Richard Stallman wrote:
What is an operating system? An OS could be considered an "application",
You could consider an OS an "application", and you could consider
hardware software, just as you could consider the Earth a pumpkin. My
response is that you're starting from assumptions I find questionable,
so I don't accept the conclusions.
A kernel is just a program..
And yes an OS is not a kernel, of course... but...
An operating system runs a kernel, and the kernel allows modules to be run.
Consider my MP3 player.. it has an LCD screen. It loads up.. it runs a
program. I select "play song" on the mp3 player on my screen.. and this
is playing the song through the mp3 program that is running on the chip.
The program that is running on the chip, is in fact the Mp3 operating
system...
In the case of multi tasking OS.. the kernel is just a program that
loads modules... the modules are like dynamic shared objects... but
people see them as processes. The kernel is just launching modules...
like libraries... but people see them as "processes", even though they
are library modules. The OS that is running is really the kernel program
and the modules combined. Therefore one big program, the kernel,
dictates the modules... and without the moduels it is not an OS... but
required for the OS is the program that loads the modules.. so the
operating system is really a program that loads modules.
Am I wrong?
I think Emacs.. if it had a built in Kernel, could seriously be run as
an OS. Midnight Commander could also seriously be run as an OS.. if
someone hacked the Elf/a.out into a kernel. Why is this not possible?
Seriously. Imagine an MP3 player with Midnight Commander on it. It is
possible.. just for MC to be the kernel. I know it is possible. It needs
hacking.. but it is possible to make MC an OS. The murky line between
program and kernel is because of the fact that a kernel is just a
program that loads modules... Am I wrong?
L505
