11 Mar
2005
11 Mar
'05
2:55 p.m.
You can learn boatloads writing a new OS for a classic
machine. Many
early mini's had very little software available. Even less of it is
'usable' in
a practical sense.
What if anything is wrong with developing new software for older systems?
Absolutely nothing IMHO. And _writing_ an OS is a great project that I
must try sometime, I know I'll leran a lot.
My moan was really directed against running ready-written OSes on
machines when then are/were more interesting choices. This particualrly
applies to trying to run unix on just about any 16 bit (or larger)
machine, even when things like POS were available (note for DECheads, POS
is not P/OS.... POS is the original PERQ Operating System). And running
CP/M on every Z80 box, again when there were other choices (LDOS, for
example).
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against unix-like OSes. I have nothing
against CP/M. But that doesn't mean I want to run them on everything.
-tony