[Tfug] Partition Second Drive

[Bexley Hall]

Hi, Stephen,

--- Stephen Hooper <stephen.hooper at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 10/26/06, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I run Inferno on Windows98 *inside* a CDE window
> > on a SPARC (i.e. non x86) machine -- so, three
> > *layers* of OS!  (I wonder if I could get Squeak
> > to run under Inferno??  :>)
> 
> I never understood why Inferno was considered an
> Operating System...
> isn't it pretty much just a VM?  Does it run
> natively on anything?

Technically, an Operating System doesn't have to
run on bare metal.  All it has to do is provide
certain services to it's applications.  You can
argue as to whether or not something like Windows
3.1 qualifies as an OS (vs. a GUI *on* an OS)
until you start looking at how those services
are provided and by whom (which is where W3.1
falls down).

E.g., MULTICS supported different OS's layered in
this (Inferno) manner.

I believe you can run Inferno on x86 metal -- though
I haven't tried.  I was looking at doing a port to 
ARM but the v4 license made such an effort infeasible
from an economic point of view.  :<

> To excuse what are probably stupid questions... I
> only toyed with it when I was interested in Plan 9,
> installed it, and was kind of disappointed I didn't
> have to wave magical wands to get it running.

Heh heh heh... "Do nothing simply if a way can be
found to make it wonderful and complex".  I think
the Inferno crowd is/was trying to be a Java-wannabe.
I think they envisioned web-based apps written in
Limbo running on Inferno plug-ins, etc.

Their attempt to target embedded systems, I think,
fell flat because they have a different idea about
what *most* embedded systems are about and the
resources available to them (Inferno is not very
lightweight).  I really don't know where their
market now lies...  too bad, really, as it was
an interesting environment to work in.

Like the brownies?  :>
--don

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