archetyp@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Joseph R Pickert) (11/16/89)
MINIX for the Apple MACINTOSH MINIX, a UNIX V7 clone that runs on the IBM PC, Atari ST, and Amiga has now been ported to the Apple Macintosh. The system is described in detail (including a 250-page listing of the complete source code, in C) in the book: Title: Operating Systems: Design and Implementation Author: Andrew S. Tanenbaum Publisher: Prentice-Hall ISBN: 0-13-637406-9 We are now discussing the possibility of having Prentice-Hall sell the Macintosh version, as they do the IBM and Atari ones (Amiga is also under discussion). If they say yes, it will be available for around $100, including all the source code on diskette. If they say no, we write it off under the heading "you win some, you lose some" and throw it away. They have already definitively vetoed the idea of giving it away or having a third party sell it, since this might cause legal and other problems with the version they are really interested in, for the PC (and AT, 386, etc.) A GNU-type solution is not acceptable to them. Their hesitancy comes from their perception that the Macintosh market for this product is very small. A brief description of MINIX follows. Please note that this software does not run in place of your current Macintosh software, but rather in ADDITION to it. See below for more details. If you would have an interest in buying it, or you are a college professor and would be interested in reviewing the program for Prentice-Hall or using it for a course on operating systems, please respond to the electronic mail address specified at the end of this message. If we can collect hundreds of names and (postal) addresses of potential customers, maybe we can convince them it is worth doing. Otherwise the future of MINIX will be the 386/486. What is MINIX? MINIX is an operating system that is compatible with version 7 of the UNIX operating system. MINIX comes complete with ALL the source code to the full operating system and all the utility programs; source to the C compiler and compiler tools are also available. MINIX is NOT public domain; it is copyrighted by the Prentice-Hall publishing company. MINIX features: * System call compatible with V7 of the UNIX operating system. * Full multiprogramming (many programs can run at once) * Kernighan and Ritchie compatible C compiler * Shell that is functionally identical to the Bourne shell * Emacs-style, multi-window full-screen editor * Over 120 utilities (cat, cp, ed, grep, ls, make, roff, sort, etc.) * Over 140 library procedures (atoi, fork, malloc, read, stdio, etc.) Additional MINIX for the Macintosh features: * MULTIFINDER compatible. * HARD DISK support. * SERIAL LINE support with terminal emulation. * VT100 virtual terminals in Macintosh windows. Future features: * IEEE Standard P1003.1 compatibility (POSIX) * [Maybe] ANSI Standard C Description of MacMINIX MacMINIX operates on any Macintosh (Mac Plus, Mac SE, or Mac II) with at least 1 megabyte of memory and a hard disk. [To compile large programs, you may need more memory]. To the native Macintosh Operating System, MacMINIX is just another application. Your Desk Accessories, Inits, and other software will continue to function as before. If you use MultiFinder, MacMINIX will run in its own Multifinder partition, allowing you to run your other Macintosh programs concurrently. MacMINIX provides a window for each tty device, and text can be cut and pasted in and between windows. Other "standard" Macintosh windowing operations (scrolling, hiding, moving, etc) are also supported. MacMINIX comes with all the tools included with the PC version. This includes (but is not limited to) the following: animals, ar, ascii, at, atrun, banner, basename, cal, cat, cc, cdiff chgrp, chmem, chmod, chown, clr, cmp, comm, compress, cp, cpdir, crc, cron, date, dd, df, diff, du, echo, ed, expr, factor, fgrep, file, find, fix, getlf, grep, gres, head, help, kill, ln, login, lpr, ls, make, mined, mkdir, mkfs, mknod, more, mount, mv, od, passwd, paste, pr, prep, printenv, pwd, readall, readfs, rev, rm, rmdir, roff, sed, sh, shar, size, sleep, sort, split, strings, stty, su, sum, sync, tail, tar, tee, term, termcap, test, time, touch, tr, traverse, treecmp, tset, tsort, tty, umount, uniq, update, uudecode, uuencode, vol, wc, who, whoami In addition, many more tools (ash, uemacs, jove, uucp, mail, less, to name a few) have been made available in the comp.os.minix newsgroup. For more information, see the book cited above or read the comp.os.minix newsgroup on USENET. This is an active newsgroup, with all kinds of discussions about MINIX. About 7000 messages have been posted to it in 3 years. If you think you might want to buy MacMINIX, or are a professor who might use want to review it or use it for a course, please send Your name Your postal (i.e. snail mail) address Your email address Your telephone number to: archetyp@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu Followups and discussion should go to comp.os.minix. Joe Pickert Andy Tanenbaum