overby@plains.NoDak.edu (Glen Overby) (09/01/90)
[ What follows is a VERY rough First-Cut try at a "Commonly Asked Questions"
which is ment to approach questions in a different way than the Information
Sheet does. If you have questions and answers to contribute, please send
them to me, overby@plains.nodak.edu]
Commonly Asked Questions on Comp.Os.MINIX
The venerable Minix Information Sheet never seems to give ade-
quate answer the common questions on comp.os.minix. As a result,
I have decided to create a "Question-Answer" format companion.
In doing so, I have attempted to recall the Great Questions (and
their answers) as well as the Great Discussions from the net.
When asking questions of the net, please supply information about
what version you are running, what your hardware configuration
is, and so-on. If you are reluctant to tell any or all of this,
don't expect a good answer.
1. Where can I get MINIX?
Minix is sold by Prentice-Hall, Inc. and their authorized distri-
butors. They hold the copyright on Minix, and sell it for profit
(or at least we assume they make a profit on it). IT IS NOT
AVAILABLE FOR ANONYMOUS FTP.
2. What versions of Minix exist?
The most current version is 1.5.10. Upgrade "diffs" have been
posted to the net over the past several months; consult an ar-
chive site listed in the Info Sheet to find that. Prentice-Hall
should be shipping "1.5" on disk "Real Soon Now".
3. When will PC1.5, ST1.5, Mac, Amiga MINIX be available?
Sometime soon. Don't hold your breath, but we hope it will be
before it becomes obsolete.
4. PDP 11/44 Memory Management
This was the first big off-the-topic discussion on the group, and
it's still not an appropriate topic, so if you are still intri-
gued about pdp-11 memory management, consult the dec processor
handbooks, or some harmless newsgroup like comp.lang.ada.
5. Please subscrbe me to the mailing list
why ask 26,000 people to do that, when there is one person who
can do it, and you can ask a computer to do it for you.
If you are on bitnet or arpanet, you can get this newsgroup via a
mailing list, info-minix. To subcribe to the list, send a mes-
sage to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu (internet) or listserv@ndsuvm1
(bitnet) saying:
signup minix-l your_full_name
If you have trouble, contact the list maintainer at info-minix-
request@udel.edu.
6. What is the root password?
It's in the book, on pages 373 (login "ast") and 380 (login
"root"). If you didn't buy the book, that's only the start of
your problems.
7. MINIX doesn't work with my hard disk.
There are many potential sources of this. Several are:
You are running an RLL controler. You must change "NR_SECTORS"
in the configuration file, <minix/config.h> from 17 (standard for
MFM controllers) to 25 (Adaptect controlers) or 26 (Western Digi-
tal and others).
8. Is there a SCSI driver for MINIX?
All SCSI controlers work differently, from the primitive Seagate
ST01, to the smarter Always IN-2000, and Adaptec with it's own
on-board CPU. Nobody has yet posted a wini driver for any of
these, but there has been talk of it. For now, you are stuck us-
ing the ROM wini driver.
9. The single threaded filesystem is a real bottlenck.
True. it's only noticeable when you are running massive
bacground processes, or putting multiple users on your computer.
You've got the source. Fix it.
10. Is there a 32-bit Minix?
Yes. Bruce Evans has an experimental 32-bit system. It is
available from the archive site in Australia.
11. I have an old version of Minix. How can I upgrade?
You need to get an upgrade kit from one of the archive sites.
Also, read the Upgrading Tutorial -- it was ment to help.
--
Glen Overby <overby@plains.nodak.edu>
uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet)overby@plains.NoDak.edu (Glen Overby) (02/01/91)
[ What follows is a still-VERY rough try at a "Commonly Asked Questions"
which is ment to approach questions in a different way than the Information
Sheet does. Since Guy Helmer suggested it I thought I'd post what I've
got. If you have questions and answers to contribute, please send them to
me, overby@plains.nodak.edu]
Commonly Asked Questions on Comp.Os.MINIX
The venerable Minix Information Sheet never seems to give ade-
quate answer the common questions on comp.os.minix. As a result,
I have decided to create a "Question-Answer" format companion.
In doing so, I have attempted to recall the Great Questions (and
their answers) as well as the Great Discussions from the net.
When asking questions of the net, please supply information about
what version you are running, what your hardware configuration
is, and so-on. If you are reluctant to tell any or all of this,
don't expect a good answer.
1. Where can I get MINIX?
Minix is sold by Prentice-Hall, Inc. and their authorized distri-
butors. They hold the copyright on Minix, and sell it for profit
(or at least we assume they make a profit on it). IT IS NOT
AVAILABLE FOR ANONYMOUS FTP.
2. What versions of Minix exist?
The most current version is 1.5.10. Upgrade "diffs" have been
posted to the net over the past several months; consult an ar-
chive site listed in the Info Sheet to find that. Prentice-Hall
has been shipping ALL versions of Minix 1.5 for several months.
3. PDP 11/44 Memory Management
This was the first big off-the-topic discussion on the group, and
it's still not an appropriate topic, so if you are still intri-
gued about pdp-11 memory management, consult the DEC processor
handbooks, or some harmless newsgroup like alt.dev.null.
4. Please subscrbe me to the mailing list
why ask 26,000 people to do that, when there is one person who
can do it, and you can ask a computer to do it for you.
If you are on bitnet or arpanet, you can get this newsgroup via a
mailing list, info-minix. To subcribe to the list, send a mes-
sage to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu (internet) or listserv@ndsuvm1
(bitnet) saying:
signup minix-l your_full_name
If you have trouble, contact the list maintainer at info-minix-
request@udel.edu.
5. What is the root password?
It's in the book, on pages 373 (login "ast") and 380 (login
"root"). If you didn't buy the book, that's only the start of
your problems.
6. MINIX doesn't work with my hard disk.
There are many potential sources of this. Several are:
You are running an RLL controler. You must change "NR_SECTORS"
in the configuration file, <minix/config.h> from 17 (standard for
MFM controllers) to 25 (Adaptect controlers) or 26 (Western Digi-
tal and others).
7. Is there a SCSI driver for MINIX?
All SCSI controlers work differently, from the primitive Seagate
ST01, to the smarter Always IN-2000, and Adaptec with it's own
on-board CPU. Nobody has yet posted a wini driver for any of
these, but there has been talk of it. For now, you are stuck us-
ing the ROM wini driver.
8. The single threaded filesystem is a real bottlenck.
True. It's only noticeable when you are running massive
bacground processes, or putting multiple users on your computer.
You've got the source. Fix it.
9. Is there a 32-bit Minix?
Yes. Bruce Evans has an experimental 32-bit system. It is
available from the archive site in Australia as well as
plains.nodak.edu.
10. I have an old version of Minix. How can I upgrade?
You need to get an upgrade kit from one of the archive sites.
Also, read the Upgrading Tutorial -- it was ment to help.
--
Glen Overby <overby@plains.nodak.edu>
uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet)chao@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Chia-Chi Chao) (02/02/91)
In article <CAQ1mar1991@plains.nodak.edu> overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby) writes: >6. MINIX doesn't work with my hard disk. >There are many potential sources of this. Several are: > >You are running an RLL controler. You must change "NR_SECTORS" >in the configuration file, <minix/config.h> from 17 (standard for >MFM controllers) to 25 (Adaptect controlers) or 26 (Western Digi- >tal and others). I assume that the fix is for 1.5 only, because I don't see the config.h file in version 1.2. Is it possible to use RLL (26) controller with Minix 1.2? The class I am taking uses 1.2, so using other versions is not possible. Thanks. -- Chia-Chi Chao chao@cs.ucla.edu ..!ucbvax!cs.ucla.edu!chao
overby@plains.NoDak.edu (Glen Overby) (02/02/91)
In article <1991Feb2.005637.10553@cs.ucla.edu> chao@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Chia-Chi Chao) writes: )In article <CAQ1mar1991@plains.nodak.edu> overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby) writes: )>You are running an RLL controler. You must change "NR_SECTORS" )>in the configuration file, <minix/config.h> from 17 (standard for )>MFM controllers) to 25 (Adaptect controlers) or 26 (Western Digi- )>tal and others). )I assume that the fix is for 1.5 only, because I don't see the config.h file in )version 1.2. Is it possible to use RLL (26) controller with Minix 1.2? The for v1.2 you have to change the same #define in xt_wini.c -- Glen Overby <overby@plains.nodak.edu> uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet)