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ARM version of MSDOS (Announce)

posted by marcov, 06.11.2022, 21:49

> > I suggest coming back when you can run Norton Commander or any of its
> > clones; no matter if on ARM or X86.
> A "DOS-like" OS on the ARM does sound exciting and enchanting. I appreciate
> your work and effort toward that end. We all start somewhere, and with ARM
> processors becoming more and more used, probably soon to 'replace' Intel
> chips due to reduced instruction set and scalability, we'll be "forced" to
> abandon Intel artechicture soon. So, "MS-DOS for ARM" is most welcomed,
> indeed.
(just a note:
Afaik it is not the reduced instruction set itself that makes ARM and related risc(v)'s interesting again. Anything ARM that can compete with modern x86 has had umpteen extensions since and is not exactly reduced any more.

It is the related but not 100% equal fact that this leads to instructions having an uniform size (or at least the basic units are the same size, more complex instructions might occupy multiple units).

This makes it easier to solve instruction decoding by parallelizing, and a better scheduler makes widening (extra executions units) easier. x86 with its uneven instructions makes the start of the next instruction dependent on all the ones before, and fixing that adds complexity in circuitry that already runs at the highest possible clocks.

But never underestimate the compatibility factor of x86. The software long tail should not be underestimated.
)

> Get Xtree Gold running on the ARM, and I'll be impressed! This is the
> "best" file manager / viewer / utility for DOS ever made, in my opinion. I
> still use it daily, and its interface is perfect.
I don't want to get in flamewars with Kerravon again, but his posix analogy falls flat on its face(Dos, unlike Unix, never had a source based application distriution model), and then unrelated 32-bit systems like OS/2 , Windows and even (classic) MacOS and Amiga (with x86 cards) are more compatible than his Dos. So why bother choosing it ?

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