Subject: [ANN] GeckOS/A65 operating system
From: Andre Fachat <[email-masked]>
Date: 27 Jan 1998 01:22:53 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm,comp.sys.atari.8bit,comp.sys.apple2.programmer

GeckOS/A65 Version 2.0.0-pre1
-----------------------------
(c) 1989-1998 A. fachat ([email-masked])
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~fachat/8bit/osa/v2.0/index.html

This is the release note for the GeckOS/A65 operating system for
6502 computers, version 2.0.0-pre1. This is a new major release
as the kernel has been partly rewritten, a complete new lib6502
implementation hsa been done and the o65 relocatable fileformat
is now supported, as well as multithreading.

Also a sophisticated "slipd" daemon supports internet connectivity
by using a SLIP connection, with a telnetd, a WWW server and related 
programs. The lib6502 network connectivity is supported, although 
this seems to be the only buggy part left...

What's new:

	- major kernel rewrite: 
 	  much improved speed, now supports threads and task priorites. 
	  Signals are now unix-like (they even can interrupt blocking 
	  system calls :-)

	- much improved porting ability:
	  _all_ system dependend stuff has been moved to a directory
	  in an "arch" subdirectory. Currently there are
	  "arch/csa65", "arch/gecko" and "arch/c64" subdirectories
	  (waiting for more contributions, hint, hint!)

	- better kernel doc in "doc/kernel.html"

        - lib6502 implementation

        - dynamic memory management with lib6502

        - relocatable fileformat 

        - telnet in and out from OS/A65

        - stable WWW server (built into slipd daemon)

What's still to do:

	- Only the C64 is working. Although the Gecko should also run,
          I have not tested it. The CS/A65 is not tested and probably needs
          more work.

What do I want from you:

	- Comments on the general kernel interface
	  (or even kernel design, if you like)

	- new ports! 
	  If you want to port the kernel to a new system without
	  real memory management, it's almost only copying two files,
	  editing one of them and then writing the device drivers.
	  Taking the existing C64 stuff, that shouldn't be difficult.

Testing has been done on the VICE C64 emulator 
(http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~fachat/vice/vice.html)

Any comments welcome!

Thanks!
Andre

-- 
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Andre Fachat, Institute of physics, Technische Universität Chemnitz, FRG
		http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~fachat