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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5094 |
kernal or kernel
In computer science the kernel is the core of an operating system. It is a piece of software responsible for providing secure access to the machine's hardware and to various computer processes (computer programs in a state of execution). Since there can be many processes running at the same time, and hardware access is limited, the kernel also decides when and how long a program should be able to make use of a piece of hardware: this function is called scheduling. Accessing the hardware directly can be very complex, since there are many different hardware designs for the same type of component. Kernels usually implement some hardware abstraction (a set of instructions universal to all devices of a certain type) to hide the underlying complexity from the operating system and provide a clean and uniform interface to the hardware, which helps application programmers to develop programs that work with all devices of that type. The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) then relies upon a software driver that provides the instructions specific to that device's manufacturing specifications.
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a kernel is/does:
- a core of an operating system
- secure access to the machine's hardware
- secure access to various computer processes
- scheduling (when and how long a program should be able to make use of a piece of hardware)
- usually implements some hardware abstraction
which of the above is applicable to kernal ?
none.
kernal does basic IO stuff. |
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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5094 |
trident, yes it is possible to look at the c64 "OS" as a kernel and higher level package. but if you dont want to rape it with this concept you wouldnt do that.
the OS&kernel concept and the c64 OS is as far as a modern car, and one pulled by horses. Of course you can say that the car pulled by horses already has the concept of the engine, chassis, gears, etc, but how wrong you are with that ?
There are several functions of kernal which is pretty extreme too high level to be considered as a kernel function. load a file, print to screen, read keyboard, show me a kernel function that does any of those ??? |
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trident
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 91 |
The C64 OS was developed in the late 1970s and the early 1980s for an 8-bit computer with 64k RAM. Nobody would expect such a system to be very similar to an operating system for a workstation from the same time and age, or for a contemporary PC for that matter.
"There are several functions of kernal which is pretty extreme too high level to be considered as a kernel function. load a file, print to screen, read keyboard, show me a kernel function that does any of those ???"
For BSD and Linux kernels the corresponding kernel functions would be open(), write(), and read(), respectively. |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11386 |
and if you look at the implementation of the c-library for cc65 you will notice that many posix functions map practically directly to kernal routines - _just_ like its done in *nix/bsd |
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Rayne
Account closed
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 30 |
The KERNAL was known as kernel inside of Commodore since the PET days, but in 1980 Robert Russell misspelled the word in his notebooks forming the word kernal. When commodore technical writers Neil Harris and Andy Finkel collected Russells notes and used them as the basis for the VIC-20 programmer's manual, the misspelling followed them along and stuck.
According to early Commodore 'myth' and reported by writer/programmer Jim Butterfield among others, the word KERNAL is an acronym (or maybe more likely, a backronym) standing for Keyboard Entry Read, Network, And Link, which in fact makes good sense considering its role. Berkeley Softworks later used it when naming the core routines of its GUI OS for 8-bit home computers: the GEOS KERNAL.
The (completely different) OS core in the 16/32-bit Commodore Amiga series was called the Amiga ROM Kernel, i.e. using the correct spelling of kernel. |
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PopMilo
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 146 |
Well said! |
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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5094 |
Quote: The KERNAL was known as kernel inside of Commodore since the PET days, but in 1980 Robert Russell misspelled the word in his notebooks forming the word kernal. When commodore technical writers Neil Harris and Andy Finkel collected Russells notes and used them as the basis for the VIC-20 programmer's manual, the misspelling followed them along and stuck.
According to early Commodore 'myth' and reported by writer/programmer Jim Butterfield among others, the word KERNAL is an acronym (or maybe more likely, a backronym) standing for Keyboard Entry Read, Network, And Link, which in fact makes good sense considering its role. Berkeley Softworks later used it when naming the core routines of its GUI OS for 8-bit home computers: the GEOS KERNAL.
The (completely different) OS core in the 16/32-bit Commodore Amiga series was called the Amiga ROM Kernel, i.e. using the correct spelling of kernel.
according to "on the edge" the first version is the truth. I stop my kernal mania at last. |
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