Many Moose members mailing!
Dennis Marer
dmarer@td2cad.intel.com
Thu, 17 Dec 92 14:43:44 PDT
Greetings and welcome!
Howdy! Sorry about the long pause between messages...it's been very
busy (and exciting) around here! So far, I've been sent info from about 15
people willing to work on Moose, and I think that's a comfortable size. I've
included the full list at the end of this message, so get acquainted!
As I expected, we've got a wide range of people to think up ideas,
which is great! I was counting on the fact that none of us has exactly the
same kinds of experience. Probably the most important factor is that none of
us has the same LEVEL of experience...it's my theory that if you put a group
of computer gurus together to write an operating system, only computer gurus
will be able to use it. :-) Even if you personally don't have the practical
or theoretical (I.E., school) experience that others might have, you're still
just as important to the success of this project.
On a side note, I've been talking with Andy Tannenbaum (OS guru, has
written a couple of books and operating systems) about this project to get his
input on the feasibility of our undertaking. He's been trying to convince me
it can't be done without several hundred man-years effort, but I still think
he's got the wrong approach. He wrote Minix by himself, so between the 15 or
so of us we should be able to accomplish something also. I thrive on projects
which are claimed to be 'impossible' because I find them much more interesting.
If you know something can be done, what's the point of doing it?
I'm still wading through all the responses I've recieved from the
survey I posted, which has added up to several hundred pages! I did not expect
such turnout, so it's taking a bit longer to compile the results than I had
originally anticipated.
The first revision of the Moose general specifications is also being
compiled, and will be ready for your perusal next week. These specs show how
I envision the system interacting as a whole, and I've tried to keep from
including specific features. I'm seeking to capture the concept of this system
as a whole, and from there we can work out the details. You'll all recieve
this when it's finished, and from there you can add any new suggestions you
come up with also.
The next step is to divide us up into groups. I think for the present,
we should all participate in developing the interface to the kernel. It's such
an important portion of the system that we should all have a hand in shaping
how every other section (video, disk, I/O, etc) interface with it. What I'm
looking for before we actually break into groups are SPECIFICS about what each
function does, the parameters it takes, and so on. From there the kernel can
be implemented, as well as each sub-group having a place to work from. Put
your thinking caps on and start thinking about what kind of interface you'd
like for the following:
* Memory allocation - to allow allocation of memory (virtual? shared?)
resizing of allocated blocks (is this portable?), etc.
* Process communication - Windows uses DDE, Unix uses pipes and shared
memory, how are we gonna do it?
* Device management - If your application needs XXX device, how does
it go about using this device?
* Time management - Process scheduling and prioritizing, real time
functions, etc.
* Standards - Unicode character system? (YES!) File protection
standards? (X.400?)
Just some stuff to chew on over the holidays...send me any ideas you've
got, and they'll be included!
So what am I doing now? Several suggestions have come up regarding
this project, the first of which was to actually start a real non-profit
organization. It'll protect each of us in copyright situations, and I think
in general it's a good idea if this thing takes off. I'll keep you posted as
the details work themselves out.
We'll probably need a central place to store our work, ideally some
machine each of us can FTP to and leave stuff and retrieve stuff. If any of
you know of such a system (mine is definitely OUT) please let me know. Also,
it's been suggested to set up mailing lists at that system for easier contact
with all members, such as moose-general@system.whatever, or moose-kernel@...
This should ease communications. Anybody have such access?
Well, it's holiday season for most of us, so let's get in touch again
after January 10th or so. This gives everyone time to get back into the swing
of things after New Years, plenty of time to put on that thinking cap and hash
out your wonderful ideas...take care, and keep in touch. Again, if you have
any suggestions, problems, ideas, etc., let me know or send to the group as a
whole! Hope to hear from you soon!
Dennis
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Name: Gary D. Duzan
E-Mail: duzan@cis.udel.edu, duzan@dsh.org,
Gary=Duzan%CSS%DHSSDSH@banyan.dsh.org
Snail Mail: 621 Shue Drive
Todd Estates I
Newark, DE 19713
Education: B.S. Computer Science
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Occupation: Network Administrator at Delaware State Hospital
Managing a Banyan Vines PC network, a 386BSD mail/news
UUCP/SMTP gateway, Gupta SQLBaser servers, and just
about anything else computer related that needs to be
done.
Specialities: Keeping up with the latest in Operating Systems Research
Griping about DOS (and any other brain damage)
C Programming (General)
Picking up new systems
Helping others with projects
Leaving personal projects half-done (though I always
finish things that need doing)
Experience: Started with computers in 1981 (6th grade), including
Apple IIs, Atari 8bits, VMS, DOS machines, Unix, and
dabbling in any number of other systems.
I worked a number of data entry and computer operator
in high school and college through temporary agencies,
which exposed me to a wide variety of systems.
I also worked as a site assistant and senior student
consultant during college. I unofficially helped
manage a Sun network (since the sysadmin really didn't
know anything about Unix) and was often consulted as
a system guru.
College projects included a study of Distributed
Systems and the design of a Virtual File System
for Minix.
I've written C parsers and such in my spare time. My
latest product is a utility to monitor the activity
on a number of equivalent Sun workstations and suggest
which to use when connecting from a terminal.
Languages: English, BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, 6502, 65816, 8086,
Lisp dialects
Publications: None.
Interests: Science Fiction/Fantasy Books and Television
British Stuff
Music by artists noone has heard of (mostly called NewAge,
though I dabble in Folk and Jazz)
Choral Music (I've performed with groups in Carnegie Hall,
Finlandia Hall, Avery Fisher Hall (Lincoln Center),
and lots of other interesting places.)
Other: Jumping blindly into huge projects. :-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
,
Name: Francois-Rene Rideau (call me Fare)
'
E-Mail: rideau@clipper.ens.fr
Snail mail: 6, rue Augustin Thierry
75019 PARIS
FRANCE
or
(Ecole Normale Superieure)
45 rue d'Ulm
75230 PARIS CEDEX 05
FRANCE
Education: Student in Maths & C.S. at the ENS
Specialties: Dreaming about new OO generic language OS and CPU
Assembly language programming
Experience: No professional experience.
Fun with programming and unprotecting games.
Languages: French,English,(Spanish),(Vietnamese?),
BASIC, 6502 asm, 80x86 asm, C, Pascal, RPL, Forth, C++,
(68000 asm) (any you want)
Publications: humorous articles in (very) local papers
Interests: Classical Music,
Vietnam (me. to^i la` ngu+o+?i Vie^.t-Nam)
Role-Playing games and making psychological SF scenarii
books about the political Power (B de Jouvenel,Tocqueville,...)
logic and (artificial or natural) intelligence
Other: Participating absurdly huge projects...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Steve Luzynski
EMail: sal8@po.cwru.edu
SnailMail: 11904 Carlton Rd, #430D
Cleveland, OH 44106
Education: Ongoing....
Occupation: Computer Engineering Student at Case Western Reserve
University. Summer employed at Harmon Electronics in Grain
Valley, MO doing software documentation and hardware
testing.
Specialities: C++
Graphics (can't draw em but I can program em)
OS/2 - experience with object oriented GUIs
Experience: First computer was an Apple //e. Wrote a full featured
telecommunticaions program and a idiotproof disk utility
program in assembly language for it.
C and C++ on 80386 machines. Written graphics intensive
games and various 'make life easier' utilities.
Assembly and PL/M microcontroller programming. Deciphered
10 years worth of multiauthored, zero commented code to
write the bible on the system it controlled.
Languages: English, BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, 6502 assembly, 8039
microcontroller assembly.
Publications: None.
Interests: Computer everything, waterskiing, industrial music.
Current
projects: Designing & implementing a play-by-email game for MSdos
systems in C++. Going to school. Learning to program OS/2
PM.
Groups: Video, general stuff.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: John Newlin
E-Mail: newlin@ecn.purdue.edu
Snail mail: 2550 Yeager Rd. Apt. #4-5
W. Lafayette, IN 47906
U.S.A.
Education: Senior in BSCEE program
Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN
Occupation: Student, dedicated to graduation in May with as little
work as possible, and occupying my time in as many non-school
related activities as possible. In other words, enjoy my
Senior year ;-)
Specialties: Perl language programming (I love it!)
Object oriented software development
GUI based applications in Macintosh environment
Software Engineering, structured analysis.
Hey, I'm a student, I haven't had time to become
a specialist ;-)
Experience: Been working with computers since 1988, including the
IBM PC's and compatibles, Unix systems, VAX/VMS, and Mac's.
Coop experience with Thomson Consumer Electronics.
Worked on automated test equipment, and toyed with
an OO framework call Turbo Vision, for controlling
an IEEE-488 rack of equipment.
Intern with Motorola. Wrote a client-server based
app with a UNIX server and a cluseter of Mac's as the
clients. Of course this was through the high leve
interface to TCP-IP.
Languages: English, BASIC, Fortran, Pascal, C, C++,
plus 80x86, 68000, 6809, Perl, sed, awk, Lisp.
Publications: No papers or books published, no patents held.
Interests: Biking, hiking, camping, hanging out with friends,
wallyball, almost anything except country music,
drinking large quantities of alcohol to induce
a trance like state, and possibly induce a reversal
of the esophageal muscles ;-)
Going to class, occasionally.
Other: sleep, when I am not wasting my life away ;-)
Working on my political career as I am aspriting
to become the President one day.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Rob McKeever
E-Mail: mckeeveb@sfu.ca
rmckeeve@sfu.ca
(either of the above ...@sfuvax.bitnet)
Snail mail: Appt #201 - 5336 E. Hastings St.
Burnaby, B.C. V5B 1R1
Canada
Education: Second year Computing Science student,
Simon Fraser University
Occupation: Programmer, McKeever's Software Wizardry, BC, Canada
Developing PC-based Medical office management database systems
Programmer, Operations & Tech. Support, Simon Fraser University
Various odd jobs no one else wants...
including some system security tasks, help system development
etc.
Specialties: UNIX-style environment development
Macintosh (I'm ashaimed of it, really) development
Object oriented software development
GUI based applications in X Windows and Macintosh systems
Daydreaming and thinking about things which could be...
Experience: Been working with computers since 1983, including the
PET 2001, Apple II series, IBM PC's, Macintoshes, UNIX
Languages: English, BASIC, Fortran, C, C++,
plus 80x86, 680x0, and 6502 assembly languages.
Publications: No papers or books published, one patent pending
Interests: Played Saxaphone until it was destroyed in a car accident
Enjoy RPGs (D&D RoleMaster, etc.)
Science Fiction novels (all sorts)
Hacking Unix drivers, porting code (including OS's)
Other: Organizing absurdly huge projects... :-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Dan Odom
E-Mail: danodom@matt.ksu.ksu.edu
Snail mail: P.O. Box 281
Hays, KS 67601-0281
U.S.A.
Education: Given the fact that I feel degrees and formal education
have nothing to do with you skill level, I am leaving
this field blank. I have known high school dropouts
that could write a complete database app in C in under
a month, and PhDs who thought that REXX was second only
to PL/1 (geez).
Occupation: Professional bum. :-)
Specialties: 8086 Assembly language programming (moderate skill)
Object oriented software design
Strong C/Unix background
Designing software that engineers think is neat and not
giving a damn about the 'general user'.
Experience: Been working with computers since 1984, including the
IBM PC's and many Unix systems (BSD-ish OSs preferred).
Written about a zillion apps for myself. Which
one do you want to hear about?
I basically just write software for myself.
Languages: English, BASIC (mostly forgotten), Pascal (also mostly
forgotten), C, C++, Forth (again, mostly forgotten), German
(human language, moderate skill), 80x86 assembler, LISP.
Learning 680x0 assembler.
Publications: No papers or books published, no patents held.
Interests: Computers, systems programming, Grateful Dead, telecom,
Dead Kennedys, Jethro Tull, EE/CE, doing horribly
perverted things in LISP and 80x86 ASM.
Other: Other? You mean there's something _besides_ computers
and music?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name -- David Paschal
email -- dspascha@eos.ncsu.edu (gone Sun Dec 13 until around Jan 3)
snail mail at NCSU:
David Paschal
NCSU Box 4021
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 821-7271
at home:
David Paschal
6025 Lansing Drive
Charlotte, NC 28270
(704) 364-2294
Education/occupation -- Graduate of the NC School of Science and Math (NCSSM)
Extensive computer programming experience, both independently and as "work
service" at NCSSM.
currently freshman at NC State University studying computer science
Specialties -- Intel 80x86 assembly language programming (I love it too!) :-)
DOS "utilities" such as TSR's and related hacks. Some more important programs
I've written include a utility that write protects a hard disk (loads from the
boot sector before DOS!), some network printing utilities (fix those %^&*
programs that don't flush the print queue!), an pretty decent subroutine library
for things like heap management, text-mode windowed video, INI configuration
file parsing, and DOS environment manager. So far I have written two programs
with this new library -- a network login program and a software menu program
which can look for menu files on various file services on a network.
***Some of this library might be useful (with some porting to protected mode)
for your OS, especially the INI file parser.
Experience -- worked with computers since 1985 -- first a TRS-80, then IBM XT
clone, then 386 clone. Programming experience both independently and as a
"work service" (required work study) student at NCSSM.
Languages -- mainly 80x86 assembly, but also some BASIC, C, C++, Pascal
Operating systems used -- DOS, Unix, VMS
Other interests -- cello, Deutsch.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Eric Anderson
E-Mail: eanders@cmu.edu, eanders@sura.net
Snail Mail: 10122 Renfrew Rd.
Silver Spring, MD 20901-2049 USA.
Education: Candidate for B.S. in Computer Science, Technical
Writing, and a Masters in Math.
Occupation: Primarily Student. I also work at SURAnet supporting
archie, writing network operations tools, and
supporting the /usr/local there. I also work some for
User Services at CMU.
Specialties: Object Oriented development
Application level programs.
GUI applications in X windows
Playing with somewhat expensive machines.
Experience: Been playning with computers since 1984-1985
Went to Math Science Magnet Program in High School,
Worked for NSWC, SURAnet, Sylvest, User Services at
CMU doing various software development tasks.
PS copy of my resume available from
madhatter.ws.cc.cmu.edu:pub/eric/Resume.ps if you care.
Played on everything from C64 to Sun Sparcstation
Languages: English, BASIC, Pascal, C, C++, Forth, SML, Logo,
Perl, Scheme, Prolog, 6502 assembler
Unix, MS-DOS, VMS, Apple Macintoshes
Publications: Not yet, hopefully eventually
Interests: Learning to write better, some poetry, listening to
all sorts of music, playing in the CMU band, Ballroom
and other types of dancing, learning more stuff.
PRIMARILY: Graduating in 4 years.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Matt Morgan
E-Mail: mmorg@rice.edu
Snail mail: Wiess College
P.O. Box 2011
Houston, TX 77252
U.S.A.
Education: Currently enrolled at Rice University (in Houston).
Occupation: student
Specialties: Object-oriented programming
Machine learning
System administration
Experience: Worked with computers for most of my lifetime: everything
from the Commodore 64 to the IBM ES/9000, and many things
in between.
(current) Student UNIX Programmer at Rice University.
(Essentially system administration work.)
Languages: ML, C++, C, Scheme, Forth, BASIC, and 6502 and SPARC
assembly languages.
Publications: One small article plus program listing for a game to play
Othello, in Compute!, Gazette Edition, December 1991.
Interests: Computer music and MIDI applications
Piano/organ/synthesizer playing
Volleyball, racquetball
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Peter Mueller
E-Mail: mueller@sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE
pm@opal.cs-tu-berlin.de
Snail Mail: Detmolder Str. 15
1000 Berlin 31
Germany
Education: Currently undergraduate of computer
science at Technical University of
Berlin; (well, I hope to receive my
graduate in May 1993 ...)
Occupation: Currently jobbing at Konrad-Zuse Center
for Technical Information located in
Berlin (ZIB). I think it's too arrogant
to declare this as a "real" occupation.
Specialties: Ouh! Specialties? Don't you get them
in the "real" world?
Thinking about how one could make things
object oriented
Willing to learn as much as possible
Willing to be active as much as possible
Experience: Compared with the most of you not much,
let me see:
IBM PC and compatibles
Unix Systems (Especially Sun
workstations)
(If it is of interest: I've programmed
a tetris like game for MS Windows. That's my
"GUI Programming Experience".
BTW: That programming was horrible. Why
do you have to write so much to let the
blocks fall ...?)
Languages: Broken English, hope it is well enough
for the project
C, C++, Pascal, old boy BASIC
Publications: No papers, no books, no patents (but
stay tuned ...)
Interests: Computer Music, MIDI applications
especially composing with them,
New Wave, Pop
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Jason R. Pascucci
Email: jasonp@primerd.prime.com
SnailMail: 1 Universal St #2
Framingham, MA 01701
USA
Education: No degree. Various and random courses at various and
random Universities
Occupation: Software Engineer at ComputerVision, Framingham, MA, USA.
Support of PRIMOS OS, RiscOS, etc, etc. Conversion/Migration Consulting.
Lots and lots of other stuff.
Specialties: 50 Series Architecture (70's stuff)
All the Normal and Slightly Silly Languages.
Porting issues, Cross Platform Development
High-level Design to Implementation
Hacking.
X internals, GUI's, etc.
Lots of very random knowledge.
Experience: Random companies doing PC type stuff. Prime Computer/CV
for about 5 years, mostly 50 Series, about 3 years of Unix
internals. Etc, etc.
Languages: Way to many...and I get them confused sometimes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Ross Hayden
E-mail: haydedr@wkuvx1.bitnet
Snail mail: 2001 Rockcreek Rd. Apt 2E
Bowling Green, KY 42101-3656
Education: BS in computer science expected December 1993
Western Kentucky University
Specialties: MS-DOS, OS/2 system programming; Compiler theory;
database theory; assembly language programming
Experience: 6 years with MS-DOS, 1.5 years OS/2, 2 years Windows.
Written many applications for fun, such as a real-time
executive, a C preprocessor for text windowing
routines.
Languages: C, C++, 80X86 assembly, 6502 assembly, Pascal.
Interests: Programming, tutoring CS students, compiler theory,
operating system theory. Running, weight training,
camping, bicycle racing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Michael David Winikoff
E-mail: winikoff@cs.mu.oz.au
Snail: 1 Tobruk st. Bulleen 3105, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Education: Finished BSc this year. Will be doing honours in 1993.
Occupation: Student :-)
[This summer holidays I am employed by the computer science department
as a research assistant. I'm working on abstract interpretation of
Prolog]
Specialities:
(Pure Lazy) Functional programming.
Experiance: Very little until I began my course in 1990.
I have since spent a summer vacation avaluating the suitability of a
relational database package for a marketting research application.
Another summer vacation was spent researching transaction recovery
for deductive databases. During the following year the guts of a
relational file system was implemented.
This summer I am working with an abstract interpretation engine for
Prolog.
Languages: English. C. Haskell. Prolog. ML. Parlog.
Rusty: 68000 assembler, Pascal.
Publications: None. (yet :-)
Interests: Functional programming. (techniques, environments, operating system
interfacing, implementation)
Music (classical, I play piano and do some composing from time to time.)
Role Playing (Currently Star Wars RPG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: David Potter
E-Mail: potter@watson.ibm.com
Snail mail: P.O. Box 218
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
U.S.A.
Education: B.S. Industrial Engineering
Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Occupation: Systems programmer at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.
Systems Management, Performance Management,
Research into how the computer might better augment
human thinking.
Specialties: Operating systems (I love them!)
System performance and tuning.
Algorithms, (hashing, searching, etc.)
Process scheduling and VMM
State sampling user processes
Studying user productivity
Daydreaming and thinking about things which could be...
Experience: Been working with computers since 1963, including the
IBM 1620, 1130, S/360, S/370, S/390, PCs, RISC System/6000.
First decade spent as I.E. doing facilities planning for
IBM products including the System/360.
Second decade doing system programming for OS/MVS, especially
for performance management.
Third decade doing system programming for VM, especially
for performance management. I wrote the VM/PRF tool
(VM/Performance Reporting Facility) for VM/XA and VM/ESA.
Now I am working on Unix (AIX 3 on RISC System/6000s), and
developing an accounting package for NIC clusters.
I am currently an active member of the Unix International
Performance Management Working Group (UI/PMWG) which is about
to publish a proposal for standard performance measuement enablers.
Permanent position with IBM (currently) since June, 1963.
Languages: English, Fortran, Pascal, C, C++, PL/I, Grin.
Publications: Several Research reports, and no books.
Interests: Music (Classical and Country Western)
Cooking
Puzzles
Hiking
* tuktusiuriagatigitqingnapin'ngitkiptin'nga, David Potter
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: dmarer@td2cad.intel.com
Snail mail: P.O. Box 1006
Los Gatos, CA 95031-1006
U.S.A.
Education: B.S. Computer Engineering
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
Occupation: Software Engineer at Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Development of software to assist in the production of IC's,
CAD based applications, placement of test circuitry and
alignment marks for mask generation.
Specialties: Assembly language programming (I love it!)
Object oriented software development
Microprocessor/controller based system hardware design
DSP hardware and software design for digital audio:
- Sampling and playback, esp. oversampling techniques
- Music synthesis using frequency modulation
- Effects processing
Text parsing with error detection/recovery algorithms
GUI based applications in X Windows and MS Windows
Daydreaming and thinking about things which could be...
Experience: Been working with computers since 1982, including the
Atari 800, IBM PC's and compatibles, Unix systems, VAX/VMS.
Co-op experience with Siemens AG, Erlangen, West Germany.
Worked with code and project management tools for a large
scale software project, plus designed a tool to verify
source code file inclusions against MAKE files.
Co-op experience with Intel, Santa Clara, CA, USA. Developed
software to model the effect of infrared light through thin-
film layers on silicon substrates to extract film composition
information from wavelength data.
Permanent position with Intel (currently) since June.
Languages: English, BASIC, Fortran, Pascal, C, C++, Forth, Mainsail,
plus 80x86, 68000, 6502, and VAX assembly languages.
Publications: No papers or books published, no patents held.
Interests: Computer music and MIDI applications
Piano, synthesizers, guitar, octave mandolin
Techno pop, modern rock, industrial, Irish traditional music
Poetry and similar writings
Other: Organizing absurdly huge projects... :-)