> > Of course, to be fully pure about kernel design, I expect some other
> > items should be removed from the kernel, like SL/IP, NFS, the Berkeley
> > Packet Filters, and anything which doesn't handle essential machine
> > control.
> 
> Ahh, well, in that case you'd also remove the file systems, because
> they have nothing to do with machine control!  And don't forget the
> networking code; it, too, has nothing to do with machine control.
> 
> The point is, assuming a BSD-style kernel, there are some things which
> can be implemented _only_ in kernel-mode code.  Those include things
> like NFS, SLIP, the rest of the file systems, the networking code,
> and BPF.  Then there are other things, which can, and should be
> implemented in user-land code, such as a console "thang", should
> not even be _thought_ about in the same context as kernel-mode
> code.

This, sadly is one of the few failings of un*x: the cloudiness of where to
put in the extra stuff that is sort of user and needs kernel... Purists
might go for the thought-OS which doesnt do anything practical, but I
guess you just gotta live with this feature of un*x

> ...
> system, is that it's well designed.  So yes, if i were you, i _would_
> rip out the desktop thang from the console code before the release!

Can't it be #ifdef'd out? then ppl who dont have the ram to drive X can
have all the funky mouse stuff and scrolly things and have thier kernel
chew a bit of mem, while ppl who just want a graphics buffer can have the
cut down vt emulation.

Any functional addition (even if useful but unecessary) is a plus, you have
to admit.

From what I've seen which isn't as yet a whole lot (exams and stuff here
in Oz) I think you are all doing a damn fine job. Still, your intra-team
comms is really only up to you to figure out and organise.

-- 
David Leonard                          c9107786@cs.newcastle.edu.au
The University of Newcastle            4th year Engineering/CompSci student

"The University of Newcastle is an established multicampus
University offering depth and breadth of study in an
environment that backs its quality of study with a quality of
life that is hard to compare."
gopher://phoebe.newcastle.edu.au/0R57-1224-1m/About/new.uni.txt

------------------------------------------------------------------------------