Where Do We Go From Here?
In the first examination of our initial utilities, we discussed several items of importance in our standalone system /sys/stand, some of its utilities, and a library of support routines. Through the standalone system, we were able to use GCC programs to access devices, such as the keyboard and display, as well as UNIX file structures on the hard disk. It also provided us with a platform to examine the 386's requirements through extensions which supported features incorporated into our UNIX port, and could also be used as a test bed for some of these functions. As we stated earlier, the standalone system can be viewed at this stage as if it were the kernel itself, with the extensions the basis of our prototype kernel code. We have started up the base of the mountain.
Next time, we will proceed further with our initial utilities development, by creating a stable cross-tools environment. Kermit and NCSA telnet will be used to load files and program over Ethernet and serial lines. We will then focus on proving GCC itself valid for cross-support purposes, as well as the limitations and alternatives.
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