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earthpigg
February 27th, 2010, 06:42 AM
I just came across it at a used book store :P

i haven't started reading it, though.

it has a bunch of notes and stuff underlined from some past student that was, apparently, reading this for college.

skimming through, there is a chapter titled "Introduction to the IBM PC" with the subheading of "The Intel 8088 CPU"... written when this stuff was new-ish, apparently.

should be interesting reading.

edit: there is 250 pages of source code for MINIX towards the end! o, how times have changed... could anyone imagine distributing Linux's entire source code via paper?!

NotTheMessiah
February 27th, 2010, 07:04 AM
edit: there is 250 pages of source code for MINIX towards the end! o, how times have changed... could anyone imagine distributing Linux's entire source code via paper?!


MINIX(kernel) is around 6000 lines nowadays:)
how very micro :)

dE_logics
February 27th, 2010, 07:08 AM
You can always apply compression algorithm to reduce the size and print it to the book with the expense of a very powerful and genius user.

gnomeuser
February 27th, 2010, 09:57 AM
I just came across it at a used book store :P

i haven't started reading it, though.


I envy you, I have wanted a copy of that book for years but it has always been very expensive and I have been unable to justify buying it.

It is probably the reference book for understanding OS design. Also recommended is Robert Love's Linux Kernel Development. It is a bit dated today and many of the designs it discusses aren't valid for the kernel as we see it today but it is easy to read and very useful in understanding how Linux works.



skimming through, there is a chapter titled "Introduction to the IBM PC" with the subheading of "The Intel 8088 CPU"... written when this stuff was new-ish, apparently.


If you find that interesting, when I was studying to become an information and communications technology engineer I was assigned "The 80386, 80486 and Pentium Processor: Hardware, Software and Interfacing" for a class on understanding CPUs and programming ASM. It is written by one of the designers of the Pentium chip and it is an absolutely iconic book. Very dry, heavy on technical text, diagrams and ASM code but very valuable if you aim to understand how a CPU works, why and how to work with it.



edit: there is 250 pages of source code for MINIX towards the end! o, how times have changed... could anyone imagine distributing Linux's entire source code via paper?!

I remember for one of the anniversaries of Linux someone did a webstream dedicated to reading out the Linux source code in it's entirety. As for source code on paper, sure, I was required to do that in college - then again my programming exams were also done entirely using pen and paper, no computer, no compiler, nothing to help but your raw knowledge of syntax and designing a solution... and yes we were graded based on the correctness and readability of our handwritten syntax... boy did that ever suck.

mips
February 27th, 2010, 10:11 AM
As for source code on paper, sure, I was required to do that in college - then again my programming exams were also done entirely using pen and paper, no computer, no compiler, nothing to help but your raw knowledge of syntax and designing a solution... and yes we were graded based on the correctness and readability of our handwritten syntax... boy did that ever suck.

You are not alone ;)