From: Finn Thain (fthain_at_telegraphics.com.au)
Date: Sun Feb 09 2003 - 19:46:04 PST
> Hey, There have been several threads over the past months about
> beginning a port of Linux to the Newton, or emulating the OS via GNUton.
> I was talking to Will Leingang about 2 months ago and we were
> considering taking over the GNUton project. I am interested in doing
> that or (even better) joining someone to begin a port of Linux to the
> Newt. Anybody?
Why run Linux on Newton hardware? If GNUton was finished, this would mean
you could run GNUton on Linux on your Newton, which would take you full
circle, back to running NOS on Newton h/w :)
I suspect that the problem with Linux on Newton hardware is that it
doesn't offer much to the majority of newton users and owners (who are on
the whole more inclined to tap "connect" than to type vi /etc/interfaces).
In other words, most of the potential user base (existing newton owners)
are not looking for another operating system.
GNUton is ambitious because it aims to rewrite the NOS and obtain full
compatibility. This goes quite a bit further than the other recent
suggestions of a clone of the newton "experience", ie. using Squeak and/or
XML. If compatibility can be achieved, then the GNUton platform would get
the benefit of all the prior NewtonOS development works, and could
eventually be ported to better PDA hardware.
Another approach to portability which also offers compatibility is
emulation. An open source newton emulator could be ported to just about
any platform (in time) particularly if it was initially coded for linux.
There is already PDA hardware out there that runs linux, and hence could
run such an emulator. One problem with this is the need for full size
touch screens. (Anyone know which PDAs have this and a Linux port?).
Desktop machines running such an emulator would be a huge benefit for NOS
developers, and could use a tablet instead of touch screen.
Going a step further, one could avoid any emulation by just cloning the
hardware. This is an expensive job and doesn't bring any benfit over
existing Newton hardware. If one wanted to improve on the hardware and
still run NOS, the first step would be to abstract away the hardware
dependency in the NOS code. This also happens to be the hardest part of
the emulator, so my money says that emulation would be the first step,
because it addresses the portability problem and offers complete
compatibility.
Of course, the the unix hacker in me agrees that a Linux port to Newton
hardware would be very cool... just not that useful.
--Finn
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