[comp.os.minix] MacMinix mentioned in UNIX Today!

ghelmer@DSUVAX.uucp (Guy Helmer) (02/03/90)

In the January 22, 1990 issue of UNIX Today!, there is a blurb on MacMinix.
I quote from page 52:
"If you want a simpler, manageable version of Unix without all the bells
and whistles of Apple's A/UX, then Minix is a good choice."
The article goes on to describe MacMinix and says "it will be available
from Prentice-Hall for less than $100 in the first quarter of 1990."

Hmmm.  People are comparing Minix to other production operating systems.
Now, if we just had TCP/IP, X windows, NFS, RPC...
-- 
Guy Helmer                              ...!uunet!loft386!dsuvax!ghelmer
Dakota State University Computing Services           helmer@sdnet.bitnet
Software Engineering: "'How to program if you cannot.'" - Dijkstra

larry@hpfilis.HP.COM (02/06/90)

I'm eargerly looking forward to a UNIX-like application for the Mac.
I saw in another posting this info on MacMinix:

>6. WHAT PROGRAMS COME WITH MINIX
>The list below gives the programs that are distributed with Version 1.3:
>
>animals ar ascii asld ast at atrun badblocks banner basename cal cat cc cdiff
>chgrp chmem chmod chown clr cmp comm compress cp cpdir crc cron date dd df
>diff diskcheck dosdir dosread doswrite du echo ed elle ellec expr factor
>fdisk fgrep file find fix fsck getlf grep gres head help kill libpack
>libupack ln login lorder lpr ls make mined mkdir mkfs mknod more mount mv nm
>od passwd paste patch pr prep printenv pwd rcp readall readclock readfs rev
>rm rmdir roff sed sh shar size sleep sort spell split strings strip stty su
>sum sync tail tar tee term termcap test time touch tr traverse treecmp true
>tset tsort tty umount uncompress uniq update uudecode uuencode vol wc whereis
>which who whoami zcat

It seems there are some noteworthy omissions:
    awk
    cd
    vi

Also, I'm hooked on K-shell (ksh);  any plans for ksh on MacMinix ??


Larry Schneider

root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) (02/12/90)

In article <15380004@hpfilis.HP.COM>, larry@hpfilis.HP.COM writes:

> >6. WHAT PROGRAMS COME WITH MINIX
> >The list below gives the programs that are distributed with Version 1.3:
> > ...
> > sh shar size sleep sort spell split strings strip stty su
> > ...
> 
> It seems there are some noteworthy omissions:
>     awk
>     cd
>     vi

The cd command is a shell (in this case "sh") built-in, not a separate
program, just as it is in all Unix-like systems.

Minix doesn't have lex or yacc either but their omission is really
insignificant compared to the omission of floating point support
(not even if you have hardware FP -- it's not in the compiler or the
kernel).

 Thos Sumner       Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu
 (The I.G.)        UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos
                   BITNET:  thos@ucsfcca

 U.S. Mail:  Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF
             San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA

I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're
working on death.

#include <disclaimer.std>

gchow@undergrad.cs.ubc.ca (george kai yee chow) (02/13/90)

What?  NO Floating Point?  I was thinking of getting MacMinix for my
Numerical Computation course.  Guess that's out of the question now.
Is this problem (lack of fp) specific to the Mac version.  Ie, do the
PC or ST version of Minix not have floating point too?

hall@cod.NOSC.MIL (Robert R. Hall) (02/13/90)

In article <2755@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu>, root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) writes:
> In article <15380004@hpfilis.HP.COM>, larry@hpfilis.HP.COM writes:
> 
> > >6. WHAT PROGRAMS COME WITH MINIX
> > It seems there are some noteworthy omissions:
> >     awk
> >     cd
> >     vi
> 
> The cd command is a shell (in this case "sh") built-in, not a separate
> program, just as it is in all Unix-like systems.
> 
> Minix doesn't have lex or yacc either but their omission is really
> insignificant compared to the omission of floating point support
> (not even if you have hardware FP -- it's not in the compiler or the
> kernel).
> 

You must be restricting you answer to the offical version for MINIX?
Because for those of us who watch this News group closely we do have
a floating point compiler and library routines that runs under MINIX,
thanks to housel@ecn.purdue.edu <Peter Housel> who posted his work to
the Net some time back.

Also a Lex clone was posted as FLEX by V61%DHURZ1.BITNET <Ronald Lamprecht>

And a YACC was posted by David A. Clunie

And as for VI there is STEVIE (which is in the official Minix) and
ELVIS which was just recently posted to the Net.

Robert R. Hall
hall@nosc.mil

IZPH%MUSICB.MCGILL.CA@vm1.cc.mcgill.ca (IZPH000) (02/14/90)

> Because for those of us who watch this News group closely we do have
> a floating point compiler and library routines that runs under MINIX,
> thanks to housel@ecn.purdue.edu <Peter Housel> who posted his work to
> the Net some time back.
>
Would you please be more specific, where can one get this real(floating)
C.
> Also a Lex clone was posted as FLEX by V61%DHURZ1.BITNET <Ronald Lamprecht>
>
> And a YACC was posted by David A. Clunie
>
> And as for VI there is STEVIE (which is in the official Minix) and
> ELVIS which was just recently posted to the Net.
>

And UUCP, but I don't know how to get a copy of it.
> Robert R. Hall
> hall@nosc.mil

PH Hoang
(IZPH@MusicB.McGill.CA)

housel@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Peter S. Housel) (02/15/90)

In article <11081@nigel.udel.EDU>, IZPH%MUSICB (IZPH000) writes:
>> Because for those of us who watch this News group closely we do have
>> a floating point compiler and library routines that runs under MINIX,
>> thanks to housel@ecn.purdue.edu <Peter Housel> who posted his work to
>> the Net some time back.
>Would you please be more specific, where can one get this real(floating) C.

	You can get the floating point package for Minix-PC via anonymous
ftp to en.ecn.purdue.edu, 128.46.129.59. It needs to be updated slightly for
1.5.0, as soon as I find time.

	Kai-Uwe Bloem (I5110401@DBSTU1.BitNet) has ported the package to the 
Atari ST. This version should be readily portable to the Mac.

>> And a YACC was posted by David A. Clunie

	I also have Robert Corbett's "Berkeley YACC" program running
under Minix, and can post the diffs after byacc gets posted to
one of the sources groups. (Or you can ask me for them; the original
source is avaiable via anon ftp from ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU)

>And UUCP, but I don't know how to get a copy of it.

	Also in en.ecn.purdue.edu's anonymous ftp directory.

-Peter S. Housel-	housel@ecn.purdue.edu		...!pur-ee!housel

root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) (02/15/90)

In article <1785@cod.NOSC.MIL>, hall@cod.NOSC.MIL (Robert R. Hall) writes:
> In article <2755@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu>, root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) writes:
> > ...
> > Minix doesn't have lex or yacc either but their omission is really
> > insignificant compared to the omission of floating point support
> > (not even if you have hardware FP -- it's not in the compiler or the
> > kernel).
> 
> You must be restricting you answer to the offical version for MINIX?

I certainly am. That's what you get when you buy Minix, i.e. that's Minix.

> Because for those of us who watch this News group closely we do have

Assuming that everyone using Minix is on the net is unreasonable.

> a floating point compiler and library routines that runs under MINIX,

I saw a library package; I didn't see a compiler; maybe I missed
something? Some checks I have made indicate that about 8% of all
postings don't reach here.

I do recall loud complaints that the Dhrystone benchmark used a few
floating point operations in reporting its results.

> thanks to housel@ecn.purdue.edu <Peter Housel> who posted his work to
> the Net some time back.
> 
> Also a Lex clone was posted as FLEX by V61%DHURZ1.BITNET <Ronald Lamprecht>
> 
> And a YACC was posted by David A. Clunie

I did not understand that these had been made a part of Minix. Is this
incorrect?

> And as for VI there is STEVIE (which is in the official Minix) and

According to the postings I have seen, Stevie is both buggy and is
substantially incomplete. Others experience has been enough to
discourage trying it out.

> ELVIS which was just recently posted to the Net.

Elvis looks promising (based on the postings, again) but it isn't
(a) in the Minix release or (b) adequately debugged.


 Thos Sumner       Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu
 (The I.G.)        UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos
                   BITNET:  thos@ucsfcca

 U.S. Mail:  Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF
             San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA

I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're
working on death.

#include <disclaimer.std>