Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!phigate!prle!prles2!cst!meulenbr From: meulenbr@cst.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Minix info request Message-ID: Date: 6 Jun 90 11:28:19 GMT References: <2044@dali> Sender: news@prles2.prl.philips.nl Lines: 64 [lots of questions trimmed] scott@cs.odu.edu (Scott Yelich) writes: >> - How well does it interface with a modem, printer and mouse? >You will have to find/write device drivers. release 1.5 supports the modem and serial printers. Parallel printers were already supported in 1.1 >I sent in my $80.00 and I received ST Minix 1.1. Version 1.1 is ok, >but I started reading comp.os.minix and I soon found out that it >wasn't the latest version. Not only that, but by the time I read an >article in comp.os.minix, a new version had come out. This has >repeated until now, I think... the current version is something like >1.5.10. Of course, there is no standard method of upgrading and from >what I can gather, there is no one place where you can pick up any >upgrades for say, from version 1.1 to 1.5.10. >So, you can order your Minix now and you will probably get an old >version. I thought I heard talk of a new release 2.0 (or was it 2.1?) >for later this year. I sure hope Prentice Hall will accept the old >disks back as part of some sort of upgrade because I have not spent >the time to mess with 1.1 since the newer versions appear to be >sufficiently enhanced to the point where the old version would not be >worth the effort to maintain it. Scott, you did NOT get an old version. The one and only version currently available is ST 1.1. This version is close to the PC 1.3 version. I did the upgrade from ST 1.1 to PC 1.5. Since my upgraded version and PC 1.5 are compatible, we decided to call this new version ST 1.5. ST 1.2, 1.3 or 1.4 were never distributed! The upgrades to go from ST 1.1 to ST 1.5.10 have been posted in comp.os.minix. If you want to upgrade you can use the posted upgrades (although this is not trivial). As an alternative you can buy ST 1.5 from Prentice Hall. It will be available late summer, and will consist of 10 disks and a 750 or 800 page manual. I do not know the exact availability or price, so please dont ask. watch comp.os.minix for the announcement. To conclude: late summer will bring 1.5 versions of minix for PC, ST, Amiga, Macintosh and I believe some PS/2 systems. If you do have ST 1.1 and you want to upgrade you have 2 options: - wait until summer and buy ST 1.5. You might get a discount if you have bought 1.1. I'm not sure though - upgrade using the posted diffs The fact that the diffs are posted, while you cannot get the stuff from PH yet, is that PH needs time to manufacture disks, print the manual etc. Also the net postings serve two purposes - to be a service to the minix community (which other product offers you upgrades over the net?) - to get feedback about new releases before they are shipped, so we can make a better system. So the knife really cuts at two sides: we get early bug repots, and you can upgrade early. happy minixing, -- Frans Meulenbroeks (meulenbr@cst.philips.nl) Centre for Software Technology ( or try: ...!mcsun!phigate!prle!cst!meulenbr)