From: ritz@ritz.mordor.com (Christopher Mauritz)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Linux v. Coherent: Comments
Date: 9 Jan 93 22:48:05 GMT
Organization: Ritz International, Inc. -- Import/Export Consultants
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Louis Giliberto (magus@drktowr.chi.il.us) wrote:
OS/2> Michael K. Johnson (johnsonm@lars.acc-admin.stolaf.edu) wrote:
OS/2> : 
OS/2> : In article <1ihc1iINNh6q@uwm.edu> rick@ee.uwm.edu (Rick Miller, Linux Device Registrar) writes:
OS/2> : 
OS/2> :    Y'know, I've been thinking about this...  Folks are saying that the next
OS/2> :    release of Coherent will have *loads* of stuff it doesn't have yet:
OS/2> : 
OS/2> : 	   1.) Graphics support
OS/2> : 	   2.) The GNU GCC compiler
OS/2> : 	   3.) TCP/IP Networking
OS/2> : 	   4.) Sockets
OS/2> : 	   5.) X Windows

OS/2> Actually, except for the kernel itself, most of the Linux stuff is
OS/2> ported from other places.
OS/2> 
OS/2> And the other stuff, well, let's take a look at it.
OS/2> 
OS/2> 1) Graphics support
OS/2> 
OS/2> Harry, Udo, etc have this done with the bitmapped driver.  MGR has been
OS/2> ported from the linux port, and Harry rewrote the library to emulate
OS/2> the Linux library using his driver.  I read his driver.  It's small
OS/2> and elegant and works fine.  Drivers wouldn't be able to be "filched"
OS/2> anyhow for the most part.

Not to take anything away from the efforts of Harry and Udo, but you cannot
make use of this driver (for now) unless you purchase the device driver kit.
Having "spoken" to Harry, it sounds like a really nifty thing to have though.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of us don't have the DDK so we're stuck.

OS/2> 2) GCC compiler
OS/2> 
OS/2> Well, they have to make the source available, and according to the GNU
OS/2> license, even if they ported from the linux port that's allowed.  It will
OS/2> show up in the source anyhow.

Where is it?  The GCC port has been in the "real soon now" stage for quite
some time.  Having the Gnu compiler around would certainly make porting
all those great gnu tools less of a chore, no?

BTW, I am finally going to break down and learn C (fortran just wasn't
cutting it for me...hehe).  I would like to learn on the GCC compiler.
CAn someone recommend a good book for teaching yourself C?

OS/2> 3) TCP/IP, NFS, etc.
OS/2> 4) Sockets
OS/2> 
OS/2> The hardest part here would be the Ethernet card driver, which is probably
OS/2> a pain in the neck.  Other than that, the client programs like FTP and
OS/2> stuff are pretty simple.  I wrote a mini FTP for class in summer school.
OS/2> Did get, receive, and dir.  Not too big a deal as long as you have sockets.
OS/2> Like Mike said above, the libraries will take a long time.  I'm not sure
OS/2> about the internals of Coherent, but if it uses message passing, sockets
OS/2> are pretty simple.  They were more complicated for Linux since it uses
OS/2> ye olde monolitihic style which gives it great performance.  Ya basically
OS/2> end up adding message passing to the kernel anyhow.

I am anxiously awaiting the networking abilities.  I would love to
be able to connect to my feed site using a slip connection on a
v.32bis modem.  It wouldn't be a screaming connection, but it would
make uucp look like a real crawler.  It would definitely be worth
the $100-200 investment for a generic ethernet card.

OS/2> 5) Xwindows
OS/2> 
OS/2> After 1,2,3,and4 we would probably be able to compile the Linux
OS/2> version straight out.  After all, X is pretty much hardware 
OS/2> independent after the libraries are done.  But I think X will
OS/2> take longer than promised.

Yep.  BTW, I used to be one of those people who thought "who would
want to run that piggy ol' X on a lowly 486 box on a 14" monitor?"
However, I ran it for a few minutes while testing out linux and
I was very impressed.  Even with only 8 megs of RAM, it was
fairly snappy and powerful compared to windog.

OS/2> What do you care if Linux ports run on Coherent anyhow?  Won't that
OS/2> mean most Coherent ports will run on Linux?  More software for
OS/2> everyone.  Seems fair to me.

I agree completely!  I think it makes much more sense to cooperate
than to bicker about whose OS is better "endowed." <grin>

Cheers,

Chris

--
Christopher Mauritz                 | My views reflect those of my
ritz@ritz.mordor.com                | company since I own the company.
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