Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 12179 from 2003/5/22
From: Germany
> From the description you pointed to, the system sounds similar to an ASMP OS.
To me it sounds like non-SMP for existing binaries and full-fledged SMP for programs using the new API.
> We've always know something like that could be kluged.
I always assumed implementing SMP would break compatibility with existing binaries (i.e. they don't run at all). AROS shows that compatibility can be retained.
> MorphOS could easily use each core as a separate environment
That's not what AROS does. In AROS, old single-core binaries and programs using the new SMP API can run in the same environment. Unless I misunderstood.
> But is that SMP?
Your proposal for MorphOS: no. What AROS does: yes.
> our developers [...] seem to want to switch ISAs before they tackle multiprocessing.
The official rationale for this has been that implementing SMP (and other modern features) would break compatibility anyway. But as AROS shows, that doesn't have to be in case of SMP.