uniterm).

"emulating" TOS, GEM, et. al. would make the "real" OS kinda slow.  I would
rather have both OS's on the same disk, with an option to boot either one
at startup time.  Ability to read files on the other partition would be
nice, though.

> Which candidates do I see? Well, there are OS/9 and RTOS-UH. MINIX is
> being ported and there are even rumours about UNIX. I've read very
> positive articles about EUMEL (which I have never used or seen at work)
> in German magazines. There may be more. Hope we'll know soon.

What is EUMEL?  RTOS-UH?  I know of OS-9; I use it at work.  I have Idris
on my ST at home.  I see that Microware is advertising OS-9 availability
for the ST.  Both OS-9 and Idris offer solutions to your above wishes,
although they go about it slightly differently.  You would find it easier
to port existing code to an Idris than to OS-9 (my opinion), but its a
great deal easier to customize OS-9 to your specific needs.

Point is that tools exist that address most of your needs.



> I hope this will be the start of an interesting and useful discussion.


>             Michael Eibl                     ab084@dk0rrzk0.bitnet
>   Theoretical Physics Institute
>       University of Cologne
>         D-5000 Koeln 41
>           West Germany
				Farrell T. Woods 

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