Re: Driver, take me home

[Ted Nelson <ted@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Oooh--

>completely different issue.  Files, directories, paths, inodes etc. are
>all filesystem concepts, and may be used as an interface to devices; of
>course we could replace this with a cell visualisation of (and interface
>to) devices, which would still be provided by an operating system layer
>which I believe is outside the direct scope of Zigzag.

-- the DRIVER level, huh?

Now honestly, Andrew, is that what most people think of
 when they think of an operating system ?-)

I think we have been driven to agreement.

ChrzT


At 04:08 AM 10/2/98 +1000, you wrote:
>On Fri, Oct 02, 1998 at 02:03:40AM +0900, Ted Nelson wrote:
>> >I can't presently see any advantages to developing hardware device
>> >drivers using the Zigzag structures, and considerable disadvantages.
>> >Feel free to convince me otherwise with examples.
>> 
>> Hardly.  Let it stand as a religious statement:
>> "Files (named lumps in fixed places, combining
>>  various types of data), and hierarchical directories,
>>  are grotesque and stupid structures whose
>>  grotesquerie is not recognized because they are
>>  so familiar.
>> "Similarly, program and data references based
>>  on string-scans of the names of such files and
>>  directories, and on paths among them-- the
>>  fundamental underlying referential structure of
>>  all operating systems today-- is a mistake.
>> "For discrete elements now packed into files,
>>  as well as discrete references currently made
>>  to files, directories, inodes, processes and whatnot,
>>  cellular reference could be better;
>> "ZZpaths provide a far more general referential
>>  structure than pathnames.
>> "The general alternative here is a world where
>>  plexes of smaller discrete elements, connected through
>>  ZZpaths, replace 'files' to a large extent, and where
>>  ZZpaths become a more general referential structure
>>  to replace OS pathnames."
>
>I fully agree with you.  However, you are still addressing the
>issue of structuring, filing, naming and retrieving of information,
>all of which Zigzag is well suited to.  The point I was making was
>about the unsuitability of Zigzag to low-level hardware control, a
>completely different issue.  Files, directories, paths, inodes etc. are
>all filesystem concepts, and may be used as an interface to devices; of
>course we could replace this with a cell visualisation of (and interface
>to) devices, which would still be provided by an operating system layer
>which I believe is outside the direct scope of Zigzag.
>
>Cheers,
>	*** Xanni ***
>-- 
>mailto:xanni@xxxxxxxxxx                         Andrew Pam
>http://www.xanadu.com.au/                       Technical VP, Xanadu
>http://www.glasswings.com.au/                   Technical Editor, Glass Wings
>http://www.sericyb.com.au/sc/                   Manager, Serious Cybernetics
>P.O. Box 26, East Melbourne VIC 8002 Australia  Phone +61 3 96511511
>
>
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