Re: LINUX is obsolete
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Re: LINUX is obsolete
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Subject: Re: LINUX is obsolete
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From: peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva)
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Date: 3 Feb 92 17:40:06 GMT
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Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
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Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
In article <1992Feb01.002630.14861@bmerh2.bnr.ca> dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham) writes:
> Minix resembles the other systems that use it. Sure, Minix uses lots
> of tasks and messages, but there must be more to a microkernel architecture
> than that. I suspect that the Minix code is not split optimally into tasks.
Definitely. Minix shows you how a microkernel works, but it sure doesn't show
you why you would use one.
A couple of years ago I brought this up with Andy, and his response indicated
that he was himself not convinced of the superiority of the microkernel design
at the time. He said (as near as I can recall... this is a paraphrase) that a
message passing design was inherently slower than a monolithic one... which was
news to me: I had (and still have) a PC that was MUCH more responsive than any
UNIX box I ever touched using a message-passing design.
> > MINIX is a microkernel-based system.
> Is there a consensus on this?
Yes, it's not a well-factored one, and there's no API to the microkernel
interface, but it's a microkernel design.
--
-- Peter da Silva, Ferranti International Controls Corporation
-- Sugar Land, TX 77487-5012; +1 713 274 5180
-- "Have you hugged your wolf today?"