arthur@warwick.UUCP (02/19/87)
I have been using Minix for some time on a Hong Kong PC XT clone. I have come across various problems, which may be due to bugs in the software ( I am not sure if the copy I have 1.1 is the same as the copy available from Prentice Hall since my tape has not arrived yet ), or possibly the machine, I would welcome comments. 1. MV BUG if you move a file to itself it is destroyed, I think this is a real bug. 2. LOGIN PROBLEM Login does not appear to set $HOME correctly (at all ? ) it is always / Where is the source of login ? and why does it not appear when you do an F1 ? 3. PRINTER PROBLEM The printer driver is VERY unreliable when used with my printer, an EPSON FX-80. It way be a problem with the printer itself, although it works ok from MeSDrOS. However I have used Minix on a real IBM PC with a real IBM PC printer and it seemed to work fine so I am puzzled. 4. HARD DISK PROBLEMS The clone I use has a Xebec controller and 20Mbyte Hard disk. Minix works fine with this arrangement, and is much nicer to use than when on floppies ( suprise suprise :-). BUT I cannot get multiple partitions to work. I have used Diskfix to create two partitions, one MSDOS on non-MSDOS. MSDOS works fine, and the system boots to that with no floppy, but Minix refuses to mkfs the other patition /dev/hd2. It does know it is a valid partition, bacause if you try to mkfs /dev/hd3 for example it complains differently. Without partitions, ie using the whole disk for Minix all is well so it seems to be a software problem, or maybe the controller I have is not totally compatible. Well actually it doesn't work perfectly, if you type while the machine is accessing the hard disk it can induse fatal read errors, again this may be a bug or it may be an incompatibility. 5. NO SERIAL LINE DRIVER Not exactly a bug but really quite annoying anyway. Someone here is in the process of writing one, and we have a small version of Kermit we hope to port, I will post again when and if progress is made. Despite the problems so far I still think Minix is an amazing product, and I hope it attains the success it deserves. Judging by the demand for the book ( Prentice Hall in the UK seem to have sold out in three days of release!) I think it will. John. Usenet: ..ukc!warwick!arthur Janet: arthur@uk.ac.warwick.uu "Na thats not an operating system. This is an operating system!"
matt@inuxf.UUCP (02/24/87)
> <...number of bugs deleted> > 4. HARD DISK PROBLEMS > The clone I use has a Xebec controller and 20Mbyte Hard disk. Minix works > fine with this arrangement, and is much nicer to use than when on floppies > ( suprise suprise :-). BUT I cannot get multiple partitions to work. I > have used Diskfix to create two partitions, one MSDOS on non-MSDOS. MSDOS > works fine, and the system boots to that with no floppy, but Minix refuses > to mkfs the other patition /dev/hd2. It does know it is a valid partition, > bacause if you try to mkfs /dev/hd3 for example it complains differently. > Without partitions, ie using the whole disk for Minix all is well so it > seems to be a software problem, or maybe the controller I have is not > totally compatible. > > Well actually it doesn't work perfectly, if you type while the machine > is accessing the hard disk it can induse fatal read errors, again this > may be a bug or it may be an incompatibility. I am on a 'pure' IBM pc and have the same problem with read errors ocurring while typing with hard disk activity. I dont think it is a compatability problem. Probably a bug in interrupt handling, although I have not looked at that code yet. I also had problems with multiple partitions so I went ahead and started over with one partition and it worked fine. > John. > > Usenet: ..ukc!warwick!arthur Janet: arthur@uk.ac.warwick.uu > > "Na thats not an operating system. This is an operating system!" Matt Verner UUCP: ...ihnp4!inuxc!matt AT&T Graphics Software Labs AT&T: (317) 844-4364 Indianapolis, IN "The whole point of this sentence is to clearly explain the point this sentence is making."
dlong@sdsu.UUCP (02/26/87)
>3. PRINTER PROBLEM > The printer driver is VERY unreliable when used with my printer, an >EPSON FX-80. It way be a problem with the printer itself, although it works >ok from MeSDrOS. However I have used Minix on a real IBM PC with a real IBM >PC printer and it seemed to work fine so I am puzzled. I have MINIX running on a Leading Edge PC, and my Epson FX-80 seems to work just fine. -- Dean Long San Diego State Univ. sdcsvax!sdsu!dlong
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (03/03/87)
> I am on a 'pure' IBM pc and have the same problem with read errors > ocurring while typing with hard disk activity. I dont think it is a > compatability problem. Probably a bug in interrupt handling, although > I have not looked at that code yet. Don't overlook the possibility that it may be an out-and-out hardware bug. Disk interrupts probably do not get exercised much by MSDOS software; it is quite possible that there's a design flaw there. (Unix is notorious for discovering hardware flaws that nothing else finds.) -- "We must choose: the stars or Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology the dust. Which shall it be?" {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
alexande@drivax.UUCP (Mark Alexander) (03/05/87)
In article <7731@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes: >Disk interrupts probably do not get exercised much by MSDOS software; it >is quite possible that there's a design flaw there. (Unix is notorious >for discovering hardware flaws that nothing else finds.) Actually, disk interrupts DO get used by MS-DOS, but only in the ROM BIOS calls that perform disk I/O. Take a look at the Fixed Disk BIOS listings for the XT. After issuing a command to the controller, the BIOS goes into a loop waiting for an interrupt to occur. The interrupt handler itself is very stupid -- just outputs an EOI command to the 8259 interrupt controller and disables disk DMA. I can't seen any reason why the BIOS even needs to use interrupts in the first place, but there it is. There are a number of multitasking operating systems that seem to run just fine on XTs, and which (presumably) use disk interrupts. These include PC/IX, Xenix, RMX-86, and others. This could be taken as evidence against serious design flaws in the hard disk controller. -- Mark Alexander ...{hplabs,seismo,sun,ihnp4}amdahl!drivax!alexande "Lying is a way of taking personal responsibility for reality." -G. Keillor