From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Brantley Coile Content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2016 11:54:56 -0400 To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Message-id: <0A7A8E63-1839-401A-9ECE-74A5937617E9@me.com> MIME-version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 9.3 \(3124\)) Subject: [9fans] Nemo's Opus Topicbox-Message-UUID: 9cfe4dc6-ead9-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 I=E2=80=99ve been reading Nemo=E2=80=99s =E2=80=9CNotes on the Plan 9 = 3rd edition Kernel Source=E2=80=9D after a number of years. Three things = struck me on this reading of what is a great and much appreciated work. = First, is what a good job Francisco did with this work. Even though he = never finished it, having been overtaking, I think, by the 4th edition, = it is a very good introduction to an operating system suitable for = instruction in a undergraduate or graduate class in operating systems. = I, fortunately, don=E2=80=99t have to teach, but if I did, I would = certainly use the work. Second, I=E2=80=99m struck by how much larger the system had grown by = the time Nemo wrote the commentary. I had the good fortune to read John = Lion=E2=80=99s commentary on Plan 9 during my brief tenure at Bell Labs = in 1990. If I remember right, the kernel I was using was bout 25,000 = lines. The first version I used outside the Labs was the 2nd edition it = weighs in at a hefty 39,000 lines. The current system I=E2=80=99m = running, the 32 bit one, not the 64 bit one, is 140,000 lines. I=E2=80=99m= not sure the size of the 3rd edition, but the growth is interesting. The third thing that struct me is the changes in the Intel architecture = since the original PC based port. The first Plan 9 for PC ran on AT&T = 386 machines in the 1990=E2=80=99s, if I remember right. Those were the = days of ISA and EISA and before PCI made it=E2=80=99s plug-and-play = appearance on the scene. It seems that while the PC stuff has kept up = with most of the many changes in the Intel hardware platform over the = years, there is still some cruft from the old days.=20 All very interesting to think about. I highly recommend Nemo=E2=80=99s = book. Here=E2=80=99s a link to it. = http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=3D10.1.1.75.5409&rep=3Dr= ep1&type=3Dpdf Brantley Coile bwc@coraid.com http://coraid.com