Where does ELKS need to go? (was: ELKS links broken)

[Jody Bruchon <jody@jodybruchon.com>]

On 4/18/2014 3:26 PM, Edoardo Liverani wrote:
> I'd really like to help this project as I'm going to use it a little,
> and I would enjoy to help hosting a website with updated links, to
> generate updated and working precompiled images, istructions etc.
> I have a shared hosting plan I can use, whom should I ask to get
> current website sources and the permission to update a little and
> re-publish them?
> My question is particularly for @Jody cause he is the latest who
> managed to maintain the project sources.

I am still here to maintain the project. Unfortunately, I've run into a 
couple of major issues with it that make its future questionable.

* I'll happily move and clean up the website to my own hosting if there 
is renewed interest in the project. I'll overhaul it while I'm at it.

* The compiler we use, bcc, suffers from some serious limitations and 
misbehavior. In particular, nothing can require more than 64K of code, 
including the kernel. The compiler needs some work or we need a new 
compiler. As I would like to see ELKS target other classic CPUs (65816, 
68000, maybe 6809, etc.) a compiler change may be the best option. The 
compiler is the biggest obstacle.

* What can/does ELKS offer compared to other small OSes such as NuttX?

* The hardware ELKS is made to work on is (to my limited knowledge) 
becoming rare. Quite a few 8086/88 machines have by now suffered 
capacitor failures that have rendered them inoperable and probably 
junked. Most PCs going in the garbage now are Pentium II/III/4 systems, 
all of which enjoy Linux compatibility and are far more capable under 
Linux than under ELKS, even if they only have 16MB of RAM.

* The "E" in ELKS means "embedded" and yet the only platform it was ever 
developed for was 8086/88 PCs and the Psion SIBO. The 808x target made 
more sense 10 years ago, but embedded and low-power computers today are 
dominated by 32-bit ARM and MIPS cores that happily run Linux (if they 
have enough RAM, that is.) What should ELKS be targeting today?

* The project has no active real-hardware testers to call upon. No one 
has real hardware AND time for the project AND wants to test changes. I 
personally have no 8086/80286 hardware but have a plethora of 
functioning Compaq 486 and Toshiba Pentium laptops, all of which have 
Linux on them. Without real hardware and a skilled, willing owner that 
can test ELKS on it, there can be no proper development. I can use 
emulators but they don't emulate the many various quirks and "just 
non-standard enough to piss you off" hardware of the early IBM PC era 
(I'm thinking about you, Tandy.)

* I have a TRS-80 CoCo and an Apple IIgs. Maybe we should port ELKS to 
those. ;-)

I would like to hear what anyone reading thinks. Please reply either to 
me OR the ELKS list since I (obviously) subscribe to it and prefer not 
to receive duplicate messages.

-Jody