Booting Programs Directly (Minimizing/closing Os)

[noxstryx]

I'm sure this has been addressed before but i don't really know where to look/What to look up.
Will there be programs capable of running without the OS running in the background?
For example the DS when you run a game doesn't have(or has very minimal) cycles/ram being wasted an OS the game is the only thing running.
Will it be possible to strip back most of the OS before running a program? Or possible to BOOT directly into a program, skipping the OS altogether?

 

[SomeGuy99]

I'm sure this has been addressed before but i don't really know where to look/What to look up.
Will there be programs capable of running without the OS running in the background?
For example the DS when you run a game doesn't have(or has very minimal) cycles/ram being wasted an OS the game is the only thing running.
Will it be possible to strip back most of the OS before running a program? Or possible to BOOT directly into a program, skipping the OS altogether?

You can boot an OS from SD, so I assume you can boot anything bootable from there. You could put a minimal Linux and a single game on for example. Would be cool to buy Pandora games on an actual card like the DS! Reminds me of the GP32.

 

[Tom`]

I'm sure this has been addressed before but i don't really know what to look.
Will there be programs capable of running without the OS running in the background?
For example the DS when you run a game doesn't have(or has very minimal) cycles/ram being wasted an OS the game is the only thing running.
Will it be possible to strip back most of the OS before running a program? Or possible to BOOT directly into a program, skipping the OS altogether?

The OS is there for a reason - it provides drivers for all the hardware and ways to manage all the resources. You can't just take a program designed to run on Linux and run it directly on the hardware.

It's possible that some developers will write programs that can run this way, but why would they want to? They wouldn't have access to the 3D hardware, and it would be much more difficult to code anything without the OS. It may speed up certain types of emulation, perhaps, or be suitable for running very minimal programs, but I doubt it will be done much.

 

[Alec]

I doubt anyone would want to do something like that, since now your "program" is effectively the OS since it has to re-implement all the basic stuff like disk access and graphics drivers...

 

[Aninhumer]

The device is always going to be running a Linux kernel, because it would be nearly impossible to do anything without it.
You'd basically need to write drivers for the whole device just to run a simple game.
However, the amount of resources taken up by just Linux will be negligible.

You can use a lightweight menu if you want to avoid the overhead of XFCE although that's still pretty small, and mostly memory which the game probably wouldn't use anyway.

 

[EvilDragon]

Of course, you could use the current kernel and make a mini rootfs which includes your game and put that on the SD-Card.

You can set the SD Card up that the Pandora will automatically boot from it while it's inserted, so it wouldn't be a big deal having an emulator or game on an SD Card which boots within seconds.
Also, as nothing would be running on your minimal OS, you could max everything out

 

[SomeGuy99]

Of course, you could use the current kernel and make a mini rootfs which includes your game and put that on the SD-Card.

You can set the SD Card up that the Pandora will automatically boot from it while it's inserted, so it wouldn't be a big deal having an emulator or game on an SD Card which boots within seconds.
Also, as nothing would be running on your minimal OS, you could max everything out

Like running a Hotrod car? You don't have a boot, or doors or air conditioning... just PERFORMANCE!

 

[atomicthumbs]

mu

 

[Kramy]

I'm sure this has been addressed before but i don't really know where to look/What to look up.
Will there be programs capable of running without the OS running in the background?
For example the DS when you run a game doesn't have(or has very minimal) cycles/ram being wasted an OS the game is the only thing running.
Will it be possible to strip back most of the OS before running a program? Or possible to BOOT directly into a program, skipping the OS altogether?

The OS isn't very heavy, and it is possible to turn a lot of stuff off before running a game, including the entire desktop environment.

You'd obviously want to leave things like WiFi/GPU/Sound drivers turned on. There's a lot of stuff in the kernel that makes things easier.

 

[BackAssward]

mu

How very Zen of you.

 

[paulguy]

I think some of the OpenGL ES programs can run without X. I imagine some of the more intense emulators will be run without X, like PS1 or N64, to squeeze out that little extra bit.

 

[Mr B]

I think some of the OpenGL ES programs can run without X. I imagine some of the more intense emulators will be run without X, like PS1 or N64, to squeeze out that little extra bit.

X isn't needed, sure, but you still need the driver for the hardware. This is simply since it's a LOT easier to write software aimed at the driver layer, then trying to hack together a game that is capable of using the hardware directly. The later would be faster... but the later would never leave early alpha status, is my guess.

It's like making a game for the old Amigas. You can run in the Workbench OS, or you could boot from the game disc it self, and then you have to run all the hardware on your own.
They did it back then, due to lack of power, so if someone wants it bad enough, they might do it now.
B!