Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.os.minix:22406 comp.os.386bsd.misc:543 comp.os.386bsd.questions:3425 comp.os.linux:45847 Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.386bsd.questions,comp.os.linux Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!fcom.cc.utah.edu!cs.weber.edu!terry From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) Subject: Re: Choosing a Unix like OS for a pc (plan 9 compilation time) Message-ID: <1993Jun30.234404.4063@fcom.cc.utah.edu> Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu Organization: Weber State University, Ogden, UT References: <FOX.93Jun29142638@graphics.cs.nyu.edu> <741438841.9926@minster.york.ac.uk> <20sscl$brc@usenet.mcs.kent.edu> Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 23:44:04 GMT Lines: 41 In article <20sscl$brc@usenet.mcs.kent.edu> delozier@condor.mcs.kent.edu (Greg Delozier) writes: [ ... ] >So *my* wish (requirement) list for a 32-bit OS goes like this: > >1. 32-bit flat address space for all processes. >2. Heirarchical directory system >3. Reasonable windowing system with low overhead and simple image model >4. " printing " " " " " " " " >5. Interrupt driven serial i/o (and maybe print spooler) >6. C (maybe C++) or Oberon compilers. (Oberon is a clean, small OOP language) >7. Small enough for one person to understand. > >IMHO: > >386bsd & Linux meet 1,2,5,6 >Oberon meets 1,3,4,5,6,7 >DOS with djgpp meets 1,2,(3?),5,6 (and maybe 7) > >Any suggestions or comments? o 386BSD meets 3 & 7 in my book (you *can* turn off networking and use UNIX domain sockets). o I don't think anyhing on a 386 meets 1 o DOS doesn't meet 3 or 5 without additional software (making it no longer DOS), and, unless source has just been released, doesn't meet 7 either unless you work for MS or DR or IBM or ... DOS is also probably immediately disqualified for 32-bit OS on the grounds that it isn't 32-bit (10 bits + 4 bits of segment for 640k total) and isn't an OS (it's a non-reeentrant real mode interrupt handler -- it doesn't even have a non-preemptive scheduler, like MS Windows). You could, of course, use it as a program launcher for highsoft C programs (they're 32 bit) or MS Windows programs (they're not 32 bit) , but that wouldn't make *it* 32 bit... it would make *it* a glorified boot loader. Terry Lambert terry@icarus.weber.edu --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.