rjo_
04-02-2009, 05:51 AM
I have to admit... when Mike first started talking about an operating system for the Prop, I thought he was brilliant but just a little bit nuts. The kinds of things that I could envision for the Prop certainly didn't need an operating system and with the RAM limits, etc. etc.... it just didn't seem to make sense.
That is what I thought, and I couldn't have been more wrong.
At PropExpo last year, Oldbit demonstrated what you actually could do if you added a modicum of code and brought all of the right pieces together. That 20 minutes or so was worth the six hour drive. Oldbit was not claiming to be a code messiah... he was just showing what you could cook up with what was already available. How could I have been so wrong?
Then I got myself all invested in a project that actually needs an operating system... and I felt like the luckiest kid on the block.
Now localRoger has weighed in and boy-o-boy...
In this one area of development, we now have three great efforts, which have substantially lowered the bar for everyone and can serve as useful templates for our larger efforts... all supported by some really fine common objects.
My first thought was...this is great, there are features all over the place. All I have to do is mix and match and add a few features, and I'll have exactly what I need for my project... which is absolutely true, not a chance of being wrong, you can take it to the bank, and just about anyone can do exactly the same thing. This is real progress and it is hugely significant.
But then I remembered the last time I was really wrong. And I started thinking about Cogs and RAM again...and then I found out that localRoger's OS doesn't include the aigeneric driver... which is spectacular and which I would plan to use or need to hack.
In this new and improved working environment, I'm going to be tearing apart code at multiple levels. And it isn't just me, almost every convert is going to have a period of mixing, matching and tearing apart code at multiple levels ... It doesn't hurt anything. It is very educational, and it is fun... but it is also not very efficient.
There must be a better way to do it.
Whenever I come to a conclusion like this... there is almost always a guy way out ahead of me who has already solved the problem.
So, I would like to make a prediction: Before long we are going to see our Spin programs talking to each other... slowly at first. And about the time the PropII arrives they will be talking so fast, you will think it is a real time conversation. In this area, some of our Spin programs will be much smaller and get even smaller as the modes of conversation improve.... We will end up with something that looks a lot like Unix... but better.
This won't be how you have to do it... simply a way that you can do it if you want to... an addition to everything else we now have. A faster track to development and learning.
Adding that last piece will dramatically change the landscape... again.
Rich
ILMP
That is what I thought, and I couldn't have been more wrong.
At PropExpo last year, Oldbit demonstrated what you actually could do if you added a modicum of code and brought all of the right pieces together. That 20 minutes or so was worth the six hour drive. Oldbit was not claiming to be a code messiah... he was just showing what you could cook up with what was already available. How could I have been so wrong?
Then I got myself all invested in a project that actually needs an operating system... and I felt like the luckiest kid on the block.
Now localRoger has weighed in and boy-o-boy...
In this one area of development, we now have three great efforts, which have substantially lowered the bar for everyone and can serve as useful templates for our larger efforts... all supported by some really fine common objects.
My first thought was...this is great, there are features all over the place. All I have to do is mix and match and add a few features, and I'll have exactly what I need for my project... which is absolutely true, not a chance of being wrong, you can take it to the bank, and just about anyone can do exactly the same thing. This is real progress and it is hugely significant.
But then I remembered the last time I was really wrong. And I started thinking about Cogs and RAM again...and then I found out that localRoger's OS doesn't include the aigeneric driver... which is spectacular and which I would plan to use or need to hack.
In this new and improved working environment, I'm going to be tearing apart code at multiple levels. And it isn't just me, almost every convert is going to have a period of mixing, matching and tearing apart code at multiple levels ... It doesn't hurt anything. It is very educational, and it is fun... but it is also not very efficient.
There must be a better way to do it.
Whenever I come to a conclusion like this... there is almost always a guy way out ahead of me who has already solved the problem.
So, I would like to make a prediction: Before long we are going to see our Spin programs talking to each other... slowly at first. And about the time the PropII arrives they will be talking so fast, you will think it is a real time conversation. In this area, some of our Spin programs will be much smaller and get even smaller as the modes of conversation improve.... We will end up with something that looks a lot like Unix... but better.
This won't be how you have to do it... simply a way that you can do it if you want to... an addition to everything else we now have. A faster track to development and learning.
Adding that last piece will dramatically change the landscape... again.
Rich
ILMP