[MiNT] Re[2]: Future (was Re: MiNT 1.16)

[George Crissman <strads@tmisnet.com>]

Hello Petr,

PS> On Čt, 2002-10-31 at 11:49, George Crissman wrote:
>> PS> And please note that we have been working on a new Atari machine for
>> PS> nearly three years now and we are very close to our goal now.
>> 
>> Not being an OS wizard, but one who has been quietly
>> cheering the ongoing development of MiNT, I am looking
>> forward to a new Atari machine with GEM, TOS and MiNT

PS> That's what we do. http://aranym.atari.org/

Yes, I like that project!

>> built in (at the very least, TOS, GEM, and enough
>> of the MiNT kernel to get a command-line multiprocessing
>> system working) to the ROMs.  Not Flash.  Not EPROMs.  ROMs.

PS> Ugh. We don't do that actually. Having anything in ROM is a bad idea.
PS> Period.

Having a nonvolatile standard base system is the key
to compatibility, something only the Atari still does
well.  That doesn't mean everyone has to use it ...
even GEM has punt_aes() allowing a substitution of
different windowing environments.  And I'm not opposed
to an operating system loaded from a peripheral (such
as a hard drive) -- but when the hard drive gets changed
or, more likely, screwed-up it's nice to have an
uncorrupted base system in ROM for recovery purposes.

>> moving parts anywhere) with a shielded SCSI cable to an
>> outlying intelligent chassis that interfaces via the
>> SCSI port but uses IDE/ATA drives internally

PS> ?? Are you OK? SCSI cable to IDE drive?

Sorry to be so brief.  The "intelligent chassis" uses
SCSI to communicate with the main computer (still in
the keyboard), but contains its own application-specific
processor with drivers to handle the cheaper IDE/ATA
drives.  As a bonus, those who want the higher
performance SCSI equivalents would be able to use
those, too.

>> Such a machine would be revolutionary in it's own way
>> and would help to rekindle the joy, fun, and excitement
>> associated with Atari computing.

PS> I somehow have a bit different view on this. Details on the URL above.

The biggest obstacle to the Next Breakthrough is the
common belief that the operating system MUST be
loaded from volatile memory, whether it is flash
or rotating (like a disk drive).  In an environment
lacking administrative support, a stable base system
(with the capability of espansion) is mandatory.

PS> Petr

George Crissman
strads@tmisnet.com