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>Real innovation in OS is somewhere between impractical and impossible. This explains Steve Jobs' saying that you have to work on hardware. The next OS will at

>Real innovation in OS is somewhere between impractical and impossible. This explains Steve Jobs' saying that you have to work on hardware. The next OS will at first run on GPU/FPGA only Guess PowerPC wasn't enough of a difference (the OS innovation was thus a layer on top of BSD) & therefore neither is RISC-V, it would seem

rbanffy 1y ago
> The next OS will at first run on GPU/FPGA only Modern CPUs co-evolved with the software we run on them. If we really want to rethink software, we need to rethink the CPU itself.
- gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
  That's what I meant.. probably I will use your phrasing next time, it's less kooky. Thanks in advance!
  - rbanffy 1y ago
    I'd go further - we'll need to rethink the CPU, the memory (we'll need lots of memory regions with exclusive access, a way to manage scratch memory, etc) and IO (because there will be a lot going on at any given time).
    - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
      (Aside from the scratch or IO maybe this isn't all that heretical :) there seems to be some nascent interest and work out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-memory_processing#Application_of_in-memory_technology_in_everyday_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-memory_processing#Applicati... XenevaOS could at least have moved in that direction..
      - rbanffy 1y ago
        As I said before, even a ground up OS for current hardware is a colossal endeavour. Coupling that to a rethink of the hardware as well is clearly better suited to academia for now. I already find it intriguing that the pre-boot hardware bring up for RPi boards is done by the GPU before the ARM cores are enabled.
        gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
        TIL! https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#:~:text=BCM283x%20boot%20process&text=It%20handles%20setup%20before%20booting,to%20the%20booting%20Linux%20kernel. https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-...

rbanffy 1y ago

> The next OS will at first run on GPU/FPGA only Modern CPUs co-evolved with the software we run on them. If we really want to rethink software, we need to rethink the CPU itself.

gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
That's what I meant.. probably I will use your phrasing next time, it's less kooky. Thanks in advance!
- rbanffy 1y ago
  I'd go further - we'll need to rethink the CPU, the memory (we'll need lots of memory regions with exclusive access, a way to manage scratch memory, etc) and IO (because there will be a lot going on at any given time).
  - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
    (Aside from the scratch or IO maybe this isn't all that heretical :) there seems to be some nascent interest and work out there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-memory_processing#Application_of_in-memory_technology_in_everyday_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-memory_processing#Applicati... XenevaOS could at least have moved in that direction..
    - rbanffy 1y ago
      As I said before, even a ground up OS for current hardware is a colossal endeavour. Coupling that to a rethink of the hardware as well is clearly better suited to academia for now. I already find it intriguing that the pre-boot hardware bring up for RPi boards is done by the GPU before the ARM cores are enabled.
      - gsf_emergency_2 1y ago
        TIL! https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-module.html#:~:text=BCM283x%20boot%20process&text=It%20handles%20setup%20before%20booting,to%20the%20booting%20Linux%20kernel. https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/compute-...