Numbering photos with the Luhmann id

 Facebook is the largest photo sharing website in the world. The amount of daily uploaded pictures is at least 300 million per day. The best way to manage this amount of information is filename which is working with an alphanumerical key. Example:

1_holiday.jpg
2_christmas.jpg
2a_christmastree.jpg
2b_Deliciouscake.jpg
2b1_recipeforcake.png
3_sport.jpg
3a_photoofshoes.jpg

The numerical ID for each photo remains the same. It is given once during the creation. New photos can be added to the collection by choosing the id according to the existing system. The files are sorted by its similarity. In the literature the concept is described as hierarchical clustering of images

Homecomputers until the 1990s

 Before the advent of today's PC technology which is dominated by Windows and Linux operating system there was a much smaller community available of computer enthusiasts. From 1980-1990 most of todays computer hardware and software was invented in the first place and the magazines which were introducing the subject to a readership were sometimes very well informed. In that period two dominant computer systems were available which was the Commodore 64 and the MS DOS PC.

At first it should be mentioned that on IBM PC hardware until the year 1990 the well known Windows operating won't be running fast enough. The only available operating system for early DOS Computers was DOS itself which is a single user, single tasking operating system. In comparison to the Commodore 64 advantage was that it was much easier to write software for MS DOS than for the C64. 8bit homecomputers with 64kb and less main memory and without any harddrive are not capable in running compiled C programs. The only sense making programming technique is the Assembly language. In contrast, early MS DOS PC until 1990s are working fine with c compilers. These large scale programs including the build in libraries can be installed on the small hard drive (less than 100 MB) and it is possible to write and debug software direct on a MS DOS PC.

The reason why this workflow is described in detail is because its working the same like modern programming workflow in the 2020s. That means, in the last decades the programming itself hasn't changed that much. Typing in C code on a 286 PC and compile it into machine code or typing in java code into a mto a more recent 4 core PC is based on the same abstraction mechanism. The human programmer has a set of libraries and combines existing functions into a new software.

Somebody may argue, that the difference between Assembly language and Turbo C is small because both programming language were invented decades ago. This assumption is wrong. Learning assembly from scratch and write larger software is very complicated while the same task in C can be handled easily. The difference is that the C language is a problem oriented language while assembly is hardware oriented. The typical assembly program is written for a certain CPU and a certain adress space in the main memory, while c program are written around a certain domain like a game or a word processing applications.

The only negative point of the C language are the hardware requirement. C assumes that an entry level 286 MS DOS PC is available which has 600 kb of RAM and a harddisc of 10 MB and more. Its not possible to run  a compiler with less RAM and without a harddrive. Even if some C compilers are available for the C64, it can't be used in reality for writing programs. The cause is that a compiled C program is much slower and will need more RAM than a hand coded assembly program.

The main difference between the C64 and the MS DOS PC Is, that C64 programmers claim that Assembly language is a here to stay. This assumption is the result of the lower hardware of the C64 which prevents to use any other programming language than Assembly. Even if its possible to write Assembly program on the MS DOS PC most programmers prefer a c compiler because the language allows to increase the productivity. Especially if a graphics library is available and the programmer is familiar with the computer its possible to write simple games in a short amount of time, very similar to what today's programmer can archive. in other words the existence of a c compiler is the single cause why MS DOS PC have replaced 8bit homecomputers.

Benchmarking operating systems

 Before different operating systems can be compared against each other there is a need to define a scale for an objective judgment. Possible measurement in the past are: number of users, size in Megabytes, or easy of usage.

One important measurement isn't mentioned in the list which is hardware support. Device drivers are a seldom investigated subject in operating systems but they have a great impact on the success or failure of an os. The main difference between Linux and KolibriOS isn't the programming language (C vs. Assembly) but its the hardware support. Linux supports out of the all graphics cards, while KolibriOS is restricted to VESA modes. Linux supports wifi cards while KolibriOS has only support of ethernet cards.

Even if someone likes the idea of using the KolibriOS for daily usage he will notice that most of the hardware isn't working. So he will decide against the system. The main reason why Linux is rejected in favor of Windows can also be explained with device drivers. The support in Windows is better, and additional features like power savings are supported in WIndows, while Linux has only basic support which is provided with a delay of 3 years after new graphics cards are available.

Let us assume that are no existing operating systems available but the goal is to write a perfect operating system from scratch. The core feature for a desktop OS is to support all the hardware out of the box indlucing the advanced features like certain resolutions and Energy saving modes. Each operating system is judged by this ability.

The reason why device drivers are usually ignored as a benchmark criteria is because this important subject is difficult to realize. Programming the device drivers for all the hardware is a large project. Even in the Linux project (which is the largest open source project today) there is no enough manpower available for this task. The assumption is that around 250k different hardware devices are available and programming the drivers for all of them need will produce a binary blob file of 1 gigabyte an more.

A collection of device drivers is the core element of any operating system. Any other part like a c++ compiler, a GUI environment or certain application software can be added later. in case of doubt existing source code can be recompiled for a new operating system, but the device drivers can't. They have to be written from scratch.

Different operating systems are working with different philosophy how to create the device drivers. In the Windows ecosystem the assumption is, that hardware companies are producing the code in a closed source fashion. Linux assumes that a group of voluntiers are writing the hardware drivers for the Kernel while KolibriOS says that the hardware drivers are written in Assembly language for only basic devices like an ethernet card and USB mouse.

The main reason why desktop opeating system are hard to program is because the endless amount of hardware available for desktop PC. There are hundreds of different graphics cards, network cards and soundcards availalable. And each card has multiple parameters which can be changed. Apart from the VESA standard which wasn't updated since decades there is no hardware standard available and every new  hardware has a need for a new driver. Without a driver the device won't interacting with the computer or it will consume too much energy. So we can say that a device driver is the single point of failure in an operating system.

An additional problem is that device drivers are usually written in Assembly or in hardware level C which is both complicated to master and the amount of experts in this subject are low. This makes it unlikely that entire desktop operating system can be created from scratch. In contrast to writing application software, a device driver is needed by any user group. No matter if the PC is used for writing in a letter or programming something in both cases there is a need for a graphics driver otherwise the PC won't work at all.

In summary a device driver collection is difficult to program, has a huge code size, is needed by every user and has to support 250k different devices which results into a very complicated project. Only large organizations have the manpower to create operating systems but not amateurs.

Introduction to the Linux operating system

Books about the Windows operating system are assuming that the user has never seen a computer before and needs guidance for most tasks. The typical windows book explains, that a computer consists of a mouse, a USB interface, a printer and a monitor and the user is asked to start a program or modify settings in the menu.

It doesn't make sense to transfer this language style to Linux operating systems because Linux wasn't created for computer newbies but for experts. The simple difference between both user groups is, that computer newbies can't program in Python while computer experts are able to do so. As a consequence the typical book about Linux should assume that the user is familiar with the Python language.

The positive effect is, that the explanation what Linux is about can be shorten drastically. Linux allows to execute self written python programs, consists of a powerful package manager and is distributed for free. If the user have no need for such functionality he probably doesn't need open source software and is recommended to use existing Windows software.

The reason why the market share of Linux is much smaller is because the amount of programmers is small. What we can say for sure is that non programmers won't feel comfortable with Linux. Its not about a certain windows manager like gnome vs xfce and it is not about the position of the start menu, but without programming skills in at least one language the Linux OS doesn't make sense for the user.

From a programmers perspective it is pretty easy to understand the Linux operating system. In comparison to write a medium size software project in Python, the interaction with Linux is much easier. There is no need to call a method in a python program, nor implement a recursive function, but the installation of linux is gui driven and apart from clicking on some buttons no further skills are needed. 99% of existing software engineers are able to install and use Linux with ease.

Let us take a closer look into the numbers. There are 1000 million PC worldwide available and around 27 million programmers. This ratio of 2.7% is the maximum market share of Linux on the desktop. It is not possible to growth the market share of Linux above this level because this would imply that non programmers have installed Linux on the desktop PC in favor of Windows.