alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) (12/24/89)
I am seriously thinking of acquiring something like minix. Before I order it, I would however like some information about it; The questions are: 1. How close to an unix system minix can bring the pc to be? 2. I have the following configuration: A pinus XT-compatible computer (10 Mhz 8088) an 21-Mb hard disk drive a hercules screen adapter a 360 kb floppy disk. Does minix support this hardware? Can I have dos (I need it for some applications) and minix running on the same computer (booting minix from hd and dos from floppy) in separate disk partitions or hard disks? Can I get rid of the minix ram-disk (I have some memory-hungry applications in mind)? 3. How many parallel processes does minix support? 4. Is there a cshell for minix? 5. How can I acquire minix? 6. If the next version is coming soon, when? 7. How is the patching from one version to another done (for future)? If you can answer any of the above questions, please email me. Don't post, since I don't have the habit of reading news. Thanks in advance. alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka)
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (12/24/89)
In article <ALUKKA.89Dec23151625@kannel.lut.fi> alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) writes: >I am seriously thinking of acquiring something like minix. >Before I order it, I would however like some information about it; >The questions are: > [questions deleted] >Don't post, since I don't have the habit of reading news. >alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) Please post, because I would also like to see the answers to these questions. Thank you. In the rare case that original ideas Kenneth J. Hendrickson N8DGN are found here, I am responsible. Owen W328, E. Lansing, MI 48825 Internet: kjh@usc.edu UUCP: ...!uunet!usc!pollux!kjh
car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) (12/26/89)
In article <ALUKKA.89Dec23151625@kannel.lut.fi>, alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) writes: > I am seriously thinking of acquiring something like minix. ******************** Well Andy, there you have it. You know that you've made it big time when others start cloning something you've created. :-) > Before I order it, I would however like some information about it; > The questions are: > 1. How close to an unix system minix can bring the pc to be? Minix was based on Unix System 7. > 2. I have the following configuration: > A pinus XT-compatible computer (10 Mhz 8088) > an 21-Mb hard disk drive > a hercules screen adapter > a 360 kb floppy disk. > Does minix support this hardware? If the hardware was properly cloned you shouldn't have any trouble. I have a XT (10Mhz 8088) with (2) 10Mb HD's, Hercules, and (1) 360Kb. I had to make some changes to the hard disk driver because my controller broke a rule but other than that Minix works great. > Can I have dos (I need it for some applications) and minix running on the > same computer (booting minix from hd and dos from floppy) in separate > disk partitions or hard disks? Yes to all. DOS and Minix can run on the same computer (but not at the same time :-). Booting Minix from HD is possible with some help from the net. You can use one partition for Minix and one for DOS, or, one hard disk for DOS and one for Minix. This is common. > Can I get rid of the minix ram-disk (I have some memory-hungry applications > in mind)? This is possible - again with help from the net. (Non-standard) > 3. How many parallel processes does minix support? Depends on your RAM size. > 4. Is there a cshell for minix? Not that I'm aware of. > 5. How can I acquire minix? This information is in the Minix information sheet. It is posted here regularly. Basically, you order it from Prentice Hall for around $100. > 6. If the next version is coming soon, when? Minix 1.5 is being posted NOW. The last word is that PH is shipping Minix 1.3. > 7. How is the patching from one version to another done (for future)? By using the PATCH program and obtaining the upgrade kits from the net. > If you can answer any of the above questions, please email me. > Don't post, since I don't have the habit of reading news. I'll do both. > Thanks in advance. > > alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) car. -- Christopher A. Rende Central Cartage (Nixdorf/Pyramid/SysVR2/BSD4.3) uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car Multics,DTSS,Unix,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek trux!car@uunet.uu.net Minix 1.2,PC/XT,Mac+,TRS-80 Model I,1802 ELF "I don't ever remember forgetting anything." - Chris Rende
benton@VAX1.CC.UAKRON.EDU (Kevin Benton) (01/10/90)
For those of you who are wondering, Minix is NOT a full implementation of System V or BSD. You can't get csh (yet), and it doesn't even support execution in extended memory for the 386 (from what I know). Version 1.5.0 is the latest for the PC, and if you want to run DOS in a window, forget it. Minix is, however, Version 7 Unix (by definition) and completely written without recourse from AT&T, so we don't need all the licensing garbage... Minix comes with complete source code, all the way down to the boot block for the disk that starts Minix. This allows you to experiment with what Minix does and how it operates. Minix is NOT (yet at least) intended to be a full implementation of Unix. Minix is intended to be used as an operating system programmers learning tool. If you'd like more information, I'd suggest you pick up a book called "Operating System Design and Implementation" by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, published by Prentice-Hall. If your library doesn't have it, you know where you can get it... Kevin Benton benton@vax1.cc.uakron.edu "Kevin Benton"@1:157/516.0@fidonet.org