[ros-general] why folks

[Enrico Weigelt]

* Robert Köpferl <rob at koepferl.de> [2004-02-15 16:51:31 +0100]:

Hi,

> We want API and even ABI compatibility. And also semantic compatibility, 
> which is very hard do gain with an emulation layer.

what's exactly the difference to an approach like win from this point ?
since NT has a microkernel, it shoulnd be so hard to get a wide range of 
drivers running in an emulation.


+ printer drivers (IMHO) normally operate as a GDI device and produce
  output for the interface devices (call appr. functions)
  --> should be runnable in a libwine-like environment
  
+ codecs, etc are (IMHO) normal userland dlls which already work in 
  some gnu or x-platform players.
  
+ video hardware drivers are a bit more trickier, but they mostly 
  do some IO-ops and operate in a framebuffer or somthing similar.
  IMHO they also have to allocate their resources from the kernel
  instead of doing hard direct hardware access (manipulatoing CPU, etc)
  so it should be possible to emulate this.
  
  
So what exactly makes the emulation so bad that you decided to write
a completely new kernel, which means rewriting most functionality of   
existing and heavily tested kernels like linux ?

(dont get me wrong - i dont want to call you stupid, but I just wanna
understand the reeasons why you start such a huge project instead of 
imporoving other quite good working ones)


cu
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