In a message dated 09/20/1999 8:38:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> > NewDeal is an Operating System (it controls the computer, manages
> > the processes, and provides services to applications), but NewDeal
> > is not a DOS (Disk Operating System). NewDeal relies on DOS for
> > file system services (the management of writing and reading files
> > on disks and hard drives).
>
> Ok.. Now I am confused.
> If NewDeal is an OS, what is DOS to NewDeal, exactly?
> or for Windows 3.11? Is that means that NewDeal and Windows 3.11,
> and GEM/3 and others are OSs, while DOS is just a background
> "Hardware manager"?
If the quoted paragraph above doesn't make it clear, I'm not sure I can
do any better.
NewDeal provides directly controls printers, keyboard, mouse, and other
peripherals. NewDeal controls the processor and manages the multitasking
of various threads of execution for NewDeal programs and drivers, keeping
track of the various processes and switching contexts as appropriate.
NewDeal also tracks memory usage and allocates and shuffles memory
around as needed by its applications and drivers.
The only reason DOS is used or required is to initiate and track the low level
reading, writing, and creation of disk files. It's necessary to distribute
NewDeal
on some kind of media from which it can be installed. It's necessary to
store the software itself and the user-created documents in some format.
DOS file structure, with its directory trees and file allocation table,
is a common standard on personal computers. Why create a new standard?
Why recreate the existing standard? Why not use floppy disks and CD-ROMs
and hard drives the same way they've been used for years?
When NewDeal was created, a native disk/file management feature could have
been created and included. It could be created and added now.
However, either it would have be incompatible with DOS files, or else it
would
be a clone of what DOS. Why spend programming time cloning DOS, when DOS
already exists?
> The way I view advanced GUIs such as NewDeal and Windows 3.11,
> is as GUI interfaces programs, with ability to run their own
> applications, or external DOS native programs. That doesnt make
> them an OS by my defenition, it just makes them a suphisticated user
> interface manager with the ability to run its own type of
> applications.
>
> Unless I got it all wrong again..
Well, it's an issue of semantics and definitions. What is your computer? Is
it your processor chip? Is it the memory chips? Is your mouse part of your
computer? Is your printer part of your computer? What about your scanner?
Early versions of DOS certainly qualify as operating systems, but they did
not provide services for your mouse, your extended or expanded memory
chips, your scanner, nor did they supply any multitasking or task switching
features.
What percentage of these devices must a software control directly in order
to qualify as an operating system? NewDeal controls enough of the
workings and peripherals of your computer so that most programmers
do consider it an operating system, even though it relies on DOS for
some low level file system services and compatibility.
Steve
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