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yifanlu · 10-02-2011, 08:05 PM

Just for s- & giggles, I'll add to the whole "what is an operating system" side-argument. I think it'll be useful to have a technical view of the Kindle boot process vs. a regular computer boot process.
Kindle: (On screen, you see "Please wait while kindle boots." with a picture of a guy sitting under a tree) Bootloader (uBoot) starts up and loads the Linux Kernel (2.6). The Kernel loads the drivers (for eink, sound, etc) and starts the boot process. (Now a progress bar appears) The boot process involves loading daemons which are basically background service tasks that the user doesn't see. For example, one daemon controls wifi encryption. Another one keeps track of the CPU speed and downclocks when idle. The last boot process is the "framework", a Java program that you use as the GUI. (You get the slide to unlock screen)
Duokan: Everything is the same until the last step. The last boot script is not the Java Kindle gui, but the Duokan GUI.
Windows: (Text on screen) The bootloader (BCD) loads the NT-Kernel. NT starts the boot process by loading the drivers. (Windows logo appears). Services (equivalent to daemons) gets started last service is the login window. (Login window appears, you log in). You see the GUI you know as "Windows"
Linux: (Text on screen) The bootloader (Grub) loads the Linux kernel. (More text on screen). The Kernel loads the drivers and begins the boot process (starting daemons). (Logo on screen). The boot process starts and the last one is "GNOME", or what you see as the GUI.

Basically the components are (terms are coined by me, since I'm too lazy to look up the technical names):
Bootloader is prepares the computer for the Kernel: uBoot (Kindle), BCD (Desktop Computer), Grub (Desktop computer)
Kernel does the backend stuff: Windows NT-Kernel, Linux Kernel, OSX's Darwin kernel, BSD kernel, etc
GUI is what the user sees: GNOME (most Linux distros), Windows Aero (The Vista/7 look), OSX "Cocca" (The Leopard+ look), KDE (another Linux distro), Kindlet (Kindle), Duokan, fbreader
Distribution: A set of programs, kernel with modifications, and/or unique GUI. Ubuntu (Linux 2.6 kernel, GNOME GUI, Grub bootloader), CyanogenMod (Linux 2.6 kernel, Gingerbread GUI, fastboot bootloader), Windows 7 (NT-kernel, Windows Aero GUI, BCD bootloader), OSX Lion (Darwin-kernel, Cocca GUI, EFI bootloader), and so on

Basically, "operating system" is too generic of a term.

10-02-2011, 08:05 PM	#69
yifanlu Kindle Dissector Posts: 662 Karma: 475607 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Amazon Kindle 3	Just for s- & giggles, I'll add to the whole "what is an operating system" side-argument. I think it'll be useful to have a technical view of the Kindle boot process vs. a regular computer boot process. Kindle: (On screen, you see "Please wait while kindle boots." with a picture of a guy sitting under a tree) Bootloader (uBoot) starts up and loads the Linux Kernel (2.6). The Kernel loads the drivers (for eink, sound, etc) and starts the boot process. (Now a progress bar appears) The boot process involves loading daemons which are basically background service tasks that the user doesn't see. For example, one daemon controls wifi encryption. Another one keeps track of the CPU speed and downclocks when idle. The last boot process is the "framework", a Java program that you use as the GUI. (You get the slide to unlock screen) Duokan: Everything is the same until the last step. The last boot script is not the Java Kindle gui, but the Duokan GUI. Windows: (Text on screen) The bootloader (BCD) loads the NT-Kernel. NT starts the boot process by loading the drivers. (Windows logo appears). Services (equivalent to daemons) gets started last service is the login window. (Login window appears, you log in). You see the GUI you know as "Windows" Linux: (Text on screen) The bootloader (Grub) loads the Linux kernel. (More text on screen). The Kernel loads the drivers and begins the boot process (starting daemons). (Logo on screen). The boot process starts and the last one is "GNOME", or what you see as the GUI. Basically the components are (terms are coined by me, since I'm too lazy to look up the technical names): Bootloader is prepares the computer for the Kernel: uBoot (Kindle), BCD (Desktop Computer), Grub (Desktop computer) Kernel does the backend stuff: Windows NT-Kernel, Linux Kernel, OSX's Darwin kernel, BSD kernel, etc GUI is what the user sees: GNOME (most Linux distros), Windows Aero (The Vista/7 look), OSX "Cocca" (The Leopard+ look), KDE (another Linux distro), Kindlet (Kindle), Duokan, fbreader Distribution: A set of programs, kernel with modifications, and/or unique GUI. Ubuntu (Linux 2.6 kernel, GNOME GUI, Grub bootloader), CyanogenMod (Linux 2.6 kernel, Gingerbread GUI, fastboot bootloader), Windows 7 (NT-kernel, Windows Aero GUI, BCD bootloader), OSX Lion (Darwin-kernel, Cocca GUI, EFI bootloader), and so on Basically, "operating system" is too generic of a term.