> OK this thread is way over my head, but I'm reading it - I might even
learn
> something.
I know what you mean; I need to go and have a lie down between each
post :) but I'm trying to follow the thread.
For me, an operating system should boot with built-in support for just
the basic features I need to make the system usable, i.e. a keyboard
for input, a screen to display output, some memory to run my programs
in, and a backing store large enough to store my programs and data but
fast enough to access those files dynamically in applications.
Secondary to that are other useful devices: a printer, a large capacity
read/write removable media for making backups and transferring files
(which need only be a streaming device, not random access). Because
these devices are used infrequently (relatively, compared to the hard
disk) there is no need to bloat the O.S. with drivers and make them
permanently resident at boot time. If I want to print a document or
backup some files, I can manually - or from the application - load the
necessary driver, then unload it again when the job is done.
Then there are the more esoteric devices that the industry is inventing
all the time, aimed at specific uses, e.g. scanners. It might not even
be necessary to provide separate drivers at all; the applications
through which the device is intended to be used could be completely
self-contained.
If that is the 'spirit' of QDOS/SMSQ then woo-hoo; QDOS/SMS forever !
Well, that's all the waffle, now the main points (oh, alright then,
more waffle):
I want my operating system to be small, fast, reliable and not
constantly being changed to add features (and bugs along with them)
that I might never want to use, when these can be provided in optional
add-on packages that I only have to load when I use them - particularly
if their presence would be detrimental to overall performance.
If, on the other hand, the O.S. IS going to be bloated by all this
extra stuff that I have no option about loading, then I become much
more concerned about how it is implemented - quality, efficiency,
standards and how it will all affect basic performance.
I look forward to trying the CD driver. I don't really care how it
works. I don't care if it supports only ISO9660, doesn't support DVDs,
or XYZs. I don't care if the devices are called CDRx_, WINx_ or
anything else. If it lets me get files off a CD onto my hard disk then
I'll be doing more than I can do already, and I'm grateful somebody did
all the hard work and saved me the effort of trying to figure out how
to do it myself. But if, at the end of the day, I don't like it, then
I don't have to use it and my computer will carry on working just the
way it did before, until another solution comes along (like LS120
support on Q40, please! :O)
Well, that's my two pen'orth. Doesn't add anything to the technical
thread, but...well.
cheers,
Ian.
-----Original Message-----
From: ndunbar
Sent: 29 June 2001 08:38
To: ql-users
Cc: ndunbar
Subject: RE: [ql-users] Re: Q40/Q60 device drivers
OK this thread is way over my head, but I'm reading it - I might even
learn
something.
Just to take off at a tangent, how about an open source (type) project
to
build a new Operating System for ALL the QLs/compatibles/emulators out
thare
to use.
Same hardware, same everything - if at all possible - I don't know if
that
is possible, we could call it OSOS (Open Source OS) just for fun.
I'm not saying that we should rewrite QDOSMSQ and/or SBASIC, but why not
have a bit of fun in our spare time writing the ultimate OS for our
hardware. What could we do with all these years of experience ?
(Dons Nomex flame proof suit.)
Norman.
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Norman Dunbar EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Database/Unix administrator Phone: 0113 289 6265
Lynx Financial Systems Ltd. Fax: 0113 201 7265
URL: http://www.LynxFinancialSystems.com
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