At 05:17 μμ 4/1/2002 +0000, you wrote:
>On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Phoebus R. Dokos wrote: > ><snipped: the idea of changing architectures and using a linux-based QDOS >lookalike> > >The attraction of the QL for me is manyfold: SuperBASIC is exquisite. >Device independence is simple. Everything is easy. If it were possible to >port QDOS to a different architecture, and retain everything good about >QDOS, it would have been done already. > >So, at some point, if you're considering changing something as major as >the processor type (68K->ARM) you have to accept there will not be >backwards compatibility for existing applications. Sure, we could make an >SA/X86/SPARC/Etc machine which retains many features of QDOS, but... > >Which features are the important ones? > >I think for many people, backwards compatibility is essential, and for >that reason alone, any ARM-based board (for example) would lose many >potential users, unless it was so much cheaper and had such higher >performance than the path previously taken that it was a no-brainer. > >I could reasonably produce and sell a "SuperQL" based on an ARM design for >around $500 (StrongARM) or under $200 (ARM7500), but without the operating >system, drivers, massive porting and lots of work by people to accomodate >a complete paradigm shift, it's not likely to succeed. > >My $0.02. > >Dave > All of the above are true... but the whole discussion (For years now and always initiated by me for kicks ;-))) I am a masochist I know :-) is around the ability to run native QL programs (ie m68k QDOS ones) through emulation of some kind just like Apple did when they crossed to the PowerPC platform and again when they crossed to OS-X or what Gateway is doing now with the new Amiga OS. If you can retain the ability to run older programs (and uQLx is excellent at that - a pity QPC doesn't exist for Linux/Unix) by embedding some sort of transparent emulation mechanism then you lost nothing and gained a whole lot more. In the UN*X world emulation techiques like that are common. so for example FreeBSD has the ability to run Linux, Sparc or System V binaries (granted all of them are similar in architecture but that's beside the point) Phoebus
