cjeffery@arizona.edu (Clinton Jeffery) (05/08/88)
From article <4010@killer.UUCP>, by sampson@killer.UUCP (Steve Sampson): > 1. Will the 68k version (minix...) be available on MSDOS disks? I too would be very interested in seeing such a distribution. For that matter, are the PC versions available in MSDOS format, or can one only get them in (minix,xinu) format? Also: Would some soul(s) *EMAIL* me a brief rundown on comparative features of Minix and Xinu? How do their models differ? Their interprocess communication? Performance on normal applications? Completeness of the standard unix tool sets? Why are both distributions $80, and both books over $40? These prices have prevented me from trying either minix or xinu, and if I *do* try one I have to be darned sure to get the better one... -- | Clint Jeffery, University of Arizona Department of Computer Science | cjeffery@arizona.edu -or- {ihnp4 noao}!arizona!cjeffery --
comer@PURDUE.EDU (Douglas Comer) (05/11/88)
Clint, >> ... are the PC versions available in MSDOS format, or can one only >> get them in (minix,xinu) format? Also: The PC version of Xinu comes on standard MS-DOS disks. Only one of the disks contains a Xinu-style file system (and that's just for fun). >> Would some soul(s) *EMAIL* me a brief rundown on comparative features of >> Minix and Xinu? How do their models differ? Their interprocess >> communication? Performance on normal applications? Completeness of >> the standard unix tool sets? Briefly, Minix is a minature version 7 (circa 1978) UNIX system; Xinu is an entirely new, hierarchically structures operating system with only small resemblence to UNIX internally. They don't even attempt to do the same things. Minix tries to provide a small UNIX environment; Xinu tries to illustrate new operating system concepts including networking protocols. Minix looks to the past; Xinu looks to the future. Minix runs on PCs; Xinu runs on PCs, Vaxen, PDP11s, SUNs, National 32000s, etc. Go to your library and look at the two texts. Why are both distributions $80, and both books over $40? Prentice Hall publishes both books and distributes software; they set the price. In your case, contact Prof. Larry Peterson (in your cs dept) who probably has a verison of Xinu he can let you play with (Larry is a former Ph.D. student of mine). Doug
ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) (05/13/88)
I can't resist the temptation to respond. In return, Doug gets 1 free posting to comp.os.minix. I won't comment much about Xinu since that is well known to readers of this group. I would just like to clear up some misconceptions about MINIX. In article <8805101934.AA04927@merlin.cs.purdue.edu> comer@PURDUE.EDU (Douglas Comer) writes: > >Briefly, Minix is a minature version 7 (circa 1978) UNIX system; Xinu is an >entirely new, hierarchically structures operating system with only small >resemblence to UNIX internally. They don't even attempt to do the same >things. Minix tries to provide a small UNIX environment; Xinu tries to >illustrate new operating system concepts including networking protocols. >Minix looks to the past; Xinu looks to the future. Minix runs on PCs; >Xinu runs on PCs, Vaxen, PDP11s, SUNs, National 32000s, etc. MINIX is an attempt to provide a UNIX-like system to owners of small machines. It currently runs on most Intel 8088/286/386 machines. It has been ported to the NS32016, and this summer Prentice-Hall will start distributing the 68000 version. Internally, MINIX is not like UNIX either. It is structured in a highly modular way. For example, the file system runs as a user-level server process, outside the kernel. Nearly all modern distributed systems work this way. This allows you do modify the file system without touching the kernel at all. In this respect, I think MINIX is at least as modern as Xinu if not more so. MINIX is definitely intended for education. It is widely used at universities all over the world, and is being translated into several foreign languages. The book discusses the theory of operating systems in detail, and then shows how these principles are applied in MINIX (and by implication, in UNIX). Starting with V1.3, MINIX also supports networking. Unlike Xinu, which looks back to the old days of stream protocols (X.25, TCP, OSI), MINIX networking (for Ethernet) is based on remote procedure call. Again, virtually all modern distributed operating systems use this as the base. Like Xinu, there is a newsgroup for MINIX. There are over 10,000 readers worldwide, and more than 3000 messages have been posted to it in the past year, many with new software. If you want more information about MINIX, send me email; I have a short blurb that I can send to you by email. The blurb tells you how to join the newsgroup (comp.os.minix) if you are not on USENET, and also tells you how to access all the old messages, which are being archived. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (05/23/88)
In article ... comer@PURDUE.EDU.UUCP (presumably Douglas Comer) writes: > >> Would some soul(s) *EMAIL* me a brief rundown on comparative features of > >> Minix and Xinu? How do their models differ? Their interprocess > >> communication? Performance on normal applications? Completeness of > >> the standard unix tool sets? > Briefly, Minix is a minature version 7 (circa 1978) UNIX system; Xinu is an > entirely new, hierarchically structures operating system with only small > resemblence to UNIX internally. Minix is a message-passing operating system that has little resemblance to UNIX internally. The external interface is modelled on Version 7 UNIX. The internal model is similar to the ADA "Rendezvous". I personally don't care for this, as it doesn't give you the performance of raw coroutines and doesn't give you the security of a queued-message system, but saying it's similar to UNIX is just not true. > They don't even attempt to do the same things. They seem to have similar design goals to me. They're both toy operating systems for teaching purposes. > Xinu tries to illustrate new operating system > concepts including networking protocols. Minix ... tries to provide a small operating system to teach operating system concepts. > Minix runs on PCs; > Xinu runs on PCs, Vaxen, PDP11s, SUNs, National 32000s, etc. Go to your > library and look at the two texts. Good idea. I know you're fond of your baby, and I think it's a really neat system too. I just think that you're being a little quick to dismiss Minix as just a UNIX clone. -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- "Have you hugged your U wolf today?" ...!bellcore!tness1!sugar!peter -- Disclaimer: These may be the official opinions of Hackercorp.
schro@nixpbe (05/24/88)
PC-Xinu questions: 1. do you get a compiler with the distribution disks ? 2. is there a working serial tty driver ? 3. is there a protected-mode version for IBM AT ? W.F.Schroeder uunet!mcvax!unido!nixpbe!schro