Okay, have to add my 2c here, too... Linux and BSD are both Unix operating systems and therefore similar. But they started out as replacement of two different mainframe Unix operating systems, therefore they differ. For example devices and configuration files and directory structure sometimes are in different styles. When I said that most Linux distros would adhere to common standards, I meant that they use very similar style for the directory structure and so on, which allows you to install software for one Linux on another Linux without recompiling the software in many cases.
About Microkernels: Yes, the communication between the modules plugged into the kernel is expensive. But if you want to add drivers to Linux, you can compile a module without recompiling the kernel (you need the kernel include files, however) and lsmod that. The downside is that the module will run in kernel space, so if it crashes, the rest of your kernel will crash, too. With a microkernel, those dangers are smaller... FreeDOS is a single-file kernel and you could call it monolithic, but you can add driver modules, yes. However, memory management, task management, filesystems, disk drivers, ... all are normally builtins of the kernel, which is probably better for such a small and performant kernel. OS/2 became a full-blown OS with a GUI around 1994, and it feels like a logical extension of DOS, adding GUI and multitasking. In 1994/1995, it was unclear whether OS/2 (better design) or Windows 95 (better marketing) would win the market. Things went horribly wrong, so almost everybody forgot about OS/2 :-(. Eric. ---------- list options/archives/etc.: http://www.topica.com/lists/fd-dev unsubscribe: send blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Rv5.bbRv4l.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
