sbulchan@oracle.uucp (Sanjay Bulchandani) (02/11/89)
Could someone enumerate what minix can do that DOS can't ? I'm dying
to go buy myself a copy of minix but need some justification other than just
fun.
Sanjay
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Sanjay A. Bulchandani INTERNET: sbulchan%oracle.com@apple.com
UUCP : apple!oracle!sbulchan hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (02/14/89)
In article <621@oracle.UUCP>, sbulchan@oracle.uucp (Sanjay Bulchandani) writes: > Could someone enumerate what minix can do that DOS can't ? I'm dying > to go buy myself a copy of minix but need some justification other than just > fun. First off, Minix is FUN. Secondly, Minix is UNIX(r). It multitasks, looks and feels like UNIX. Thirdly, It gives you direct access to the disks. Anything you could do as as root in a real UNIX, you can do here. Me I like patching /dev/hd0, which is the boot sector of the hard disk and changing the partition table. Fourth, You can waste endless hours porting UNIX programs to it. In short, Try it, You'll like it. Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs att!lzaz!hcj hcj@lzaz.att.com
kevinf@infmx.UUCP (Kevin Franden) (02/15/89)
In article <413@lzaz.ATT.COM>, hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) writes: > In article <621@oracle.UUCP>, sbulchan@oracle.uucp (Sanjay Bulchandani) writes: > > Could someone enumerate what minix can do that DOS can't ? I'm dying > > to go buy myself a copy of minix but need some justification other than just > > fun. > > First off, Minix is FUN. > Secondly, Minix is UNIX(r). It multitasks, looks and feels like UNIX. {...and more stuff but wasn't relevent to my question} Yes but what about my endless array of DOS-based junk I have accumulated over time? Are my compilers now defunct? what about TSRs? how 'bout all the (pseudo) nifty stuff you need to take into mind when designing a DOS program? Will my hard disk need to be reformatted? Although I am new to UNIX and (very) tired of DOS I do have a substantial investment in the DOS arena. ($5000+) I would LOVE to have a full-blown UNIX setup on my system at home but will I have to compromise (trash, throw out, and otherwise make useless) my DOS stuff? Kevin Franden Informix Software "Programming is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer... it feels SO good when you stop" (I said what I said and not my employer)
jds@mimsy.UUCP (James da Silva) (02/16/89)
In article <896@infmx.UUCP> kevinf@infmx.UUCP (Kevin Franden) writes: > >Yes but what about my endless array of DOS-based junk I have accumulated >over time? Are my compilers now defunct? what about TSRs? how 'bout all >the (pseudo) nifty stuff you need to take into mind when designing a >DOS program? Will my hard disk need to be reformatted? Minix is not a replacement for DOS, and was never meant to be. You can not run your DOS compilers or TSRs or Flight Simulator or Egaroid under Minix. Sorry. Yes, you would need to repartition your disk to put Minix on it. Minix was designed as a teaching aid for Operating Systems courses. It also happens to be lots of fun for OS hackers and would-be OS hackers that don't have Vaxen and a BSD source license to play with. Minix is not yet robust enough to be a replacement OS for people who just want a stable platform for their applications. I hope this answers your question. >Kevin Franden >Informix Software > >"Programming is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer... > it feels SO good when you stop" If this is how you feel, then you definitely wouldn't like Minix. Jaime ........................................................................... : domain: jds@mimsy.umd.edu James da Silva : path: uunet!mimsy!jds
paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen) (02/16/89)
In article <896@infmx.UUCP> kevinf@infmx.UUCP (Kevin Franden) writes: >In article <413@lzaz.ATT.COM>, hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) writes: >> In article <621@oracle.UUCP>, sbulchan@oracle.uucp (Sanjay Bulchandani) writes: >>> [Sanjay asked basically, "What's so great about Minix?"] >> [Mr. Johnson responded, (paraphrasing) "It's fun, it's like Unix..."] > >Yes but what about my endless array of DOS-based junk I have accumulated >over time? Are my compilers now defunct? what about TSRs? how 'bout all >the (pseudo) nifty stuff you need to take into mind when designing a >DOS program? Will my hard disk need to be reformatted? None of your DOS stuff will run under Minix, but you can still run it all under DOS. If you choose to put Minix on your hard disk, you can keep a partition for DOS. Unless you've got some empty partitions on your hard disk, installing a Minix partition will involve a full backup, fdisk, and DOS-level format for the new DOS partition. Minix has its own C compiler, so you won't need your DOS compilers, although several people have done Minix work by cross-developing with DOS C compilers. When working on Minix, most of the nifty DOS tricks you know are useless. But you can still make use of your knowledge of PC hardware. >Although I am new to UNIX and (very) tired of DOS I do have a substantial >investment in the DOS arena. ($5000+) I would LOVE to have a full-blown >UNIX setup on my system at home but will I have to compromise (trash, throw >out, and otherwise make useless) my DOS stuff? Not at all. You'll just have two separate environments, one full of expensive tools for doing useful work, and the other a pleasing place to hack just for the fun of it. Minix is not what I would call "full-blown" UNIX. It does look like Unix. It has real pipes, shell scripts, and background processes. It's performance is quite mediocre, however. But you do get all the sources, so you could fix that, if you had a mind to. :-) Paul Allen -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul L. Allen | pallen@atc.boeing.com Boeing Advanced Technology Center | ...!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!pallen