SEUL: Re: Project clarification (fwd)

["Star's End" <starsend@interlog.com>]

> 
> I do not know whether the proposal below is viable but I'd like to
> comment the following:
> 
> We (SEUL-project) and, in general, the LinUX hacker community
> talk&develop 'X-frontends'.  Isn't a better idea to go for a total
> integration of the/a (customizable) windows front end into the kernel 
> (to have a 100% GUI OS) ?.

The short answer is no. The long answer follows. the kernel runs in 
protected mode. Kernel processes don't share time with other processes.
If the windowing system was incorporated into the kernel, the kernel
would have to be totally rewritten to allow time sharing, or deal
with the fact that every window call would be in protected mode and could
not be prempted.

> 
> I neither know whether this is, practically, possible but do command
> driven OSes have any future at all ? For a while ago, I discussed
> this issue with a (Spanish) hacker working in the DEBIAN team. 
> He told me that txt driven OS were much better because one could control
> a box remotely in a very easy way and they were more stable. One of my 
> percepcionts is that hackers feel comfortable within a command framework. 
> However, end-users would rather go for a GUI OS.

Actually I read a paper once about incorporating an AI into a shell 
capable of analyzing the prompt commands and creating menu buttons in
a toolbar for frequently used ones. Anyone up to the project?

> 
> Doesn't the modular nature of LinUX (say ... RedHat) allow for
> incorporation of all GUI parameters in the kernel without having
> a memory beast ?

What you are proposing is to demodularize the kernel. What do you do
for people who have no legimate use of a gui screen. A news server comes
to my mind here. 

For those who have done kernel code, the above is overly simplified. I
guess it would be possible to create kernel modules of the entire Xlib,
but I don't see any point to it. Its configuration would be just as
difficult, and that is really why everyone complains about X.

> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 	AP
> 	
> 
> 
> 
>