[Cuis-dev] VectorEnginePlugin: parts in motion

[ken.dickey at whidbey.com]

On 2021-08-09 15:06, Phil B wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 9, 2021, 5:20 PM <ken.dickey at whidbey.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 2021-08-09 09:53, Phil B via Cuis-dev wrote:
>> 
>>> While I appreciate the dream of a Smalltalk NOS environment, I don't
>>> think most people who embark on it really think through the reality 
>>> of
>>> the limitations the resulting environment will end up with (both in
>>> terms of device support and resulting image capabilities) or the 
>>> amount
>>> of work required to get there and keep it running on modern hardware.

>> Note that there is a huge, and confusing, range of literature on "bare
>> metal OS" design.

> I've typically stuck with the traditional 'no host OS of any kind' as 
> that's basically what people seem to be longing to recreate (i.e. an 
> Alto or Lisp Machines type of experience).  You'd still have microcode 
> and firmware as that's unavoidable on most modern hardware unless you 
> build your own (i.e. FPGA etc.)

Right.  I was noting the work required by pointing to something small 
and well documented which does the basics with modern hardware.  Huge 
amount of work, that.

> I wouldn't consider a RTOS a 'NOS' but see why it might be viewed as a 
> fine compromise vs a 'full' OS.  However, it still leaves you with most 
> of the same portability and device driver issues.
...

Right.  Hence my appeal to "value added".  Why manage disk blocks 
oneself when there are well tested file systems?

I was not implying that a RTOS was NOS, just giving an example of the 
activity one needs to undertake to get there.

I think that we are "agreeing loudly" here.

Good on ya,
-KenD