ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/27/88)
MINIX is a new operating system that is system call compatible with V7 UNIX.
Unlike real UNIX, it is available with all the source code, both the kernel
and all the utilities. The purpose of this message is to announce its
availability on the 68000 CPU, specifically the Atari-ST. However, since
it should not be too hard to port it to other 68000-based computers (e.g.,
Amiga, Macintosh), this message is being crossposted to a number of newsgroups.
This will be the only announcement outside comp.os.minix.
When MINIX is run on the Atari ST (or MegaST) it replaces the native
operating system (TOS) and turns the computer into a normal UNIX machine.
MINIX has been running on the IBM PC, XT, AT, and many clones, including 386s
for almost two years. The IBM version is in widespread use all over the world.
The original (IBM) version was written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. The Atari port
was done by Johan Stevenson and Jost Muller. MINIX does not contain even a
single line of AT&T code. Thus both the operating system and the utilities are
all brand new code.
MINIX FEATURES:
- System call compatible with V7 UNIX (except for a few very minor calls)
- Kernighan and Ritchie compatible C compiler is included
- Shell that is functionally identical to the Bourne shell is included
- Full multiprogramming (fork+exec; background jobs in shell: cc file.c & )
- Full screen editor inspired by emacs (modeless, autoinsert, etc.) included
- Ability to read and write TOS disks
- Over 90 popular utilities provided (cat, grep, ls, make, mount, sort, etc.)
- Over 100 library procedures provided (atoi, fork, malloc, stdio, etc.)
- Works with floppy-only systems or with hard disk systems
- Full operating system source code (in C) is included
- Source code for all the utilities (except C compiler) is included
PARTIAL LIST OF THE MINIX COMMANDS:
ar as badblocks basename cal cat cc cem cg chmem chmod chown clr cmp comm
compress cp cpdir cpp cv date dd df diff diskcheck du echo expr factor
false find fix fsck getlf grep gres head kill ld ln
login lpr ls make megartc mined mkdir mkfs mknod more
mount mv od opt passwd pr printenv pwd readall readfs rev rm
rmdir roff sh shar size sleep sort split stty su sum
sync tail tar tee test time tos touch tr treecmp true
umount uniq update uudecode uuencode wc
PARTIAL LIST OF THE MINIX LIBRARY:
abort abs access alarm atoi atol bcopy brk call chdir chmod chown chroot
cleanup close creat crypt ctime ctype doprintf dup dup2 exec exit fclose
fflush fgets fopen fork fprintf fputs fread freopen fseek fstat ftell
fwrite getc getegid getenv geteuid getgid getgrent getpass getpid getpwent
gets getuid gtty index ioctl isatty itoa kill link lseek malloc mknod
mktemp mount open pause perror pipe popen putc puts qsort rand read
regexp regsub rindex scanf setbuf setgid setuid signal sleep sprintf stat
stime strcat strcmp strcpy strlen strncat strncmp strncpy stty sync
system termcap time times umask umount ungetc unlink utime wait write
NEWSGROUP
There is a USENET newsgroup, comp.os.minix, concerned with MINIX. This group
is gatewayed to the ARPANET, BITNET, etc. If you cannot read USENET newsgroups
directly, you can get on the mailing list by sending a request to
info-minix-request@udel.edu
The group is very active, and well worth reading if you are interested in MINIX.
It is used for reporting bugs, fixing bugs, posting new software, asking and
answering questions, and so on. At some point it may be necessary to split
the group (IBM vs. Atari; source code vs discussion; ...) but for the time
being, there are no plans to split it. Time will tell. There are archives
of the messages that have been posted to comp.os.minix. For an information
sheet telling about MINIX and the archives, send email to ast@cs.vu.nl or
watch the newsgroup. Although this message is being crossposted to several
groups, this will be the only announcement. Please post all subsequent
discussion to comp.os.minix ONLY. The group is unmoderated. Please do
not discuss the PDP-11 memory management unit or other irrelevant topics.
DOCUMENTATION
There is a book describing MINIX is great detail, both how to use it and how
it works inside. The book contains a highly annotated copy of the O/S code
as an appendix (250 pages). This version is slightly out-of-date, but it is
still quite usable. The bibliographic data on the book are as follows:
Title: Operating Systems: Design and Implementation
Author: Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Publisher: Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
Date: 1987
ISBN: 0-13-637406-9 (hardback version, U.S and Canada only)
0-13-637331-3 (paperback version, outside of U.S. and Canada)
Price: about $40 although bookstores may charge whatever they want
The book is currently in the process of being translated into German.
There is also a paperback MINIX Reference Manual that is a subset of the book.
It contains only the MINIX specific information, not the general background
stuff on operating systems that the book contains. The reference manual is
about $35. There is also a package containing the disks and the reference
manual combined going for about $110. I think there may soon be a package
containing the reference manual and the Atari disks.
The Atari disks come with a little booklet telling how to boot the system
and how it differs from MINIX-PC (IBM version). Effectively it is a diff
listing between MINIX-ST and MINIX-PC. It makes no attempt to repeat the
500 or so pages on MINIX from the book or manual.
AVAILABILITY
MINIX is something of an intermediate form between AT&T UNIX and GNU.
Unlike GNU, MINIX is not public domain. It is copyrighted by Prentice-Hall
and is being sold by them. The price for the Atari disks in the U.S. is $80
+ shipping (somewhat higher abroad) and includes all the source code. On
the other hand, unlike AT&T UNIX, the source code is readily available, and
may be copied for bona fide educational and research use. For example, a
professor teaching a course on operating systems could legally buy the disks
and then make copies for all his students. A very limited amount of private
copying (say, no more than 3 copies per original) for personal friends is
ok. If this gets out of hand, and Prentice-Hall decides that not enough have
been sold, they will just drop the Atari and have future versions be for the
IBM only. It is the intention that future versions be compatible with POSIX.
In the U.S. you can order the software and books from most bookstores or
directly from Prentice-Hall in NJ. The ISBN number for the Atari software
is 0-13-584392-8. Prentice-Hall's phone number is (201) 767-5937.
In the U.K. there are two dealers as listed below.
The price in the U.K. is 88.50 pounds sterling + VAT
Prentice-Hall International SDL Ltd
Attention: Mark McDonagh Unit 10
66 Wood Lane End Ruxley Corner Industrial Estate
Hemel Hempstead Sidcup Bypass
England Kent DA14 5SS
Telephone: +44 442 231555
The distributors for Europe are listed below. The European price is $110.40.
In Germany: Steve Steinkrauf
Feldtorweg 24
D3406 Bovenden 1
FRG
In Holland: Jos de Jong
Postbus 184
2100AD Heemstede
Holland
In Scandinavia: Frank O'Donell
P.O. Box 88
1371 Asker
Norway
In Spain Deborah Worth
and Portugal: Appartado Numero 50672
Madrid
Spain
In Italy: Jim Blaho
Via Manzani 50
50018 Scandicci
Florence
Italy
In Greece: Vassilis Zahos
Kriconas 57
GR11634 Athens
Greece
In Turkey: Attilla Gullu
Millinudafaa Cad 14/7
Kizilay Ankara
Turkey
If you have questions whose answers are likely to be of interest to many people,
post them to comp.os.minix. If you have questions that are very specific and
you don't want to broadcast to 10,000 machines in several dozen countries, send
mail to one of us. PC-specific questions should go to ast; Atari specific
questions should go to Johan.
Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
Johan Stevenson (johan@nlgvax.nl)
P.S. domain nl is The Netherlands, where both of us are located.
If your mailer does not know where this is, buy a good world atlas, digitize
it, and feed it to the mailer.jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) (12/05/89)
Some time ago an article about Minix for the MacIntosh was posted to this group. I would like a copy of that article or any available information, if someone would be so kind as to mail it to me. I apolgize for asking, but am not able to find it locally. Thanks in advance! Jacqueline Pulliam jpulliam@ucs.indiana.edu
atreides@caladan.UUCP (System Administrator) (12/23/89)
In Article <987@crash.cts.com> jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) writes: | The author of Mac Minix has turned it over to Prentice-Hall since they | technically own the distribution rights to Minix (both PC and ST). | Whether you can get your hands on it is subject to when they start | distributing it (if ever). For more information, see comp.os.minix. | It does not look good from an availability standpoint. If P-H does | decide to distribute it, it will take a year or so before you can | actually go out and buy it. // JCA Actually I thought it looked pretty good from an availability standpoint! The latest news is that P-H and Andy Tanenbaum WILL release the Mac version and it could take as long as six months (that was Andy's estimate). Who knows it may take less time.. one can always live in hope :-) :-) There are some good technical questions being asked on comp.os.minix about the Mac version, so look there for more information. -- Stuart Burden root@caladan.uucp
jow@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Joel Wachman) (12/27/89)
A few weeks ago I found out about the existance of a miniature Unix for Macs and PCs called MINIX. Apparently, the Mac version looks just like a macintosh application to the Mac OS, but looks just like a miniature Unix shell to users. Furthermore, I was lead to beleive that all of the Unix development utilities came with the package (cc, vi, grep, etc). The mail I read said this all was available for around $100. Does anyone know about this? Where can I get one? Was this all just so much hooey? _jow -- ______________________________________________________________ Joel Wachman [jow@media-lab.media.mit.edu] MIT Media Laboratory Cambridge, MA (617) 258-5956
jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) (12/27/89)
jow@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Joel Wachman) writes: >A few weeks ago I found out about the existance of a miniature >Unix for Macs and PCs called MINIX. Apparently, the Mac version >looks just like a macintosh application to the Mac OS, but looks >just like a miniature Unix shell to users. Furthermore, I was >lead to beleive that all of the Unix development utilities came >with the package (cc, vi, grep, etc). The mail I read said this >all was available for around $100. > >Does anyone know about this? Where can I get one? Was this all >just so much hooey? The author of Mac Minix has turned it over to Prentice-Hall since they technically own the distribution rights to Minix (both PC and ST). Whether you can get your hands on it is subject to when they start distributing it (if ever). For more information, see comp.os.minix. It does not look good from an availability standpoint. If P-H does decide to distribute it, it will take a year or so before you can actually go out and buy it. // JCA /* **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* ** Flames : /dev/null | My opinions are exactly that, ** ARPANET : crash!pnet01!jca@nosc.mil | mine. Bill Gates couldn't buy ** INTERNET: jca@pnet01.cts.com | it, but he could rent it. :) ** UUCP : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* */
rob@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (rob) (12/28/89)
From article <987@crash.cts.com>, by jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau):
]
] The author of Mac Minix has turned it over to Prentice-Hall since they
] technically own the distribution rights to Minix (both PC and ST). Whether
] you can get your hands on it is subject to when they start distributing it (if
] ever). For more information, see comp.os.minix. It does not look good from
] an availability standpoint. If P-H does decide to distribute it, it will take
] a year or so before you can actually go out and buy it.
]
] // JCA
Why such a long lead time? MacIDRIS (a similar, but not as good product) is
already available and will only get better. Given the PD support of MINIX
via working groups like comp.os.minix, etc., I am SURE that many MANY
Mac/UNIX hackers would take it in whatever form it is currently in. Who
needs fancy, bound docs anyway. Give me something that works even partially,
with looseleaf docs (handwritten if necessary; who cares? :-) ) so I can get
going with it NOW!!! How many sales will P-H lose by waiting until the
distribution gets 'pretty-fied'?
Please tell me who to contact at P-H to apply some pressure. Where do I send
the telegram? Whose feet (ring? :-) )do I have to kiss? Maybe they would
consider a pre-release with NO GUARANTEE? After all, we are ALL used to a
90 day warranty for Apple hardware. A 0 day warranty for pre-release software
that I am WILLING TO PAY FOR seems appropriate.
.....rob coben (Independant Consultant currently at AT&T)
+-----------------------------------+
|The above is strictly *MY* opinion.|
|Nobody pays me enough for it to be |
| their's....:-) |
+-----------------------------------+dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) (12/28/89)
In article <1706@cbnewsk.ATT.COM> rob@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (rob) writes: >needs fancy, bound docs anyway. Give me something that works even partially, >with looseleaf docs (handwritten if necessary; who cares? :-) ) so I can get >going with it NOW!!! How many sales will P-H lose by waiting until the >distribution gets 'pretty-fied'? While I understand your desire to get your hands on the product, you may be going too far. The question you have to ask is: Who are they going to lose sales to? There's not a lot of competition in this area, so when MINIX for the Mac does come out, people are going to buy it. After all, anyone who isn't switching to A/UX now for whatever reason isn't going to all of a sudden decide to pay $800 for it if they can wait a year for MINIX. On the other hand, a bad release of MINIX could lose them lots of sales and give them a bad name. I've seen many a product slagged off just because the first release was buggy. I've also seen many products that took extra time to produce do very well, even with terribly long vaporware periods (ask a musician about OpCode's Vision). Personally, I believe that the one year quoted is a conservative estimate. As the word gets out, people will begin pushing for an earlier release. I suspect we'll see the first version in the late summer. -- David Elliott dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce (408)944-4073 "But Pee Wee... I don't wanna be the baby!"
jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau) (12/30/89)
rob@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (rob) writes: >From article <987@crash.cts.com>, by jca@pnet01.cts.com (John C. Archambeau): >] The author of Mac Minix has turned it over to Prentice-Hall since they >] technically own the distribution rights to Minix (both PC and ST). Whether >] you can get your hands on it is subject to when they start distributing it (if >] ever). For more information, see comp.os.minix. It does not look good from >] an availability standpoint. If P-H does decide to distribute it, it will take >] a year or so before you can actually go out and buy it. >] >] // JCA > >Why such a long lead time? MacIDRIS (a similar, but not as good product) is >already available and will only get better. Given the PD support of MINIX >via working groups like comp.os.minix, etc., I am SURE that many MANY >Mac/UNIX hackers would take it in whatever form it is currently in. Who >needs fancy, bound docs anyway. Give me something that works even partially, >with looseleaf docs (handwritten if necessary; who cares? :-) ) so I can get >going with it NOW!!! How many sales will P-H lose by waiting until the >distribution gets 'pretty-fied'? > >Please tell me who to contact at P-H to apply some pressure. Where do I send >the telegram? Whose feet (ring? :-) )do I have to kiss? Maybe they would >consider a pre-release with NO GUARANTEE? After all, we are ALL used to a >90 day warranty for Apple hardware. A 0 day warranty for pre-release software >that I am WILLING TO PAY FOR seems appropriate. The problem is corporate bureaucracy. See comp.os.minix for the appropriate party to yell at. P-H owns Minix and it's illegal to distribute it in any form other than what P-H says is kosher. Andy Tanenbaum has to basically threaten P-H with a sledge hammer to get anything done. It's gotten to the point where he has an attorney just for making sure P-H does everything reasonably right now. // JCA /* **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* ** Flames : /dev/null | My opinions are exactly that, ** ARPANET : crash!pnet01!jca@nosc.mil | mine. Bill Gates couldn't buy ** INTERNET: jca@pnet01.cts.com | it, but he could rent it. :) ** UUCP : {nosc ucsd hplabs!hd-sdd}!crash!pnet01!jca **--------------------------------------------------------------------------* */