pete@titan.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) (10/12/89)
Just a few questions: 1) I know that Minix is a Unix look-alike, but does it have a preemptive scheduler? 2) I have heard that there is a Mac version, but I have never seen anything either advertised or on this newsgroup during the short time that I have beenfollowing it. Is it out there? Does it run on a Mac+? (yes, I know that context-switching would be slow without the MMU, but it would be worthwhile anyway). 3) What kind of utilities are available, and are Mac applications still accessable and runnable? 4) What kind or support does the author provide? I would greatly appreciate any correspondance from people who actually have this mythical Mac version up and running. pete -- =========================================================================== Pete Keleher pete@titan.rice.edu Rice University knows nuttin about what I say, or what I do ... ===========================================================================
pickert@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (10/13/89)
I am the person (or at least a person) who has ported minix to the Macintosh. What follows is a few facts about it to those of you who might have an interest. It has been running for some time (over a year). I have several beta copies out, mostly to friends. It will run on the entire line of macintosh's except those with less than a meg of memory. It also requires a hard disk and I doubt I will ever expend the effort required to run it on a floppy only system. Currently, I am using the 1.3 system, with all tools. The tty stuff uses the Apple windowing scheme, with each "tty" in its own window. Each tty "window" can be scrolled, and you can cut & paste text in and between windows. You can also do other "standard" Mac windowing stuff such as hide windows, change their size, move them, change their font, etc. It runs as "just another" Macintosh application under the Mac OS. It runs under multifinder and is multifinder "friendly." I have in fact had two copies up and running simultaneously on the same macintosh. Tools exist to get things between the mac file system and the minix file system. In answer to the original question, The author (me) does not provide support, nor will he ever unless Prentice Hall agrees to license it to me for resale (which currently looks very, very doubtful, since they have already refused to consider it) or they decide to sell it themselves (expressed some interest, but nothing more). Too bad, too, cause I have had a lot of fun with it. Please post any questions to this notesfile, if you have them, and I will respond. Joe Pickert pickert@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/14/89)
In article <PETE.89Oct12100322@titan.rice.edu> pete@titan.rice.edu (Pete Keleher) writes: >1) I know that Minix is a Unix look-alike, but does it have a preemptive > scheduler? Yes. >2) I have heard that there is a Mac version, but I have never seen anything It is being beta tested now. I have personally used it, and it works fine. >3) What kind of utilities are available About 150 or so utilities exist. >4) What kind or support does the author provide? see comp.os.minix When the time comes, more will be said. When I first announced MINIX in the Christmas vacation of 1986, everybody was yelling VAPORWARE VAPORWARE because you couldn't get it until Jan 1, 1987. That particular mistake will not be repeated. There are plenty of mistakes left that have not yet been used. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)