ugbernie@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Bernard Bediako) (02/18/89)
Hi If I had the choice between getting Minix for an ST (atari) and Minix for the PC(either IBM XT or AT), which should I get? Is there any reason to work with one Minix than the other. I know Minix for the PC is on ver. 1.3 & the ST is 1.1, but how long will it take for the ST version to catch up (if ever)? I've got a choice between both machines and I want to get minix for only one. Please reply if possible. thanks............bernie Bernard Bediako --------=-=-=-=-=-> ugbernie@cs.buffalo.edu
hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) (02/18/89)
As a user of PC Minix, I'd have to say that I would strongly recommend choosing the ST over the PC, assuming that ST Minix is stable. The 64K limit in the PC implementation is quite serious. It means that no matter how far Minix progresses towards Posix compatibility, you won't be able to use a lot of recent software. Lots of code now assumes 32-bit ints, and a large contiguous address space. A "large model" compiler for the PC would help, but even the large model compilers normally give you 16-bit ints, and while the data area may be large, it isn't contiguous. In my opinion, anybody who is serious about Unix should be using a 680xx or a 386. And Minix currently doesn't support the 386 (except when it is emulating an 8086).
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (02/21/89)
In article <4271@cs.Buffalo.EDU> ugbernie@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Bernard Bediako) writes: >I know Minix for the PC is on ver. 1.3 & >the ST is 1.1, but how long will it take for the ST version to catch up (if >ever)? The two are not all that different. MINIX-ST V1.1 is not at all like MINIX-PC V1.1. MINIX-ST is only a few months behind V1.3 for the PC. The choice between machines should be made based on which machine you like best and whether you want to be plugged into the PC world or ST world. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
meulenbr@cst.UUCP (Frans Meulenbroeks) (02/22/89)
Work is being done to let the ST version catch up. In fact already a lot of stuff is brought up to 1.4a level. I hope to be able to sent a copy to Johan for approval next monday. However, some (PC) people can help me by answering a few small questions: - does ascii crash on the pc if no file spec is given - does the shell expand meta char's after a redirection symbol (e.g. will cat </etc/pa* work) - does at copy the environment properly to the file in /usr/spool/at Also if someone has a good terminal emulator or file transfer program, I'd appreciate a copy. Still all bug reports (most likely with fixes) are welcome. -- Frans Meulenbroeks (meulenbr@cst.prl.philips.nl) Centre for Software Technology ( or try: ...!mcvax!philmds!prle!cst!meulenbr)