After you boot the kernel, you can run any number of PROGRAMS to provide
the functionality required,
getty, bash etc might be useful here. The act of running the program is
an acceptance of user input.
The kernel manages memory and autoboots, so it handles peripherals.
ergo, it is an operating system. Everything apart from the kernel can be
replaced with another
program that performs the same function, but perhaps in a different
manner.
Would you class win95 running word as a different os to win95 running
wordperfect?
The various incarnations of Linux are distributions, not other os's.
Greg
----------
From: Alan Shutko
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: How is linux not an O/S Was: Re: Want to give back to
linux?
Date: Wednesday, 25 March 1998 12:59PM
>>>>> "W" == William T Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
W> Others say that the OS is supposed to include
W> all kinds of other things (user interface, window system, applets,
W> programming libraries, and so on, which are typically provided by
W> the distribution under Linux).
W> The second flavor is typically adhered to by the Microsoft
W> marketing department. The rest of the world follows the first
W> definition.
Um... AmigaOS contained a window system, user interface, applets, and
system tools. MacOS contained a window system, user interface,
applets, and system tools. VMS contains a window system, user
interface, applets, and system tools. SunOS contained a window
system, user interface, applets, and system tools. OSF/1 contains a
window system, user interface, applets, and system tools. IRIX
contains a window system, user interface, applets, and system tools.
AIX contains a window system, user interface, applets, and system
tools. HPUX contains a window system, user interface, applets, and
system tools. Ultrix contained a window system, user interface,
applets, and system tools. ST OS (or whatever the Atari ST OS was
called) contained a window system, user interface, applets, and system
tools. RiscOS contained a window system, user interface, applets, and
system tools. BeOS contains a window system, user interface, applets,
and system tools. Multics contained a user interface, applets, and
system tools. In short, every OS I've ever seen, save MS-DOS (which
doesn't even _claim_ to be an OS, but merely a DOS) contained a user
interface, applets, and system tools.
Considering that you couldn't even DO anything with your linux system
but BOOT without things other than the kernel, how can you claim that
it is an "Operating" system?
--
Alan Shutko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - By consent of the corrupted
Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure.
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