Posts Tagged ‘stitcher’

1992 – Comp.os.minix was the location for famous thread “Linux is Dead”. 73 Posts went back and forthe before Bill Mitchell closes it.  Andy Tanenbaum (MINIX) started the thread and Linus Torvolds shot back. This is how the thread started out:

Sponsor:  14 Day Gold Membership & 1 FREE audio book at Audible – audiblepodcast.com/geekazine

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

I was in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, so I haven’t commented much on LINUX (not that I would have said much had I been around), but for what it is worth, I have a couple of comments now.

As most of you know, for me MINIX is a hobby, something that I do in the evening when I get bored writing books and there are no major wars, revolutions, or senate hearings being televised live on CNN. My real job is a professor and researcher in the area of operating systems.

As a result of my occupation, I think I know a bit about where operating are going in the next decade or so. Two aspects stand out:

1. MICROKERNEL VS MONOLITHIC SYSTEM
Most older operating systems are monolithic, that is, the whole operating system is a single a.out file that runs in ‘kernel mode.’ This binary contains the process management, memory management, file system and the rest. Examples of such systems are UNIX, MS-DOS, VMS, MVS, OS/360, MULTICS, and many more.

The alternative is a microkernel-based system, in which most of the OS runs as separate processes, mostly outside the kernel. They communicate by message passing. The kernel’s job is to handle the message passing, interrupt handling, low-level process management, and possibly the I/O. Examples of this design are the RC4000, Amoeba, Chorus, Mach, and the not-yet-released Windows/NT.

While I could go into a long story here about the relative merits of the two designs, suffice it to say that among the people who actually design operating systems, the debate is essentially over. Microkernels have won. The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems (e.g., Rick Rashid has published papers comparing
Mach 3.0 to monolithic systems) that it is now all over but the shoutin`.

MINIX is a microkernel-based system. The file system and memory management are separate processes, running outside the kernel. The I/O drivers are also separate processes (in the kernel, but only because the brain-dead nature of the Intel CPUs makes that difficult to do otherwise). LINUX is a monolithic style system. This is a giant step back into the 1970s. That is like taking an existing, working C program and rewriting it in BASIC. To me, writing a monolithic system in 1991 is a truly poor idea.

2. PORTABILITY
Once upon a time there was the 4004 CPU. When it grew up it became an 8008. Then it underwent plastic surgery and became the 8080. It begat the 8086, which begat the 8088, which begat the 80286, which begat the 80386, which begat the 80486, and so on unto the N-th generation. In the meantime, RISC chips happened, and some of them are running at over 100 MIPS. Speeds of 200 MIPS and more are likely in the coming years. These things are not going to suddenly vanish. What is going to happen is that they will gradually take over from the 80×86 line. They will run old MS-DOS programs by interpreting the 80386 in software. (I even
wrote my own IBM PC simulator in C, which you can get by FTP from ftp.cs.vu.nl = 192.31.231.42 in dir minix/simulator.) I think it is a gross error to design an OS for any specific architecture, since that is not going to be around all that long.

MINIX was designed to be reasonably portable, and has been ported from the Intel line to the 680×0 (Atari, Amiga, Macintosh), SPARC, and NS32016. LINUX is tied fairly closely to the 80×86. Not the way to go.

Don`t get me wrong, I am not unhappy with LINUX. It will get all the people who want to turn MINIX in BSD UNIX off my back. But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a **MODERN** “free” OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

P.S. Just as a random aside, Amoeba has a UNIX emulator (running in user space), but it is far from complete. If there are any people who would like to work on that, please let me know. To run Amoeba you need a few 386s, one of which needs 16M, and all of which need the WD Ethernet card.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:27 — 3.9MB)

Sponsor: Stitcher – Podcast and Radio aggregator: Get for iPhone, Palm, Blackberry or Android – Now in Ford Sync

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Events in Technology

• IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) a.k.a “the Poppa” is dedicated
• Microwave Oven is patented
• Gary McKinnon won right to judicial review

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:39 — 4.9MB)

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Events in Technology

• Sega and Bandai announce a merger
• Apple releases Macintosh Office
• The “A-Team” debuts
• The integrated circuit is conceived

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:56 — 3.2MB)

An interesting fact: Russian folklore believed that December 24th was the day people could be turned into Werewolves.

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Other Items in the Day in Tech History

• Fox-Linux 1.0 Released
• Verizon awarded $33 million against Cybersquatters

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:09 — 2.4MB)

2008 – Santa Claus is spotted on Google Earth. Of course the story of St. Nicholas is an interesting one that doesn’t really involve religion. But now we know where he resides, thanks to Google!

Brought to you by Mozy.com. Free 2 GB backup. Use code “Geek” for 10% off other plans.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

• Priceline.com IPO
• Netscape, Spyglass and the University of Illinois
• Benjamin Franklin Shocked a Turkey

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:55 — 2.3MB)

1974 – Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) puts out the first ever “Do it yourself” Altair 8800. You would get it through Popular Mechanics Magazine, then assemble it yourself. This is a turning point in home computer setup. The price for an Altair 8800 kit – $397 – and it included Microsoft Altair BASIC.

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Other notes in History of Computers:

• DirectX 9 is released
• RIAA switches from suing users to ISP
• Samuel Clemens patents suspenders

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:17 — 3.3MB)

1978 – It is one of the most infamous pictures in tech today. This is the Microsoft crew. Can you guess which one is Bill Gates?

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Other items in the Day in Tech History:

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture is released
• Mozilla Thunderbird is released
• Bittorrent has acquired uTorrent

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:58 — 4.1MB)

1983 – To counter IBM, Tandy releases the Tandy TRS-80 2000 computer. It housed the 80186 processor and 128 KB of RAM. There were 2 – 720 KB floppy drives and the MS-DOS Operating System. The prices ranged from $2,750. For an additional fee you could get a Monochrome graphics card, optional color monitor and extra RAM.

The Tandy 2000 was considerably faster than the IBM PC models.

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

Other events in Tech History:

• Sony releases the Playstation 2 in the US
• 33 year old man dies from Cell phone battery – except not

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:45 — 3.1MB)

Sponsor:  Try GoToAssist free for 30 days – GoToAssist.com/techpodcasts.

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

1969 – The First ARPANET link is established

1995 – Toy Story is released to audiences. It is the first feature film created by computer animation

2008 – Abraham Biggs commits suicide in front of a streaming audience on Justin.tv

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:49 — 4.5MB)

1971 – Intel releases the 4004 mircoprocessor. This is the first single-chip processor and what is concidered a “pre x86 processor” along with the 8008, 8080 and 8085 processors.

The 4004 could run 60,000 interactions per second (0.06 MIP). The clock rate on the chip was 108 KHz and was accompanied by the Intel RAM chip.

Price: $200

Brought to you by Stitcher – for iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Pre

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher

Other Day in Tech History items:

• Corel Linux OS 1.0
• SURFnet and Internet2 Abilene connect via Gigabit ethernet
• Neopets are founded

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:46 — 4.5MB)

1931 – DuPont makes DuPrene, which will become NeoPrine.

Brought to you by GoDaddy.com - 10% off Hosting with Pod150 – Domains at $7.49 With Podname150

Please add to your favorite aggregator. RSS Feed – iTunes – Stitcher – TechPodcasts

• Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Justice reach terms on Antitrust
• DeLi Linux is released
• Lenovo removes IBM

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:23 — 3.4MB)