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posted by martyb on Sunday August 14 2016, @09:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the One-OS-to-Rule-Them-All? dept.

Google is designing a new operating system (also at Github) based on its own new kernel (Magenta), which may be intended to unify/replace Android and ChromeOS. It is also expected to run on a wide range of ARM and x64 devices, such as Chromecast, Raspberry Pi 3, smartphones, laptops, and desktops.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 15 2016, @07:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 15 2016, @07:23PM (#388347)
    Driver API != userspace. You shouldn't be modded informative.

    Random companies in the world aren't always going to (or be able to) recompile/change their drivers just because the kernel decides to be incompatible. For one, they might no longer be around to do so.

    In comparison Windows XP managed to retain compatibility with most drivers (and malware ;) ) through nearly 15 years of kernel updates.

    So even if some random manufacturer in Taiwan goes out of business the same Win XP drivers would still work the same way when you bought the hardware- they might work like crap but if you accepted that crap 15 years ago and the hardware hasn't died it'll still be at the same level of crappiness. You might even have an ISO procedure for tolerating it...

    Whereas you can't say the same for Linux. Random idiots may claim that there's a whole bunch of Linux kernel developers queuing up to write drivers for hardware, but that's just bullshit - since in practice most of them will want documentation or source code which isn't going to be available from no longer existing manufacturers.

    And random idiots can also say the manufacturer should have provided the source in the first place. Yeah they should and I should also have ten million dollars. Heck, in some cases manufacturers might actually have provided source, but the source doesn't work with the actual hardware you bought. Sure, I'm making stuff up. But whose bullshit is closer to reality?
  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 16 2016, @07:28AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday August 16 2016, @07:28AM (#388601) Homepage
    Breaking a driver's ability to build will break userspace, same thing. There's always been the "if you cause another driver to fail to build, then you must fix that driver" principle too. That's what allmod and randommod configs are all about.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 16 2016, @07:43AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday August 16 2016, @07:43AM (#388603) Homepage
    Oh - and if it's not open source, it's not Linux, it simply something that can be bolted onto Linux.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves