Author: Flash (port255.cvx2-sto.ppp.netlink.se)
Date: 11-13-2001 06:55
Been somewhere? Welcome back then :)
There HAS been some real talk indeed;
If youŽve missed the previous talk, weŽre
trying to organise-up the TOS world, and then
STart developing our own TOS machine! A huge
task, I know, and IŽm not sure we CAN do it?
-WeŽll see... I think Mill has started on our
new site, so weŽre waiting for it, right now.
OK, for the TOS blues;
IŽve been thinking about that too, maybe weŽd
have to track the owners and figure out if we
may use it? I guess Digital Research, the
authors of TOS, doesnŽt exist any more?
So who owns the rights today, then? Would be
good to have those ppl on our side, I think.
For the porting;
TOS was written for the 68K, and it should
remain that way. Porting it to the intel crap
is not only impossible, infact it would be
like dragging evaluation backwards... -Or?
And, after all, WHY would any1 want to DO it?
................===............----....==....
So, what processors can we choose from?
* 68K family (The original, STill the beST!)
* Coldfire(w IS an "enhanced" 68K!) No FPU :(
* G3/G4 (300-750 MHZ, wouldnŽt hurt eh)
* "ppc" (naaahh...)
The G3/G4 has a 68K-alike kernal, so they
could be used after some rework on the TOS;
they have a slightly different instruction
set, so most of the present Atari softwares
simply wouldnŽt work! Maybe some kind of
"68K emulator" would do it? Anyway, old ST programs wonŽt be able to use the new hardware,
resolutions, colors aso, so we would HAVE to
come up with brand new programs. The only
reason I can think of for running an emulator,
would be the old ST games.
(IŽve understood some ppl still play them:)
But hey, think of what kinda games could be
written for a new TOS beast!? IŽm talking
VERY powerful hardware, much better than any
intel box! (...and hopefully much more stable)
Real talk? Well, weŽll see...
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