Re: Idea: Multitasking graphical OS for the GS

[jdricci@gmail.com]

On 3 ene, 08:08, Eric Rucker <bhtoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 3, 12:52 am, David Schmenk <dschm...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Eric Rucker wrote:
> > > I've been thinking about stuff, and got to thinking... it'd be
> > > interesting if there were a semi-modern, multitasking, graphical OS
> > > for the IIGS - not necessarily backwards compatible with GS/OS. (The
> > > semi-modern bit means... The Manager on GS/OS does NOT qualify. ;))
>
> > > Anyway, I'm thinking that starting from scratch with the OS might just
> > > be the best bet - unlike GNO/ME, which uses GS/OS for a lot of stuff.
>
> > > That doesn't mean that I'd be shunning all of the built-in IIGS stuff
> > > - the Toolbox would come in handy for the GUI. (FWIW, I think I know
> > > how I'd handle the toolbox in a multitasking environment - simply
> > > create a "virtual toolbox" that apps for this OS would make calls to,
> > > and then pass those calls onto the real toolbox. As far as the real
> > > toolbox is concerned, it's just one app with a bunch of windows, that
> > > wants to change its menus. A lot. ;))
>
> > > But, I suspect a modern multitasking kernel for all of this would be
> > > more efficient. I know, there's no MMU. That never stopped Minix or
> > > ELKS...
>
> > > Speaking of Minix, I'm almost wondering if some heavily-modified Minix
> > > derived kernel would do the trick. The stock Minix memory manager can
> > > only handle 64k of code and 64k of data per application on a 16-bit
> > > CPU (I think that's a word-length restriction,) but maybe that could
> > > be fixed? Binary compatibility with Minix would be unnecessary, so...
> > > And, IIRC, it has installable file systems, and stuff like that, which
> > > would work nicely in the IIGS ecosystem.
>
> > > But, Minix is just an idea, and isn't necessarily the best one. It's
> > > just something to think about.
>
> > > Is anyone interested in such an OS? Either using it, developing it, or
> > > developing for it?
>
> > Another important piece to consider is the development environment.
> > Writing a core multitasking kernel isn't particularly difficult, but
> > having tools such as compilers and debuggers is a large part of the
> > project - sometimes larger than the kernel itself. If you want to make
> > it open source, you'll want to find a tool suite that can be made easily
> > available.  Do you want to self-host or do you want to cross-compile?
> > Determination of the tools might even help dictate the design and
> > complexity of the kernel.
>
> > Dave...
>
> Of course, now I'm thinking... piggybacking on GNO/ME, which is
> already open source, and already runs on the GS... might be the best
> bet. Then, it'd just be a few apps to get it going - a graphical
> server app (and it's looking to me like GNO/ME might be able to do
> native QuickDraw apps? Even if not, maybe it could be a GS/OS app...)
> and then apps that take advantage of the graphical server.
>
> The trickiest part would be allowing the graphical server to
> gracefully "swap out" of the QuickDraw subsystem when a GS/OS app gets
> launched. But, this GNO/ME-based approach might even let NDAs run
> alongside these graphical apps.

There are 2 things that i dream about when it comes to my IIgs:
- a new GSOS 7, that could do multitasking and handles video modes in
drivers (i.e. 1024x769, etc.) so you can add a VGA card.
- a new accelerator card: an FPGA card that do 50MHz 65816, MMU
(imagine 8 MB of RAM that can handle chunks of 4MB just like the AE
Ram in a 128, 512 or 1.024MB RAM space) and USB (to get access to
joysticks, printers, hard disks or what ever you can dream for)

With such an accelerator, then why not dream of GS GUI over linux?

Ah! How nice is to dream... if i only know just a little bit of
electronics...

Jose.


PS: Please forgive my english, we speak spanish here in Chile.