ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/14/88)
In article <4848@louie.udel.EDU> XRBEO%VPFVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce O'Neel) writes: >I have a PS/2 Model 25 with 1 720k disk and 512k memory. >Try not to laugh too hard :-). Will minix work on a system this small? Will >it do anything usefull? Thanks! Thanks for posting the question. Quite a few people want to add so many features to MINIX that it will require a 386 with a couple of megabytes and a hard disk. I am trying to keep it usable on minimum systems such as yours. MINIX 1.2 will not run on any PS/2 because IBM in its infinite wisdom decided to change the way keyboard interrupts are acknowledged, as well as the floppy disk timing and a number of other things like that. MINIX 1.3 has been tested on a PS/2 model 30, and appears to work. I expect that it should work on a Model 25. Much of the MINIX development was done on a system with 640K and two 360K floppies. This is not much bigger than your system, but MINIX was smaller in those days (see above). My guess is that it should work and be reasonably useful with that configuration, but it will not be as convenient and fast as a big 386. But you didn't expect that. A more interesting question is: does 1.3 run on PS/2 models with a 286 or 386? I don't know. Is there anyone who has one and who wants to be a guinea pig? If so, please let me know. If it does work on the Model 50, etc., I could take the 1.3 distribution for the PC and have P-H make it available for the PS/2. But I'd want to make sure it worked first, and I don't have a PS/2 here to test it. Andy Tanenbaum
XRBEO%VPFVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce O'Neel) (10/18/88)
Where would I get MINIX on the 3.5" disks for a ps/2 model 25? In other words, how do I order it? Thanks! bruce
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (10/19/88)
In article <4927@louie.udel.EDU> XRBEO%VPFVM.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce O'Neel) writes: >Where would I get MINIX on the 3.5" disks for a ps/2 model 25? In other >words, how do I order it? Thanks! You can't order it (yet). I haven't sent it to P-H. Nevertheless, the MINIX 1.3 distribution has been tested on the PS/2 model 30, and works, so I suspect that it will work on the model 25. If you build the system by applying the patches posted to 1.2, it should work. It dynamically checks to see if it is running on a PS/2, and if so, behaves accordingly. So far nobody has reported trying it on Models 50 or higher (or lower, for that matter). If anyone has a PS/2 around, I'd be very interested in finding out what happens when you try 1.3 on it. Andy Tanenbaum