Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!rochester!rit!cci632!tvf
From: tvf@cci632.UUCP (Tom Frauenhofer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Minix 1.3
Message-ID: <39978@cci632.UUCP>
Date: 18 Sep 90 02:56:47 GMT
References: <10758@life.ai.mit.edu>
Reply-To: tvf@cci632.UUCP (Tom Frauenhofer)
Organization: Computer Consoles, Inc., An STC Icon, Rochester, NY
Lines: 76

In article <10758@life.ai.mit.edu> cracraft@ai.mit.edu (Stuart Cracraft) writes:
>[ A repost of a message posted last night that had mysteriously vanished
>by this morning. If censored because in the message the view is that
>Minix has some serious, basic faults, then I'd be even doubly wary of
>it!]

This is a wild assumption, totally unfounded (I read your original posting
of this earlier).  When you make a statement like the above, you had better
offer up some tangible proof, my friend.

Anyway,

>It was disappointing bringing up Minix 1.3. Its seeming total
>reliance on floppies and lack of well-documented hard disk support
>made bringing up the hard disk a real chore. 

I could argue that Minix was designed to be a teaching OS (well, version
1.3 was).  It was a vast improvement over 1.2.  1.3 was still not good enough
for the "appliance" user (plug it in and it works).  1.5 is pretty close
(not quite close enough, but much better for naive users than 1.3 ever was).
You still have to be more careful with floppy fs's than I'd like, but nothings
perfect.

BTW, I recently made the switch to Minix from Microport V/AT, mainly because
I am going to upgrade my system to a 386sx, and I could upgrade Minix (at a
minimal cost to myself) to run in 32 bit mode.  I also like playing with
system-level stuff, and I like having the source around to play with.

>Picking the right 2nd parameter for mkfs for /dev/hd2 was hard and I
>wasn't even sure I got it right since the resulting /usr seemed too
>small. I run a 100mb ARRL technology Conner disk. I partitioned into
>two partitions of 50mb each.

It's no harder than any other PC-based Unix (or Unix on any other system
that I've used, for that matter).  Unix (and Minix) assumes a higher level
of sophistication (yeah, that's the word) from the person doing system
set-up than DOS does, but I feel it's worth it for the extra power you get.
I am a software developer, and I think in a multi-tasking mode.  DOS was
uncomfortable for me.  I think it's great that it's provided a platform for
a lot of people to get a lot of work done.  It just wasn't for me.

>Eventually I got everything copied over from the floppies to the hard
>disk, but this too was a disappointment, because there are no clear
>instructions on exactly what directories on the floppies go to which
>directories on the hard disk.

I thought it was pretty clear, actually.

>Another problem was the indication that on an AT "cp /dev/at0 /dev/hd3"
>would copy the root over. But no mention was made of whether /dev/hd3
>would have to be mkfs'd and how that was to be done. This is especially

This is not clear, you are right.

>And of course the lack of a bootable hard drive is the most notable
>problem of Minix 1.3

Was not a design goal of Minix 1.3 (or 1.5).  You can get shoelace to
do bootable hard drives for Minix 1.5 (I think it also ran under 1.3,
but I'm not sure).

>I can only hope that future Minix's correct these problems. Perhaps
>some of the people running 1.5.xx will comment on them.

I just have.  Sorry you were disappointed.

>Eventually I deinstalled Minix and put DOS back up as the sole OS.

I do hope you don't give up, but are able to give 1.5 a try.  I do think
it's much more solid (that I'm now running my machine using Minix is
my vote, anyway).
-- 
Thomas V. Frauenhofer, WA2YYW		cci632!ccird2!tvf@uunet.uu.net
	tvf1477@ma.isc.rit.edu      atexnet!kodak!swamps!frau!tvf@uunet.uu.net
"Why don't you try acting?  It's much easier."
	- Laurence Olivier to Dustin Hoffman during filming of "Marathon Man"