B-right/V R2 Introduction

The B-right/V R2 Operating System Steven J. Searle Web Master, TRON Web The BTRON Computing Model Although it may not seem like it, what can broadly be termed "personal computing devices" are based on only three conceptual models. In order of their historical appearance, they are: the "stand alone computer model," which first came into being as the batch processing mainframe with a command line interpreter; the "networked stand alone computer model," which saw its first incarnation as the object-oriented workstation with a graphical user interface (GUI); and the "network interface computer model," a terminal-like computer for single users in an environment where all computers are linked together. The golden age of the first conceptual model has long passed, and the current age is a transitional period in which we are moving from the second conceptual model to the third. What may be surprising to many is that the third conceptual model was first conceived not in the U.S., which has rightly earned the distinction of the "world's systems house," but rather in Japan, which has historically been viewed as a country that creates great hardware but is poor at software--particularly systems software. However, in the mid 1980s, long before computing platforms based on either the IBM-PC or Macintosh operating systems were considered for use as interfaces to a "network of networks" called the Internet, the TRON Project began work on the BTRON-specification operating system, which was conceived as a real-time human-machine interface to a "hypernetwork in which all computers and computerized devices throughout human society would be interconnected." The network interface computer differs from the standard personal computers of today mainly in terms of size. Network interface computers have very small operating systems, and hence they require very little in the way of hardware resources to run. This allows them to be built at very low cost, which in turn allows organizations that employ them to save considerable amounts of money on management information systems. But all network interface computers are not based on the same design precepts. One computing model for the network interface computer, the "network computer" proposed in the late 1990s in the U.S., was conceived of as a machine that would operate inside a company's local area network (LAN). Since it would always be used in conjunction with a company-owned server, programs and data could be stored there and downloaded as necessary. In fact, Sun Microsystems Inc., one of the companies that is strongly pushing for the adoption of network computers in the U.S., is planning to take this paradigm and apply it to the Internet. The company plans to offer its freeware StarOffice productivity suite via StarPortal, a Web site from which users can download data and applications and do data processing inside their browsers. People signing up for this service will only need a browser and an Internet connection. However, there is a problem with this computing model in that current browsers are huge applications, and they run on even larger operating systems, so the cost savings will mainly be limited to software. (For a critique of Sun's efforts with StarOffice, click here.) That's where the BTRON-specification operating system is different. BTRON lies between today's gargantuan personal computer operating systems--which have become as large as mainframe computer operating systems and continue to get bigger with each new upgrade!--and the stripped down operating systems of LAN-based network computers. BTRON is compact, which is why basically the same BTRON3-specification source code can be used in both PDAs and IBM-PC/AT compatibles, and yet it is extremely powerful. The design specification calls for word processor and graphics editor functions as standard equipment, but the commercial implementation by Personal Media Corporation called B-right/V has, in addition, a spreadsheet program, a scripting language, an e-mailer, a card database program, a Web browser, PC communications software, plus various utilities, such as file converters--and that's not even to mention a World Wide Web-like hypertext filing system at the system level. As a result, a BTRON-specification computer requires no Internet or LAN connection to do data processing, but the hardware required to run the latest BTRON implementation, B-right/V R2, is minimal: an Intel 486DX microprocessor-based PC, 16 megabytes of main memory, and a few hundred megabytes of hard disk space. In other words, a BTRON-based system can be manufactured almost as cheaply as a network computer, although it has all the functionality of a standard computer. And if that sounds too good to be true, it gets better. B-right/V R2 has for the first time in the history of personal computing implemented a true multilingual computing environment that allows users to employ up to approximately 130,000 characters in their documents. The majority of these characters are kanji (Chinese characters), which for the first time allow the Japanese people to write any word in their language--and they come in outline fonts to boot! The True TRON Multilingual Environment Finally Appears The BTRON3-specification "B-right/V" operating system for IBM-PC/AT compatibles was first marketed in Japan on July 18, 1998. Historically, B-right/V is a descendant of the "3B" operating system, which was designed for a TRONCHIP-based hardware platform called MCUBE that hit the Japanese market in 1995. The 3B operating system subsequently bifurcated into µBTRON-specification "B-right," which is used in Seiko Instruments Inc.'s BrainPad TiPO PDA, and B-right/V (B-right for DOS/V machines, which is what IBM-PC/AT compatibles are called in Japan). The code for both of these operating systems, which are based on a micro kernel design, is basically the same; there are only minor variations having to do with window functions, selectable colors, power saving, character input, etc., which are a result of the hardware limitations of handheld devices that do not use a keyboard. There are, however, many differences between B-right/V and "B-right/V R2," the latter of which hit the Japanese market on November 12, 1999. The major difference is that B-right/V had only a partial implementation of the TRON Multilingual Environment. Specifically, its multilingual capabilities were based on a "single 48,400 character plane" (a plane is called a "script" in the TRON Architecture) into which multiple national character sets were loaded. The B-right/V R2 operating system, on the other hand, implements the true TRON Multilingual Environment, which is based on "multiple character planes of 48,400 characters" that can be switched in and out as required using "language specifier codes." [1] In fact, the current implementation has 31 such character planes defined for it, which means that it can handle a total of 1,500,400 characters. Needless to say, it is going to take some time to fill up that space. [1] Some readers might be wondering why the "script planes" in the B-right/V R2 operating system are not switched in and out using "script switching codes." The answer is that the language specifier codes used for this purpose have "multiple functions," one of which is to switch in and out of script planes. In addition, they specify what script "group" is involved and what "language" the data are written in. For an introduction to the four layers of the TRON Multilingual Environment hierarchy (Font, Script, Group, and Language), please click here. The B-right/V R2 script planes and their current contents are as follows: System Script (0xFE21) JIS levels 1 and 2, JIS auxiliary kanji Chinese GB 2312 Korean KS C 5601 6-point Braille 8-point Braille Japanese Script 1 (0xFE22) Reserved Japanese Script 2 (0xFE23) Reserved Chinese Script 1 (0xFE24) Simplified Chinese additional characters Chinese Script 2 (0xFE25) Same as above Chinese Script 3 (0xFE26) Traditional Chinese Chinese Script 4 (0xFE27) Same as above Korean Script 1 (0xFE28) Korean additional characters Korean Script 2 (0xFE29) Same as above Various National Scripts (0xFE2a) Unicode basic multilingual plane (excluding Chinese characters) Mojikyo Script 1 (0xFE2b) Konjaku Mojikyo characters Mojikyo Script 2 (0xFE2c) Same as the above Mojikyo Script 3 (0xFE2d) Same as the above Mojikyo Script 4 (0xFE2e) Same as the above (0xFE2f - - 0xFE3F) Reserved (17 planes) One thing that is important to note here is that there is no official "TRON Character Set." The BTRON operating system merely provides a "framework," called "TRON Code," into which character sets that have, or will, come into wide use are loaded. Of course, once those character sets are loaded into the TRON Code framework, a de facto "TRON character set" comes into existence as can be seen above, but there are no TRON Project committees deciding which characters can or should be used by BTRON end users. The TRON policy is to register all characters and leave it to the end user to decide which characters he or she should employ in data processing. In order to implement this policy, the TRON Project has also created a character registration center (officially called the "TRON Character Resource Center") on the Internet through which new characters can be added to the TRON character set. As long as the source of new characters is clear and there are no copyright complications involved, the character or characters will be registered free of charge and made available for downloading by BTRON user community. Another thing that it is important to note--which no doubt is something that any Unicode folks reading this article would like to point out--is that the exact same Chinese character can appear on different planes in the TRON character set. That is absolutely correct, and it is in fact the reason that only a BTRON-specification computer can used used to discuss via e-mail the "unification"