#operating systems

[unbfacts]

All 500 of the world's fastest supercomputers run on Linux-based operating systems.

[monody-monody]

So I've recently been finally getting around to something I've wanted to do for a few years: switching to Linux.

To safely test out this process before applying it to my main tower machine, I decided to first do the switch over on an old Mac Mini which had a lot to gain from this as it was stuck on an outdated and unsupported version of MacOS.

But of course this all involved shuffling around a lot of old data and making sure everything was backed up. And here's where the story begins.

I backed up the Mini's MacOS install to its own partition on an external backup drive shared by my Windows tower machine. Once done, I shrank it to only the used size( which was complicated in its own right for reasons I'll explain shortly,) and then wanted to move it to the end of the drive so I could expand the Windows partition back out to fill the unused space.

Problem #1: MacOS's Disk Utility is so stripped down and lacking in functionality in the name of gloss, it literally cannot work with unallocated space on a drive in any way. You cannot see unallocated space, and you cannot create it. Want to shrink or delete a partition? It automatically creates a new one to fill the space whether you wanted it or not. Want to make a new partition in unallocated space without wiping the whole drive? Gotta use a different OS to make a dummy partition first and then replace it in Disk Utility. And the real problem… Want to move a partition? Can't.

Problem #2: Windows's Disk Management doesn't know what HFS+ is and refuses to work with it. Windows can't even read the Mac backup partition, let alone move it. But wait! I can use EaseUS Partition Manager! …Aaand most of its essential functionality is locked behind one of its multiple paywall tiers, including the ability to work with non-Windows filesystems at all.

But what about that new Linux install on the Mini?

I run 'sudo apt-get install gparted', a FOSS program, and in less than a minute I've already got it moving the partition. No hassle. No BS.

And if this whole thing doesn't just sum up the operating system trio, I don't know what does.

[fmk-polls]

[vxmpire-vxlle]

[archeoweb]

Three OS-tan avatars uploaded by isc_luis_herrera to Flickr.

[smashorpassobjects2]

[serowebs]

While scrolling thru Linux posts I saw a lot with estrogen and forcefemming

What about

Testosterone

What about

Forcemascing

What about

Give me hrt please 🙏 😭

[boyslit-moving]

ok if you've been using Windows for a while which one has been your favorite. bc i just got hit with a huge nostalgia brick for the os of my youth

if you don't have a favorite you can pick which one sucked the least :) feel free to rant and bitch in the tags if you want to, we're all haters at the end of the day <3

[cerulity]

There are three projects that I consider some of the hardest in computer science:

Compiler - Requires tons of text parsing, type system configuration, and code generation. A conglomerate of data flow.

Operating system - Build everything from the ground up. You don't even start with an allocator. Implement. Everything.

Browser - So many standards need to be implemented, it's a feat of graphics programming. Just the SVG specification is 900 pages.

If I'm missing anything on that same level of difficulty, let me know.

Some things people have mentioned:

X11 Standard: Not 100% sure why, but I'd assume an entire windowing/desktop environment interface would be crazy. From light research, I found that there seems to be a lot of backwards compatibility, and that Wayland is just more straightforward.

Emulators: Simpler consoles like the NES would already be substantial to emulate, let alone something like the Switch or PS5.

Physics engines: So much math. Raycasting, collisions, islands, and much more. And if you don't get it right, everything literally just explodes.

[bye2k]

[nitzukai]

clicky click.

[dougielombax]

“Your password is weak.”

Oh yeah well so is your entire FUCKING operating system!

*installs a subroutine which turns all the computer’s files into incomprehensible gibberish and causes the harddrive to start overheating to an extremely dangerous degree*

[vintage-tigre]

[techav]

On Reinventing the Wheel

I have my little 68030 computer I built and I have my crude little kernel that lets the computer run BASIC for up to 8 users at the same time.

But wouldn't it be great if those users could do more than just type in small programs to watch an endless stream of HELLORLD fill the screen? You know ... silly things like print words on paper or, I don't know, save to a disk, maybe?

It would be great. I would love to be able to do that.

I'm not there yet.

See, I only have the one serial printer, so I really need some way to share it among the 8 users. Perhaps when a user wants to print something I could hold it in memory until the printer is free. I could print a page for one user, then move on to the next in queue so that everyone gets their turn at using the printer.

... I may have just reinvented the print spooler.

But that sounds like it would be difficult to add as a state machine to my kernel, and it would only make it more difficult to add other features later. It would be so much easier if I could just run this print spooler as if it were another user, just like I'm doing with BASIC.

... I may have just reinvented background processes.

If I'm running my print spooler program as a user-level process, then I could take advantage of the kernel function call I already have for writing data to a serial port. Oh, but I don't want to give up one of my 8 terminals; I would much prefer to use one of the two 6850 UARTs I had on the main board. I would need to update that kernel call to use the 6850 register set when the print spooler prices needs to send data, but still use the 16550 register set when the user programs need to send data. Perhaps I could just standardize the parameters and return values for the transmit/receive functions for the different devices and have the kernel call the right one based on what the process needs.

... I may have just reinvented device drivers.

Oh you know I bet I could do something very similar for reading & writing files. I could have a kernel function call for reading or writing a sector on the disk, but have another process that does the hard work of interpreting the disk data as the files requested by the user programs.

... I may have just reinvented the user-level file system driver.

I am absolutely reinventing the wheel. Every step of the way, every problem I come across is a solved problem. The Dartmouth Time Sharing System was doing all this with BASIC on a single computer 60 years ago, and it wasn't the first to try sharing a computer like this.

So yes, I am reinventing the wheel ... but I understand why it's round. I understand why the axel connects to the center of it. I understand why it must be able to spin independently of the cart.

Every step I take down this road, every solved problem I solve again helps me to understand why we do things the way we do. I have spent hours poring over the source code for Unix, for NetBSD, for Linux, Minix, Fuzix, DOS, CP/M, and others. Compared to what I have built, these are all massive, hugely complex beasts of programs that break my brain to try to understand.

But each time I reinvent the wheel I understand just a little bit more about how these existing systems work. I understand a little more about the problems the original programmers were trying to solve and the problems they faced, and I understand a little bit more about why they chose to build things the way they did.

And that is why I do this.