Ian Murdock never realized what contributions he made in the computer world. Debian is platform independent. Linux is merely an overlay(networked dos including bugs) on bios(basic input/output system)? KDE qt(window) operating system overlays Linux kernels. But Firefox is independent. And application software sending instructions can directly access shadowed(duplicated) bios in the dram for speed. If only we can put the bios(10 mb flash) shadow in L2 cache? Really only the bios ports used need to be in the L2 cache.

Platform differences are merely the instruction codes in the ascii lineup. If you can send the instruction codes directly to the component in the computer; you do not need drivers. You just need to know which designated port of the component to send the codes.

So, udev is how to insert the instruction plug-in to the browser toolbar and show the activity on the taskbar? When you load Firefox into ramdisk; you recompile to the platform in the bios.

We can really simplify Linux codes then. Linux revolution was started by Ian.

The original bios as developed by IBM for its PC architecture was 64 kb tucked away at the upper memory bordering the 1 mb limit. You can view the machine language with debug starting at f000:0000 address. IBM copyrighted it and prevented many clones from using the bios codes. Several bios versions hooking at different ports however did pass the test of copyrighted code protection.

Then bios were paged(memory bank/page switching); each page is 64 kb. 2/4 pages then, 8 pages(0.5 mb) followed, 1 mb bios was common for a while. Then 4 mb bios came along with cdrom drivers. Now we are going to exceed 10 mb flash bios for more USB and SATA drives, etc..

Unfortunately, debug stopped being useful after one page. The second page sometimes starting at D0000 can still be view by debug. Subsequent bios are hard to view without suitable software to read and write to the flash on the motherboard. Care to name a few programs you used?

If you, like me, love bios and small changes made possible hacking it; please use reply to discuss your advantures.

So, Linux backward compatible drivers are in the bios afterall? But some new bios lost the codes for soundblaster Pro at IRQ5 and dma=5; and installed the ambiguous(firmware needed) sound drivers at IRQ10 or 11, causing infinite confusion.

Each platform of cpu uses different bios but same ports. Then chipset defines the uniform addresses in the circuit. If you use sparc in PC, Ian Murdock will only compensate for the sparc cpu instruction set in the application program for Debian Linux. If you run sparc cpu, you don't need the IBM s390 cpu codes that Linus Torvalds just added into kernel 2.6.17. You should leave the S390 stuff on the cdrom when you install Linux on PCs in ramdisks or hdd(s).

In Linux operating system you do need PNPOS(in the bios) drivers for printers cups/samba; ethernet Dhcpcd dhcp; external modems; anything not installed by bios during boot. Anything you installed in the bios, then has to be socketed into application software and show all the data(software integration).

Not Hurd !!!

Look at QNX, and Prex? Microkernels are often machine language less than 10 bytes per file for realtime operating system(RTOS), processing short codes in threads one function at a time.

When QNX(Gorden Bell) started, it developed not a system to operate all the components in the bios. It uses microkernels to do specific function in the bios. The microkernels are small files to run a function from the application to the hardware components. They(QNX and Prex) are both posix compatible, which allows threads and packets creation in console, using microkernels.

So, QNX started with Neutrino window manager and uses a html browser to get on the internet. It uses 1730 files(78k lines of codes instead of Linux 4.5 million lines of codes) to run the bios for the external dialup modem to connect to the ISP of your choice. Entire software is stored in a 1.44 mb floppy.

Theorectically, Neutrino window manager can have multimedia capability therefore browser only needed html operating system. think of browser as a terminal to launch windows, files and links. And control center functions are in the toolbars and taskbars of every terminal.

The end result is an operating system based on application to bridge the bios and application, microkernels are used very efficiently. No thought of a complex system of microkernels becuase the realtime has to be hard. No wasted time for software integration. Only hard functional instructions are transfered back and forth. You need a function, you launch a small file in the application program.

Prex has the same flavour, except it is written for cellphone, which has a different architecture.

Hurd is a complex system between bios and Linux and needs installation script. And it is more bloated to run Linux applications.

Debian project leaders(elected, not appointed because of excellence) are not upto date on Debian philosophy. Application runs microkernels. Batch processing, anyone? Not microkernels run applications.

Gates used to look at every ascii code in the Microsoft Basic interpreter(8 KB using floppy)? Nothing wasted there.

Not much to say here.

All software is based on a terminal structure(console) to communicate with hardware(BIOS) and codecs(multimedia).

All gui(graphical user interface) is nothing but a prettied up terminal(x/tk is design tool kit) or more layers of terminals(multitasking).

All application programs(Dynamic object model) are data manipulated(calculation, compression and storage) in terminals.

Browser(notepad) is terminals and more terminals and mostly terminals.