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From: siebren@cwi.nl (Siebren v.d. Zee)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Amoeba ... come again (was: Re: Minix UUCP equivalent needed)
Message-ID: <2297@charon.cwi.nl>
Date: 9 Oct 90 12:17:02 GMT
References: <32438@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <963@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> <7843@star.cs.vu.nl> <1106@syacus.acus.oz>
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william@syacus.acus.oz (William Mason) writes:
>Can some kind soul enlighten the endarkened ?  Is "Amoeba" an alternative
>to MINIX ?  What are the points of difference ?  If ... I'm considering
>getting into MINIX would I be well advised to wait ?

Well, it is not an alternative, because it runs on a different class of
machines. You'll need a network interface (like an Ethernet card), and
at least 4 Megs of main memory.

The points of difference are to numerous to list fully.
Amoeba is a distributed operation system, as opposed to centralised
operating systems such as Unix. Also, it relies on capabilities for
protection instead of using some sort of access control lists, like
Unix does. Put shortly, you'll need at least a couple of Sun 3's to
enjoy the full power of Amoeba.

It it interesting to note the way Amoeba and Minix borrowed from each
other, by the way. Minix has the same communication protocol (called
"amoeba" as well, for maximum confusion :-), so one can talk to Amoeba
machines (e.g, Amoeba file servers, Amoeba directory servers) from a
Minix machine. On the other hand, Amoeba has a unix emulation package,
and all the Minix utilities run on Amoeba using this package.
Only the utilities that need to have intimate knowledge about Amoeba
(such as backup tools, debuggers) had to be redone.

	Siebren van der Zee, Amoeba project, CWI Amsterdam.
	siebren@cwi.nl
	(Don't use this address after Oct 1990,
	I'll have a different job and e-mail address by then)