From: magus@drktowr.chi.il.us (Louis Giliberto)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Linux v. Coherent: Comments
Date: 9 Jan 93 17:58:48 GMT
Followup-To: comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux
Organization: DarkTower Software
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Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@lars.acc-admin.stolaf.edu) wrote:
: 
: In article <1ihc1iINNh6q@uwm.edu> rick@ee.uwm.edu (Rick Miller, Linux Device Registrar) writes:
: 
:    Y'know, I've been thinking about this...  Folks are saying that the next
:    release of Coherent will have *loads* of stuff it doesn't have yet:
: 
: 	   1.) Graphics support
: 	   2.) The GNU GCC compiler
: 	   3.) TCP/IP Networking
: 	   4.) Sockets
: 	   5.) X Windows
: 
:    That's a pretty big leap when you compare it to the improvements made from
:    the last version to the present one.  Where do you suppose the MWC is going
:    to *get* all that code from?  Are they dealing with Satan? or *worse*...
: 
:    Filching code from Linux and/or 386BSD to call it your own is a big no-no.
: 
: Mark Williams is a pretty reputable company, and has some good
: programmers.  Don't make remarks like this --- they are rather silly,
: and could be considered libelous.  MWC makes a point that they develop
: all that themselves.
: 
: Where do you think linux and 386BSD got the code from?  *people wrote
: it*  Where do you think MWC got their code?  Do you think that they
: can't program?

Actually, except for the kernel itself, most of the Linux stuff is
ported from other places.

And the other stuff, well, let's take a look at it.

1) Graphics support

Harry, Udo, etc have this done with the bitmapped driver.  MGR has been
ported from the linux port, and Harry rewrote the library to emulate
the Linux library using his driver.  I read his driver.  It's small
and elegant and works fine.  Drivers wouldn't be able to be "filched"
anyhow for the most part.

2) GCC compiler

Well, they have to make the source available, and according to the GNU
license, even if they ported from the linux port that's allowed.  It will
show up in the source anyhow.

3) TCP/IP, NFS, etc.
4) Sockets

The hardest part here would be the Ethernet card driver, which is probably
a pain in the neck.  Other than that, the client programs like FTP and
stuff are pretty simple.  I wrote a mini FTP for class in summer school.
Did get, receive, and dir.  Not too big a deal as long as you have sockets.
Like Mike said above, the libraries will take a long time.  I'm not sure
about the internals of Coherent, but if it uses message passing, sockets
are pretty simple.  They were more complicated for Linux since it uses
ye olde monolitihic style which gives it great performance.  Ya basically
end up adding message passing to the kernel anyhow.

5) Xwindows

After 1,2,3,and4 we would probably be able to compile the Linux
version straight out.  After all, X is pretty much hardware 
independent after the libraries are done.  But I think X will
take longer than promised.

Pretty much everything you mentioned is freeware except for the 
libraries, so why would they steal anything?  Most of the stuff
is independent of the kernel, so your inferences are pretty silly
IMHO.

BTW, it's been almost a year since the last version of Coh came
out.  I think that's enough time for them to do paged virtual memory
and those things.  If you don't think so, ask Linus.  I read the Linux
code, and the actual theory is pretty simple, but the debugging seems
to be the nightmare.  He (and those who helped him) probably spent
more time fine tuning than writing the actual code.  I'm writing a
multitasking library in C++ right now (it will be an embedded real-time
system) and it's not as bad as people might think.

What do you care if Linux ports run on Coherent anyhow?  Won't that
mean most Coherent ports will run on Linux?  More software for
everyone.  Seems fair to me.

-Louis
--
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Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent