From: George Michaelson <ggm_at_apnic.net>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 11:47:06 +1000

I agree the cost:benefit analysis probably still makes this less relevant for
all users.

But I think a VFS abstraction cost would be small. Its almost innate in all
unixes, including the various uCLinux/tinyBSD, which fit on SH3 class processors
amongst others (eg Soekris) some of which have very constrained memory
footprints. Yes, we're SH1. but its not like arguing for gcc on a pdp-8.

I would also point out that using a UNIX fs (I personally prefer BSD derived
ffs) provides some significant enhancements over the current FAT32 fs:

        20 year back history of filesystem code to leverage

        file system check/recovery tools built into all hosts

        sensible directory structure, no filename restrictions
        FAST. the ffs and ext2fs are really simple to make fast for
        directory scans, disk layout etc

and best of all

        no risk of MSDOS patent trash.

I think self-hosting off of windows would be good. Maybe somebody off the core
rockbox with some skills, or a student looking for a project might want to do
this.

-George
Received on 2004-01-07