Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 23:48:38 -0800 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: Parag Patel <parag@cgt.com> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>, mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith), jkh@time.cdrom.com, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: lisp vs. Forth (was Re: New boot loader and alternate kernels ) Message-ID: <199811050748.XAA00669@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 04 Nov 1998 11:59:27 PST." <199811041959.LAA22507@pinhead.parag.codegen.com>
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> > >If the FORTH Interpreter were OpenBoot syntax compliant, we > >could use it to interpret ROM code on a number of cards > >designed to be usable in both Intel and PPC systems. > > > >Also, there's the whole OpenFirmware standard thing... > > Well, the standard's kinda big. You're going to be well into 300-400k > of code (Forth or C) to meet it. You have to start with the ANS Forth > spec, add IEEE-1275, then go through most of the recommended practices > at <http://playground.sun.com/pub/1275/home.html>; plus other assorted > items. Ficl is ANS-compliant in about 20k, using perhaps 8k or so for the dictionary, but TBH I'm not sure that OpenFirmware compatibility would actually win us. If you want an OF system, get one. The goal *here* is to achieve the goals of a bootstrap loader: - Enumerate hardware - Load the kernel - Load drivers for enumerated hardware - Prepare the kernel execution environment - Offload as much once-off boot-time crud from the kernel as is sensible - Allow the user a broad degree of control over the above steps > The I2O 1.5 spec is now downloadable for free, so that's going to throw > another level of driver fun into the mix. With any luck there will be a fairly straightforward high-level interface to I2O services; again, we really don't need to dive too deep into it to meet the bootstrap goals. I'm waiting for my password to show up in the mail... -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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