Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: archer%segin4.segin.fr@relay.prime.com (Vincent Archer) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Macintosh Minix: release date info, and a query Message-ID: <27827@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Date: 18 Aug 90 13:05:47 GMT Sender: mmdf@ee.udel.edu Lines: 62 Doug Moen says: >I phoned the Toronto office of Prentice Hall today. >They told me Macintosh Minix 1.5 is due to be released >on September 15, for CAN $216. (ISBN # 013-585-0509) >(Much cheaper than AUX, and you get source code) Now that's good news! >Unfortunately, the nice people in the order department >don't know anything about the implementation details. Now that's bad news :-) >Here are my questions: >1. Does Mac Minix (a) use its own file system, or (b) use > the Macintosh file system? > >I would prefer alternative (b), so that I can read and modify Mac text >files using Minix programs, and vice versa. If alternative (a) is used, >then presumably I have to partition my hard disk so that I have a Mac >partition and a Minix partition. A Unix-like file system bears little relation to the Mac File system. For this reason, the Minix FileSystem will probably be either (a) an independent partition on your hard-disk (if the kernel can gain access to the Mac HD driver) or (b) a special "MNIX" file that contains an image of the Minix FS. Don't forget that Minix is written with portability in mind, which means that you have EXACTLY the same FS regardless of your computer, be it an Amiga, a Mac, a PC or a ST. >2. If Mac Minix uses it own file system, then is there any software > that lets me mount a Mac-formatted file system in the Minix universe, > or a Minix-formatted file system in the Mac universe? I hope so. There's dos(dir/read/write) for PC users to allow access to DOS disks, and there's tos(dir/read/write) for ST users for the same task. I hope there's some mac(dir/read/write) utility with the same purpose! >3. Does Mac Minix follow the Mac convention of using character 13 as > the newline character, or does it follow the unix convention of using > character 10 as newline? This tells me whether Mac and Minix text > files are compatible, or whether I need to use a conversion utility. It uses LF, of course. The same compiler is used on all 68000-Minixes, so there's no reason why the MacMinix should be a special case. Better yet, it was told that any 68000-Minix compiled program would run "as is" on any other 68000 Minix. Binary compatibility precludes the option of \n = 13. Anyway, the (t/d)osread utility has a '-a' option, meaning 'ascii', because on PCs and STs, the situation is worse: a newline is CR FOLLOWED by a LF -------- >4. Is it possible for Mac Minix and Multifinder to run at the same time? Probably. If the kernel is written for, that is. Vincent Vincent Archer | Email:archer%segin4.segin.fr@relay.prime.com "People that are good at finding excuses are never good at anything else"