From: magus@drktowr.chi.il.us (Louis Giliberto)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: Linux v. Coherent: Comments
Date: 12 Jan 93 13:53:42 GMT
Followup-To: comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux
Organization: DarkTower Software
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

Christopher Mauritz (ritz@ritz.mordor.com) wrote:
: Louis Giliberto (magus@drktowr.chi.il.us) wrote:

: 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.

True.  But most commercial unix systems require you to buy even just the
compiler seperate.  The device driver stuff usually comes with the development
platform anyhow.  Of course, you can use pre-compiled vendor device drivers
and re-link the kernel without the kits (on commercial Unix that is).

However, I think MWC did the right thing by making the DDK seperate for one
reason:  no hardware companies supply drivers for Coherent (that I know of).
So being able to relink the kernel is kind of pointless right now.  When
the loadable drivers are finished, it won't be any problem, so in a few 
months it should be at that level I would think.


: 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?

I have mine on back order and MWC said the end of Jan. hopefully.  So probably
by the middle of Feb :)

: 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?

The _C programming language_ by Kernighan and Ritchie is good if you know
pascal or have been using structured fortran (i.e., it has while, repeat,
etc.). I would start with this first, then move to C++ (a lot of people
would argue you should learn C++ straight off, but...).  For C++,
I recommend _C++ Primer_ by Stanley B. Lippman.  Both kind of assume you
know pascal, structured basic (QuickBasic is fine), or some other language
like that.

When looking for a book, so you don't confuse yourself, you should know this:
the C compiler that comes with Coh is what's known as "K&R C" (Kernighan &
Ritchie the authors) or "Classic C".  It is based on the original C.  GCC
compiles what is known as "ANSI C" which is standardized C.  If you know one,
you can pick up the other in a few days, but don't confuse yourself.  stick
with learning one, and then pick up the other.  The K&R book you can get for
either ANSI or K&R C, but the K&R edition is a little harder to find.

C++ is pretty standardized by version, and it is based loosely on ANSI C
(not K&R C). 


: 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.

For slip you don't need an ethernet card.  Just get the ka9q softwre package.
SLIP is basically TCP/IP over a modem.  You could have it today if
you wanted!  it's on raven.alaska.edu and mwcbbs.  I guess most of
the things like FTP and such work, but I'm not sure.  I was going to
hook it up using a null-modem cable to my DOS PC, but never got a chance
to play with it.

I hope that helps!

-Louis

--
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 Louis J. Giliberto, Jr.   ! magus@drktowr.chi.il.us
   -sysadmin drktowr       !   "I had an account at school, but the
   Chicago, IL  USA        !    quota was 300K - what's the point?
Home of DarkTower Software !    One Madonna .gif and it's over!"
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