Let's begin SchemeOS

[Rodrigo Ventura]

>>>>> "Fare" == Fare Rideau <rideau@ens.fr> writes:

    Fare> * I still think that there is room for several LispOS projects,
    Fare>  and since we obviously can't agree on a unified project anyway,
    Fare>  we can at least agree to disagree on what to do next:
    Fare>  using Scheme, ANSI CL, or another dialect,
    Fare>  basing implementation on RScheme or CMUCL,
    Fare>  hosting on self (or Flux) or Linux/BSD,
    Fare>  starting from the application or system side,
    Fare>  storing objects with a filesystem or a persistent store.

        I agree with your disagreement 8-)
        In little words, I think that:
        - scheme is better because is simple enought not to be tangled
with any implementation or machine perspective (or OS);
        - CMUCL is too heavy, RScheme is appealing, Scheme48 has great
portability (virtual machine, bytecodes, etc.); A survey on scheme's
has to be done;
        - Linux seems ok because it covers a _wide_ range of
platforms. Hurd is under development, and FreeBSD is less used (I
guess). Linux is a pragmatical choice, rather than a technical one --
this way we do not need to worry how to support a specifir chip on a
specific ethernet board;
        - difficult to start from applications side without a clear
view on how it will interface with the system. Do not forget that
object persistence instead of file system is still an open question;
        - persistent store is sexier (and as you said, it cannot be
easly proved 8-))).

    Fare> * As for getting code available, would it be possible
    Fare>  that we, as a consortium of users, convince (with words and/or money)
    Fare>  whoever still owns Lisp Machine code
    Fare>  (Symbolics successors, Xerox, TI, HP, MIT, etc)
    Fare>  to make it publically available?
    Fare>  I am ready to participate financially in such an operation.
    Fare>  Maybe the demise of Symbolics is an occasion to
    Fare>  buy their assets for cheap!?
    Fare>  Else, when will some/all of this code become public domain anyway?
    Fare>  US Legal affairs are sure not *my* specialty...

        Difficult for third reasons: first, the people that enter with
the money may not want to  make it public, second, those old lisp os'
where made too many time ago, and many new fresh ideas were developed
meanwhile, and third, even if we  buy it, is it legal to simply make
it 100% public?

        Note that I'm willing to drop some money for the cause, as
long as it is not too much, at least to look at the code, or use as
inspiration, or even use it directly to the higher layers. It looks
interesting to buy it a make it "open source" (to use a buzzword), at
least for the open source cause.

        Regards,

-- 
--

*** Rodrigo Martins de Matos Ventura, alias <Yoda>
***  yoda@isr.ist.utl.pt, http://www.isr.ist.utl.pt/~yoda
***   Instituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Polo de Lisboa
***    Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal
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