Sender: nate AT cartsys DOT com
Message-ID: <370FBA58.B2673296@cartsys.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 13:53:44 -0700
From: Nate Eldredge <nate AT cartsys DOT com>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: DJGPP: the future is... FreeDos? DJ-DOS? Linux?
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

[Becoming OT]

Marvin G Wise Jr wrote:
> 
> > There is only one danger: You must read the instructions for
> > partitioning VERY CAREFULLY. You can lose everything you have
> > if you don't do what it says. I didn't lose a byte. FIPS is good.
> >
> 
> repartitioning of hard drives, what a pain....isn't there a way to setup a
> hard drive without having to redo everything? would it be possible, if
> someone made a new OS, to allow for compatibility with various file/disk
> formats, that way it could be installed without the hassle of
> repartitioning?

Some Linux distributions support UMSDOS, which is a Real File System
hacked on top of MSDOS/FAT (using a magic file to store the stuff
(symlinks, permissions, long names, etc) that can't be represented by
MSDOS).  This way you can drop the Linux stuff in a directory of your
DOS drive.  However, it's probably not a great idea for the long term;
performance isn't the best, and some of the restrictions of MSDOS show
through.  It's fine if you want to experiment, though.
 
> Another thing, imagine building this OS around a compiler system such as
> DJGPP....for example, a user who knows how to program c/c++, wants to add a
> new screen saver, so he writes one, then clicks somewher in the GUI "Compile
> Screen Saver"....and the OS automatically compiles it into the proper
> executable format...this way, people could download opensource screensavers
> and the like, without the long wait for binary downloads....and
> customization of features would be greatly enhanced...i dont know but it
> sounds cool:)

Hmm... as far as Linux and other Unix goes, an awful lot of software is
distributed as source and is just a matter of

configure
make
make install

Not quite automatic, but darn close.
-- 

Nate Eldredge
nate AT cartsys DOT com