From: Charlie Krasic (buck@wic.waterloo.shl.com)
Date: 07/11/93


From: buck@wic.waterloo.shl.com (Charlie Krasic)
Subject: Re: NT vs Linux (was: Re: truth or dare)
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 01:03:18 GMT


In article <BUHR.93Jul9182106@ccu.umanitoba.ca> buhr@umanitoba.ca (Kevin Andrew Buhr) writes:

   In article <1993Jul8.041711.24937@muug.mb.ca> rgallen@muug.mb.ca
   (Rennie Allen) writes:
   |
   | Linux is a monolithic kernel essentially
   | no different from the OS's of the early 70's. UNIX's excuse is that it was
   | developed in the early 70's; what's Linuxs' ?

   That it's a Unix clone, perhaps? Face it. The vast majority of
   computer systems in use today are running monolithic kernels.
   DOS/Windows 3.1, MacOS 7, SunOS (and most flavours of Unix), Netware
   4.0---these are all monolithic operating systems, right?

   Maybe Tanenbaum misled me, but it seems that the newest crop of PC
   operating systems are all monolithic, too. OS/2 2.1 is monolithic.
   And if you take a drawing of a monolithic kernel, pencil in lines for
   layers, and label various parts "subsystems", you'll have a schematic
   of Win NT. The only message-passing microkernel I can think of that
   anyone's using is Minix, and I don't even know that first hand.
   What does NeXTStep look like under the hood?

   Kevin Buhr <buhr@ccu.UManitoba.CA>

We're using an OS called QNX. It's a high-performace UNIX like OS which
has some really nifty features...and its based fundementally on a
message passing microkernel design...

Also, AmigaDOS does a lot of things right. Big missing feature there
is protected memory...sigh.

-- Buck