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SubjectJava or Forth interpreter in kernel for device drivers - i'm interested
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I noticed the following on the Linux wish-list:
"Java or Forth interpreter in kernel for device drivers. This lets vendors
write binary drivers that will work for Intel, Alpha, and whatever else uses
the same bus. An interpreted driver without source code is better than no
driver at all."

That's interesting, a cross-platform binary standard for device drivers is a
somewhat different reason than why I thought many hardware-types liked to be
able to break into Forth interpreters at boot time. I thought the Forths
were mostly used as an interactive hardware-debugging aid, or possibly as a
interpreters for plug-n-play style startup code on the cards. (Am I way off
here? I don't have hardware experience, myself.)

I don't mean to impugn the idea of a cross-platform interpreter for drivers
in any way, it sounds really cool. But I can imagine that an existing
binary standard like Java might have a better chance of being adopted for
something like this, and that interactivity might not be a primary concern.
(If anyone wants to counter that Forth really has a chance here, by all
means; I think that would be neat. :)

But in any case, I would be interested in providing an in-kernel Forth to
serve as more of a hardware-oriented debugging aid, if anyone can confirm
that this a) would be useful and desirable, and b) would be willing to
suggest features it should have to make it the most cool and useful.

Any thoughts?

Bill Kelly
(mailto:billk@cts.com)



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