Some questions came into my mind, as I browsed the Hurd infos. I am absolutely no programmer, just someone who uses Linux for "production", so do not laugh at them.
1) Am I right if I think that a microkernel has nothing to do with small size? Although Mach and the servers are not _really_ big (like NT), they seem to be bigger than Linux (and modules) for the first sight. How will this (and the advantage, that the whole system is in several parts) affect its applicability in - say - embedded devices? 2) You say it is good to put the servers in user space. Is it the same as user space vs. kernel space? If I understand well, the separation provides memory protection as well (crashes, garbage in memory). If yes, don't you loose something with not separating? 3) If there is no centralization in the kernel, how can a developer make such a server that is transparently usable for those softwares, that are not explicitly designed to support the new features. In other words: if there is nothing like the kernel release (and syncing) in Linux, what makes the _whole_ thing coherent? 4) Is it possible to develop a translator that turns the ext2 filesystem to something like the one of the "Be"? If I have seen it well, it can record auxiliary data for a file regarding to the author, the topic, the project it is a part of. 5) Can something like a "database filesystem" created? Something than can produce views of the underlying files according to properties (like above). Like a directory with all my data files, one with all my documents, one with all my programs, and just another with data per preject. Doing this with symlinks is a nightmare (updating). 6) Will the Hurd be ready (to the extent like Linux is now) when Debian releases 2.2? When will it get PCMCIA support? 7) I am Hungarian and miss the keyboard layout very much. Is it available? If not, can I make one? Please let me know... Please point me to the relevant link if I have missed something describing these... Thans, ZS -- Gergely, Zsombor Junior Research Fellow Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Economics Phone: (36-1) 309-2659 P.O. Box 262, H-1112 Budapest, Hungary Fax: (36-1) 319-3136
