oury@world.std.com (david t oury) (03/16/91)
Greetings, Could some kind soul please explain what the relationship is between unix, mach, minix, & amoeba? Which of these come with source? I have a sun 3/60 that i would like to use to learn about operating systems, and do some programming in a well wrought environment. If anyone could help me out with their wise words, or could point me somewhere relevant, i would very much appreciate it. Thanks. -David Oury (oury@world.std.com) Thought for a day: Play suffices; it is intrinsically satisfying.
jms@cs.vu.nl (Jan-Mark) (03/16/91)
In article <OURY.91Mar15152830@world.std.com>, oury@world.std.com (david t oury) writes: > > Greetings, > Could some kind soul please explain what the relationship is between > unix, mach, minix, & amoeba? Which of these come with source? I have > a sun 3/60 that i would like to use to learn about operating > systems, and do some programming in a well wrought environment. If > anyone could help me out with their wise words, or could point me > somewhere relevant, i would very much appreciate it. Thanks. > > -David Oury (oury@world.std.com) > Thought for a day: Play suffices; it is intrinsically satisfying. Well I hope all this is correct; UNIX comes in a lot of variants. (Like BSDx.y V7 etc.) MACH is build on top of UNIX, supporting extra thingys like RPC. MINIX is for small machines but should be V7 compatible with the restriktions your XT, AT, ST, (etc.) has. In the futer MINIX will be POSIX compliant. AMOEBA is a RPC based operating system, it needs a lot of machines. There is a UNIX simulator for AMOEBA. About UNIX sources you will have to buy them separaty in most if not all cases. The MACH sources can only be used with AT&T UNIX source code. (Or was it BSD?). MINIX sources are cheap and one is allowed limited copying. AMOEBA comes with sources to, but it's huge! So what OS you can use will be (90%) depending on your hardware. If you want to learn use MINIX, if you are a team, maybe AMOEBA. Regards Jan-Mark. -- (:> jms (_) ========""======
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (03/17/91)
In article <9334@star.cs.vu.nl> jms@cs.vu.nl (Jan-Mark Wams) writes: >Well I hope all this is correct; Hope springs eternal, but not today. > > UNIX comes in a lot of variants. (Like BSDx.y V7 etc.) True > MACH is build on top of UNIX, supporting extra thingys like RPC. Not true. > MINIX is for small machines but should be V7 compatible with > the restriktions your XT, AT, ST, (etc.) has. ??? > AMOEBA is a RPC based operating system, it needs a lot of > machines. There is a UNIX simulator for AMOEBA. There is a partial UNIX emulation library. > About UNIX sources you will have to buy them separaty in most > if not all cases. For about $150,000 unless you are a university. > The MACH sources can only be used with AT&T UNIX source code. Well, the MACH 3.0 microkernel is free of AT&T, but a freestanding microkernel without anything else is of limited value, so in practice you need BSD and AT&T licenses to do anything useful. > MINIX sources are cheap and one is allowed limited copying. > AMOEBA comes with sources to, but it's huge! Compared to what? To MINIX yes. To UNIX, no. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
jds@cs.umd.edu (James da Silva) (03/18/91)
In article <9336@star.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: >In article <9334@star.cs.vu.nl> jms@cs.vu.nl (Jan-Mark Wams) writes: >> The MACH sources can only be used with AT&T UNIX source code. >Well, the MACH 3.0 microkernel is free of AT&T, but a freestanding microkernel >without anything else is of limited value, so in practice you need BSD and >AT&T licenses to do anything useful. Only if you don't think writing an operating system is doing something useful. :-) The Mach microkernel provides a solid base for OS work, providing sophisticated IPC and VM, process management, scheduling, multiprocessor support, device driver support including a full suite of device drivers for two platforms (386/AT and DECstation, so far), a kernel debugger, an excellent high-level thread package (Cthreads), and a high-level client/server interface generator package (MIG). That should be good for something, I daresay. Those who have called for industrial-strength "MAXI-MINIX" in this group should be taking a close look at Mach 3.0. I am. Jaime ........................................................................... : domain: jds@cs.umd.edu James da Silva : path: uunet!mimsy!jds Systems Design & Analysis Group