[comp.os.minix] MINIX and the Amiga2000

ahinds@hvrunix.UUCP (Alexander Hinds) (12/12/87)

	Next semester I would like to port minix to my Amiga2000.  I was
told that the problems involved with this have already been discussed here.
However, my system does not have the messages detailing the problems.  Could
somebody please send me mail telling me if it's possible?  Has anybody got
it to work?  Thanks.

						Sincerely,
							Alexander Hinds
USENET: ahinds@hvrunix
BITNET: A_HINDS@HVRFORD

BECKER%HUMBER.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce Becker) (12/17/87)

"In theory" a MINIX port to AMIGA should be some work, but otherwise
quite feasible - MINIX could 1)> run "standalone"; or 2). be emulated
by a task running under the Amiga Exec O/S, whose semantics are (I think)
similar enough to MINIX internal structure as to represent a reasonably
efficient interface... I'm *very* interested to hear what work if any is
currently going on - apparently the U. of Lowell port has been abandoned,
but there are rumour of a group in Holland attempting the port -
does anyone know details to post to the net?

Cheers, Bruce Becker       Humber College        Etobicoke, Ont.

ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (12/17/87)

In article <842@louie.udel.EDU> BECKER%HUMBER.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce Becker) writes:
>"In theory" a MINIX port to AMIGA should be some work, but otherwise
>quite feasible 
>... there are rumour of a group in Holland attempting the port -

I know of no port to the Amiga.  There is definitely a port to the Atari.
That is coming along, and we have hopes of a release in the Spring of 88.
Any port to the Amiga or Macintosh should definitely start there.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

dpd@tellab5.UUCP (Dan Dietrich) (12/20/87)

In article <1790@botter.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes:
>There is definitely a port to the Atari.
>That is coming along, and we have hopes of a release in the Spring of 88.

I've been working on a port of MINIX to a custom 68010 board built by myself.
I am now up against the lack of any type of memory management on a simple
(non-MMU) system.  I had originally considered core swapping between a fixed
"runnable" area of memory and an area of swap memory but this appears to
have a lot overhead (about 10 ms for a 20K area on a 68010 @ 12.288 MHZ)
Isn't this also a problem for the Atari version of MINIX?  I'd like to
here some real (observed) numbers from the Atari version.  Any other
ideas would be welcome too.

I'm now considering starting over with a 68020/68851 combination or 68030.
(what a wimp, right?)  Either way I will eventually need a cc which generates
680x0 code.  Will the Atari MINIX use the ACK compiler?  Since I have purchased
MINIX for the IBM, will I need to purchase a new copy to get the compiler?

						Dan Dietrich
						...!ihnp4!tellab5!dpd
						dpd@tellab5.UUCP

jjw@igloo.UUCP (John Welch) (12/21/87)

In a recent article, Andy Tanenbaum mentioned a port to the Atari system.
If anybody does get MINIX ported to a 68000 CPU I would like to play with
the code. I have a Sinclair QL (68008) and two large A B Dick machines that
I would very much like to have running a real operating system.
Thanks much in advance.  -->jjw

schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (12/22/87)

In article <1790@botter.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes:
>In article <842@louie.udel.EDU> BECKER%HUMBER.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bruce Becker) writes:
>>"In theory" a MINIX port to AMIGA should be some work, but otherwise
>>quite feasible 
>>... there are rumour of a group in Holland attempting the port -
>
>I know of no port to the Amiga.  There is definitely a port to the Atari.
>That is coming along, and we have hopes of a release in the Spring of 88.
>Any port to the Amiga or Macintosh should definitely start there.
>
>Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

  If such a port is started, I would be very interested in any and all news.
 Soon as time permits, I plan on getting Minix 1.2 up and running on the
 BridgeBoard in my 2000 (Hi Mike!). Being able to run MINIX and AmigaDOS at
 the same, and adding the Amigas ability to share data.... Well you get the
 idea.
-- 
   Dan Schein		 uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein
   Commodore AMIGA			Bix: dschein	     Plink: Dan*CATS
   1200 Wilson Drive			phone: (215) 431-9100	   ext. 9542
   West Chester PA 19380
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education  :-)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports
         me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.

ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (12/24/87)

In article <812@tellab5.UUCP> dpd@tellab5.UUCP (Dan Dietrich) writes:
>I've been working on a port of MINIX to a custom 68010 board built by myself.
> ...

The Atari version of MINIX does core swapping.  If done right, it is not 
all that bad in terms of performance.  Basically, it might add something
on the order of 10 msec to a fork of the average sized program, but given 
the rate at which forks are normally done (a few per minute), it is
completely negligible.

It is the intention that Atari MINIX will come with a 68000 C compiler.
There is no "upgrade path" from IBM to Atari MINIX.  Too much has changed.
However, the Atari version will contain most of the fixes I have posted to
the net since 1.2, and which will eventually be in 1.3.
The V1.3 system for the IBM PC won't be around until next summer, at the
earliest.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

jpdres10@usl-pc.UUCP (Green Eric Lee) (01/01/88)

In message <812@tellab5.UUCP>, dpd@tellab5.UUCP (Dan Dietrich) says:
>In article <1790@botter.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes:
>>There is definitely a port to the Atari.
>>That is coming along, and we have hopes of a release in the Spring of 88.
>
>I've been working on a port of MINIX to a custom 68010 board built by myself.
>I am now up against the lack of any type of memory management on a simple
>(non-MMU) system.
  Have your compiler produce relocatable object code, and perform all
data accesses offset from a register. That way, when you do a "fork",
all you have to do is copy your code & heap, adjust offset register,
and presto, all your pointers in your heap are a-ok. Unfortunately,
this also slows things down a heckuva lot... what did the guys do for
the Atari version?

>(what a wimp, right?)  Either way I will eventually need a cc which generates
>680x0 code.  Will the Atari MINIX use the ACK compiler?  Since I have purchased
>MINIX for the IBM, will I need to purchase a new copy to get the compiler?

The ACK compiler for the 8086 probably wouldn't be very good at
generating 68000 code :-}. If you're going full-fledged 68020 with
MMU, all I can suggest is getting GNU CC, and cross-compiling from
your favorite Unix machine until you have enough of a system for GNUCC
to host upon (and I don't know what all system specific stuff GNUCC
has in it... right now, it produces code for Vax and Sun 3, both
running BSD4.3, a far cry from a V7 subset). You could also get the
complete Amsterdam Compiler Kit, of course, but for an individual
project that would be prohibitive (a pity, isn't it... that
individuals can no longer innovate today, only organizations can).

--
Eric Green  elg@usl.CSNET       P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509
{ihnp4,cbosgd}!killer!elg,      {ut-sally,killer}!usl!elg
  "what exactly is a dream... and what exactly is a joke?"  -- Syd Barrett