Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!ogicse!plains!overby From: overby@plains.NoDak.edu (Glen Overby) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Minix Information Sheet (Last Changed: 14 Feb 1991) Summary: Everything you ever wanted to know about Minix on the networks, but never dared to ask! Keywords: info answers Message-ID: Date: 17 Feb 91 21:44:36 GMT Expires: 1 Mar 91 00:00:00 GMT Reply-To: overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby) Followup-To: comp.os.minix Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo ND, USA Lines: 690 Supersedes: [Most recent change: 14 Feb 1991 by Glen Overby ] MINIX INFORMATION SHEET 1. WHAT IS MINIX 1.5 MINIX 1.5 is a new version of an operating system that is very similar to UNIX. MINIX has been written from scratch, and therefore does not contain any AT&T code--not in the kernel, the compiler, the utilities, or the libraries. For this reason it can be made available with the complete source code (on diskette). It runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, 386, and most clones. Versions are also available for the Atari ST, Macintosh, and Amiga. This version (1.5) is a major improvement over all previous releases, with many new features, fewer bugs (hopefully), much better performance, and proper documentation. The old versions have been in widespread use all over the world for 3 years. There are probably tens of thousands of users. 2. MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (IBM, Macintosh, Atari, and Amiga versions) - System call compatible with V7 of the UNIX operating system - Full multiprogramming (multiple programs can run at once) - Kernighan and Ritchie compatible C compiler - Shell that is functionally identical to the Bourne shell - Five editors (emacs subset, vi clone, ex, ed, and simple screen editor) - Over 175 utilities (cat, cp, ed, grep, kermit, ls, make, sort, etc.) - Over 200 library procedures (atoi, fork, malloc, read, stdio, etc.) - Spelling checker with 40,000 word English dictionary - Full source code (in C) supplied on diskettes (OS, utilities, libraries) - Easy-to-read manual telling all about MINIX and how to install and use it 3. ADDITIONAL FEATURES In addition to the above features, there are other features present in some (but not all) versions of MINIX 1.5. Some of these are listed below. 3.1 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (IBM VERSION): - Runs in protected mode on 286 and 386 - Support for extended memory up to 16M on 286 and 386 - Up to 3 simultaneous users on one machine - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc. - Distributed computing on Ethernet (remote login, etc.) 3.2 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (MACINTOSH VERSION): - Up to 3 simultaneous users on one machine - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc. - Runs under Multifinder - Includes support for multiple user windows 3.3 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (ATARI ST VERSION) - Up to 2 simultaneous users on one machine - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc. - Support for various real time clocks (Mega, BMS, ICD, Supra, Weide) 4. HARDWARE REQUIRED - IBM: PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 386 that is 100% hardware compatible with the IBM line. A hard disk not technically required, but is strongly recommended to take full advantage of the system. At least 512K of RAM is required, as well as a CGA, EGA, monochrome, or Hercules video card, or another card that emulates one of these. Both 5.25" and 3.5" diskettes are supported, as are printers using the parallel port and modems and terminals using the serial port. - Macintosh: Apple Macintosh Plus, SE, SE/30, II, IIcx, or IIx with at least 1M of RAM. An additional 1M of RAM and a hard disk is strongly recommended. MINIX has been tested primarily with version 6.0 and latter of the Apple system software. Problems may conceivably arise with earlier versions. Any hard disk or display that is supported by the normal Macintosh OS is also supported by MINIX. - Atari: Atari ST or Mega ST with at least 1M of RAM. Although the system will boot with only 512K, you will be very restricted in what you can do. A 720K diskette drive is required to install the software. The older 360K diskette drives are supported, but are not capable of reading the (720K) distribution disks. A hard disk is supported, but is optional. Some of the Supra hard disks are not Atari compatible, which can cause problems. A fix is available from the MINIX Centre. - Amiga: Commodore Amiga 500 or 2000 with at least 1M of RAM. One 720K diskette drive is sufficient. A hard disk is not required (or even supported). To use a hard disk with the Amiga, someone familiar with how this disk works will have to write a driver for it. If this driver is then posted to the net, it will be possible to use a hard disk with MINIX on the Amiga. Minix will NOT run on 68020 and larger Amiga systems. 5. PARTIAL LIST OF UTILITIES INCLUDED IN MINIX 1.5 animals ar ascii at atrun backup badblocks banner basename bawk btoa cal cat cdiff cgrep chgrp chip chmem chmod chown clr cmp comm compress cp cpdir crc cron ctags cut date dd de df dhrystone diff diskcheck dosdir dosread doswrite du echo ed elle ex expand expr factor fgrep file find fold fortune fsck gather getlf getty grep gres head ic id ifdef indent inodes kill last leave ln login look lpr ls m4 machine mail make man mined mkdir mkfs mknod modem more mount mref mv nm nroff od passwd paste patch pr prep pretty printenv printroot ps pwd readall readfs recover ref rev rm rmdir roff rz sed shar size sleep sort spell split strings strip stty su sum sync sz tail tar tee term termcap test time touch tr traverse treecmp true tset tsort ttt umount unexpand uniq unshar update users uud uue vi vol wc whatsnew whereis which who whoami width write 6. PARTIAL LIST OF LIBRARY FUNCTIONS INCLUDED IN MINIX 1.5 abort abs access alarm atoi atol bcmp bcopy chmod chown chroot ctermid ctime ctype curses cuserid doprintf dup dup2 fgetc fgets fopen fork fpathconf fprintf fputc fputs fread freopen fseek fstat ftell fwrite getcwd getdents getegid getenv geteuid getgid getutil gtty index ioctl isatty kill link lock lrand lsearch lseek malloc memccpy memchr memcmp memcpy memmove memset message mkdir mkfifo mknod mktemp nlist open opendir pathconf pause peekpoke perror rand read readdir regexp regsub rename setbuf setgid setjmp setuid signal sleep sprintf stat strerror strlen strncat strncmp strncpy strpbrk strrchr strspn system telldir termcap time times tmpnam ttyname umask umount 7. CONTENTS OF MINIX 1.5 REFERENCE MANUAL Chap. 1 INTRODUCTION Chap. 2 INSTALLING MINIX ON THE IBM PC, XT, AT, 386, AND PS/2 Chap. 3 INSTALLING MINIX ON THE ATARI S Chap. 4 INSTALLING MINIX ON THE COMMODORE AMIGA Chap. 5 INSTALLING MINIX ON THE APPLE MACINTOSH Chap. 6 USING MINIX Chap. 7 RECOMPILING MINIX Chap. 8 MANUAL PAGES Chap. 9 EXTENDED MAN PAGES Chap. 10 SYSTEM CALLS Chap. 11 NETWORKING App. A MINIX SOURCE CODE LISTING App. B CROSS REFERENCE MAP 8. MINIX BOOK The author of MINIX, Andrew S. Tanenbaum, has written a book describing how operating systems in general and MINIX in particular work internally. The book describes an earlier version (and includes a source listing), but it is still useful for understanding how MINIX works inside, even if some details are now different. The bibliographic information is: Title: Operating Systems: Design and Implementation Author: Andrew S. Tanenbaum Publisher: Prentice-Hall ISBN: 0-13-637406-9 Paperback versions are also available in English (outside North America only), French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. The books can be ordered from any bookstore. 9. HOW TO ORDER MINIX 1.5 MINIX 1.5 is being sold by Prentice-Hall. The product numbers and prices are as follows: - MINIX 1.5 for the IBM: 5 1/4" (0-13-585076-2) $169 - MINIX 1.5 for the IBM: 3 1/2" (0-13-585068-1) $169 - MINIX 1.5 for the Amiga (0-13-585043-6) $169 - MINIX 1.5 for the Atari (0-13-585035-5) $169 - MINIX 1.5 for the Macintosh (0-13-585050-9) $169 Sales tax and shipping are extra; Prices are slightly higher outside the U.S. All versions include the executable binaries, a detailed manual, the complete source code (on diskettes), and an attractively typeset, cross-referenced listing of the operating system code. P-H is making a big effort to get software stores to keep MINIX in stock. The easiest way to order it is to go to a software store and ask them for it. If they don't stock it, they can always order it. Alternatively, you can order directly by email, FAX, phone, or mail from Prentice-Hall as follows. In North America and the Far East To order by email: books@prenhall.com To order by FAX: (201) 767-5625 To order by phone: (800) 624-0023 or (201) 767-5969 To order by mail: Microservice Customer Service Simon & Schuster 200 Old Tappan Road Old Tappan, NJ 07675 In UK/Europe To order by email: Not recommended as the email is printed out in the U.S. and then sent to England by regular letter To order by FAX: Same problem as email To order by phone: +44 (442) 231-555 (UK number) To order by mail: Order Dept. Prentice-Hall International 66 Wood Lane End Hemel Hempstead Herts. HP2 4RG ENGLAND For email and FAX orders, please include the product name and number, your name and address, and your MasterCard or VISA card number and expiration date. If you wish delivery by Federal Express (costs extra), please indicate so. MINIX can also be ordered from the following addresses: In England: The MINIX Centre Forncett End Norwich Norfolk NR16 1HT England 0953-89345 In Germany: Steve Steinkrauss Feldtorweg 24 D3406 Bovenden 1 Germany In the Benelux: Fred van Kempen Postbus 184 2100 AD Heemstede Holland Tel: +31 23 287935 FAX: +31 23 294229 In Scandinavia: Frank O'Donell P.O. Box 88 1371 Asker Norway In Spain and Deborah Worth Portugal: Appartado Numero 50672 Madrid Spain In Italy: Jim Blaho Piazza Santo Spirito 17 50125 Florence Italy In Greece: Vassilis Zahos Kritonos 5-7 GR 11634 Athens Greece In Turkey: Atilla Gullu Milli Mudafaa Cad 14/7 Kizilay Ankara Turkey In Australia: Prentice Hall Australia, PO Box 151, Brookvale NSW 2100 ``Use our FAST PHONE SERVICE by calling Liz Guthrie SYDNEY (02) 939 1333'' If you have previously purchased MINIX from Prentice-Hall, you can get a discount of $60, but only if you order by mail and include the label from the original PH boot disk (or the entire disk) with your letter. Not valid for email, phone or FAX orders since you must enclose the original boot disk label (not a photocopy). Mail orders can be by credit card or check for $169. You will be billed for tax and shipping. 10. LEGAL STATUS OF MINIX Although MINIX is supplied with the complete source code, it is copyrighted software. It is not public domain. It is also not like GNU. However, the copyright owner, Prentice-Hall has granted permission to bona fide universities to copy the software for use in courses and in university research projects. It is also permitted for MINIX owners to change the software to suit their needs and to distribute diff listings containing their changes freely. The shrink-wrap license that comes with MINIX states that you may legally make two backup copies of the software. Prentice-Hall is being much less strict than other software vendors. Please do not abuse this. Companies that wish to embed MINIX in commercial systems or sell MINIX-based products should call (212) 753-7753 to discuss licensing terms. 11. NEWS ABOUT MINIX Since its introduction in January 1987, there has been a large an active USENET newsgroup about MINIX, comp.os.minix. It currently has about 25,000 members. Over 12,000 messages have been posted to this group so far. These messages have contained questions, bug reports, bug fixes, new software, and diff listings to allow current users to update to new releases for free. It is the intention to continue this policy into the indefinite future. MINIX users on Bitnet can be put on a mailing list by sending mail to: info-minix-request@udel.edu. Various archives store newsgroup traffic for newcomers to the newsgroup. 12. FUTURE PLANS The major current project is bringing MINIX into conformance with the IEEE POSIX P1003.1 and P1003.2 standards. This will (hopefully) occur with V2.0, perhaps in 1992. V2.0 will also be provided with an ANSI C compiler. Various people are currently working on 32-bit versions of MINIX for the 386, and numerous other projects. To keep up, subscribe to the comp.os.minix newsgroup. 13. WHERE CAN I GET PAST POSTINGS AND PROGRAMS? Many sites keep archives of MINIX-related material, ranging from archives of articles posted to more organized repositories of programs posted to the net. The complete MINIX distribution is NOT (repeat NOT) available from any online archive. This is not permitted. Only the newsgroup traffic is stored there. List Archives: bugs.nosc.mil Current louie.udel.edu July '87 - Dec '89 (?) vm1.nodak.edu Current year Formal Archives (MINIX sources): aerospace.aero.org atari.archive.umich.edu bugs.nosc.mil ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au ccb.ucsf.edu chx400.switch.ch ditmela.mel.dit.csiro.au doc.ic.ac.uk el.ecn.purcue.edu en.ecn.purdue.edu extro.ucc.su.oz.au hobbes.cs.umd.edu hpserv1.uit.no hub.cs.jmu.edu The Mars Hotel BBS NL-MUG plains.nodak.edu sauna.hut.fi sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au so.cs.ruu.nl star.cs.vu.nl suned.zoo.cs.yale.edu ux.acs.umn.edu wuarchive.wustl.edu 13.1. File Transfer on the Internet If you are on the Internet, you can get files from many places with the file transfer protocol ("FTP"). When connecting to the host system, use the user-name "anonymous" and any password. Most systems will ask for your "ident" as a password. It is considered good etiquette to use either your login name or mail address when asked. Once connected, look for a "README" file which should give further information about the archive. Consult your local documentation on the use of your FTP application program (generally called "ftp"). Please be nice to the FTP sites by restricting your use to non-business hours. The following sites provide Anonymous FTP aerospace.aero.org [130.221.192.10] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . afio, bcc, clam1.3, clam bins, cpp, cppmake, elvis1.1, estdio20a, format, fp, getty, shoelace1.0a atari.archive.umich.edu [141.211.164.8] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . afio, bcc, clam1.3, clam bins, cpp, cppmake, elvis1.1, estdio20a, format, fp, getty, shoelace1.0a This site has a mail server, atari@atari.archive.umich.edu bugs.nosc.mil [128.49.16.1] directory pub/Minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . help (info on bugs archive), compatibility.new (Sept'90 version of the Minix Compatibility List), subjects (list of articles in subdir articles) subjects.ast (list of Andy Tanenbaum's articles in subdir articles.ast) Subdir: articles Archive of comp.os.minix articles since 1987 Subdir: articles.ast Archive of comp.os.minix articles by Andy Tanenbaum since 1987 Subdir: common-pkgs chew-stdio, copt-src, egrep, elvis, karn-tcpip, less, mxkermit, mxuucp, small-c, zterm Subdir: d1.1-1.2 Diffs for PC-Minix1.1 -> PC-Minix1.2 Subdir: d1.2-1.3 Diffs for PC-Minix1.2 -> PC-Minix1.3 Subdir: d1.3-1.5.0 Diffs for PC-Minix1.3 -> PC-Minix1.5.0 Subdir: d1.5.0-1.5.3 Diffs for PC-Minix1.5.0 -> PC-Minix1.5.3 Subdir: d1.5.3-1.5.5 Diffs for PC-Minix1.5.3 -> PC-Minix1.5.5 Subdir: d1.5.5-1.5.6 Diffs for PC-Minix1.5.5 -> PC-Minix1.5.6 Subdir: pc-pkgs cagney-mcc, evans-db-intel, miller-boot-hd, mullen-turboc, overby-boot, stevie-pc, xenix-mgr-diffs ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au [131.236.1.2] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . From (list of comp.os.minix authors), check.* (comp.os.minix article subjects), clam1.3, clam1.4, clam bins, Minix Information Sheet en.ecn.purdue.edu [128.46.129.59] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . UU-Minix (UUCP), minixfloat (8088 Floating Point) hobbes.cs.umd.edu [128.8.128.41] directory minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . bcc, cppmake, shoelace10a hub.cs.jmu.edu [134.126.20.10] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . hd_minix (MINIX-PC hd-boot package) louie.udel.edu [128.175.1.3, 128.175.2.33] directory info-minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . comp.os.minix archives (July '87 - Dec '89) plains.nodak.edu [134.129.111.64] directory pub/Minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . compress, README, ls-RC Subdir: all.contrib clunie-yacc, check_crc, cvw-cc, elle41, elvis1.4, getty, mail, tar_fix, u-mail, uucp, w-mail, xargs Subdir: doc Compatibility (Aug'90 version of the Minix Compatibility List), Copyright-info, Infosheet, PC-CC-comments, PC-Compilers, Questions, RefMan, ST-Compilers, Upgrading, mailaddr, posix.2, remote_file_server Subdir: ftp_contrib nlmug.index Subdir: mugnet.sources Index + the sources Subdir: oz (echo of sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au: local) GlenO.tute, bcc, clam1.3, clam bins, cpp, cppmake, db, dirent-hack, duck, elvis1.1, estdio20a, estdio21, extra, format, fp, incl_sys_13, ksh_patches, lmakefiles, ls, mcc, pam, s2asm, shoelace10a, uname, vc-ph1.5 Subdir: pc Bnews, afio, byacc, c, clock, comic1.0, conv, crypt, dosread, file, format, lharc-1.2, multiboot, nrchbar, p, ps, s2asm, shared-text, symlinks, talk, unzip30, uucp-util, uucp, vn, vt_con, xt2_wini Subdir: st.contrib CC-68K, Infocom, bugs Subdir: st.contrib/pkgs chfont, df, flex, fonts, format, ld, mdb, vdi, zoo Subdir: st.contrib/x hcj, speed, supra Subdir: uk 16bcompress, binutils, emacs, emacsdif, gasdiff, gcc Subdir: updates Updates for Minix to 1.5.10. Also includes bug fixes for Atari, Amiga and Macintosh versions This site has a mail server, archive-server@plains.nodak.edu. sauna.hut.fi [130.233.192.1, 130.233.200.1] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . Minix exercises, minix-13d-symlink, minix-13d-vga sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au [129.127.40.3] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910115 Subdir: . FETCH_ME_FIRST, README_386, ls-l.Z Subdir: adm/upgrade_kit DIRECTIONS, PH_1.5_Intro, things_to_doc Subdir: local (Echoed on plains.nodak.edu pub/Minix/oz) GlenO.tute, bcc, clam1.3, clam bins, cpp, cppmake, db, dirent-hack, duck, elvis1.1, estdio20a, estdio21, extra, format, fp, incl_sys_13, ksh_patches, lmakefiles, ls, mcc, pam, s2asm, shoelace10a, uname, vc-ph1.5 Subdir: upgrades Upgrades for Minix to 1.5.10. star.cs.vu.nl [192.31.231.42] directory pub/sreiz/minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . Patches to AmigaMinix to boot off hard disk suned.zoo.cs.yale.edu [128.36.21.1] directory src/bin/zip Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . Zip for Minix vm1.nodak.edu [134.129.111.1] directory minix-l Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . comp.os.minix archives (current and past year) This site has a mail server, listserv@vm1.nodak.edu wuarchive.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4] directory mirrors/misc/minix Last checked: 910212 Subdir: . Diffs for PC-Minix1.1 -> PC-Minix1.2 vmars.vmars.tuwien.ac.at [128.130.39.1] directory pub/minix Last checked: 910213 Subdir: hp Patches to keyboard for German characters Subdir: net bcc, c386, c68, cpp, cppmake, less, shoelace10a 13.2. Mail Servers Some archive sites provide access to their archives with a server program that responds to commands mailed to it. 13.2.1. doc.ic.ac.uk An archive of the worthwhile postings from the comp.os.minix newsgroup is available from uk.ac.ic.doc either via mail or by GUEST niftp. For details about how to access this service send a mail message with NO Subject: field to: info-server@uk.ac.ic.doc and a message body of: request catalogue topic minix request end This will mail you back details of the various ways to obtain the files. This service is only available inside the UK. We have no funds to send such mail internationally. This archive service is run by Lee McLoughlin. Janet: lmcl@uk.ac.ukc, lmjm@uk.ac.ic.doc DARPA: lmjm%uk.ac.ic.doc@ucl-cs Uucp: lmjm@icdoc.UUCP, ukc!icdoc!lmjm 13.2.2. NL-MUG This archive is temporarily unavailable. 13.2.3. plains.nodak.edu An archive of MINIX upgrades and other interesting files are kept in a manually-maintained archive on Plains.NoDak.edu [134.129.111.64]. For those not fortunate enough to be on the Internet itself, we run the Clarkson server to process mail requests. This is an extremely versatile program, that allows various encoding formats (btoa, uuencode), compression (compress, arc, zoo) and splitting of large files. The server has been customized to send HELP and Index files at any time, and all other files between 23:00 and 08:00 local time. If you submit a request that contains *any* file that is not a Help or Index file, the entire request is queued until late night (currently 23:00 local time, but that may be moved to earlier hours of the morning if it proves to be a large load on the system). The addresses for the server are: archive-server@plains.nodak.edu {umn-cs, ogicse, uunet}!plains!archive-server (UUCP) fileserv@plains (Bitnet) Note to Bitnet people: this server is not 'logged on' to the machine, so you cannot send it interactive messages. The 'fileserv' alias was added for those of you who do not run the Croswell mailer, but you must still use something that is detectable as mail (such as a NOTE). Bitnet files will drop into our bit bucket, unprocessed, since there is no real user by either of these names. To obtain a list of the files, the INDEX command is used: index [ ] where is a directory under our ~ftp/pub login(empty for the main directory). There are several other directories of programs for microcomputers, current volumes for comp.sources.* and some of the Free Software Foundation's products. The SEND command is used for having files sent to you, such as in: send MINIX/doc/Info_Sheet That file is a copy of the monthly "MINIX Information Sheet" posting. The MINIX Compatibility Report is available in the file "MINIX/doc/Compatibility". There are many more options for having your files compressed (note: most files in these directories already have been compressed with 13-bit compression), uuencoded, split, and so on. To obtain more information on the server, send the command: help and you will be enlightened. The server accepts commands in mixed case, but all directory/file names are case significant (just like MINIX). This archive is maintained by Glen Overby, , at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND USA (46 52 N / 96 48 W city) 13.2.4. vm1.nodak.edu North Dakota State University is the host site for distribution of the info-minix mailing list (also known as minix-l), which is bidirectionally gatewayed to the Usenet group Comp.os.minix. We maintain archives of all list traffic from within the past year or so (depending on space availability). Archives are available via Anonymous FTP on the Internet, and LIST-SERV file requests from other networks. Our server is: Internet: listserv@vm1.NoDak.EDU [134.129.111.1] Bitnet: listserv@ndsuvm1 UUCP: psuvax1!ndsuvm1.bitnet!listserv uunet!plains!vm1.nodak.edu!listserv If you do not have Internet access, you may request files be sent to you by our LISTSERV file server by sending it commands in the body of a mail message. To obtain a list of the files, the INDEX command is used: INDEX MINIX-L The GET command will instruct LISTSERV to send you a file, such as: get minix-l LOG9005A minix-l to get the file "MINIX-L LOG9005A" from the directory "MINIX-L". The filename tells what year, month, and week it is from: MINIX-L LOGyymmw where "yy" is the year, "mm" is the numeric month and "w" is an alphabetic character from A to E indicating what week of the month. Several months of log files are kept on-line, the number depending on disk space availability. Due to the 80-character per line (punched card) limit on Bitnet mail, many of the files will be shipped using an encoding scheme that allows logical lines to be split up into many physical lines. On Bitnet, this is normally the IBM "DISK DUMP" or "NETDATA" format, and for ther networks it is "List- serv Punch". Listserv Punch was designed by Listserv's author and is designed to send files with lines longer than 80 characters thru the Bitnet gateways. A special program to decode the file once it has arrived at your site. Information on obtaining a program to decode listserv punch format is sent with each encoded file. If you would rather have a file sent to you uuencoded, you may specify that in your GET command: get minix info minix f=uuencode please note that the file, once decoded, will be in EBCDIC! SEARCHING THE MAILING LIST LOGS WITH LISTSERV If you are looking for a specific article, or set of articles, you can perform searches on this directory using the Database functions of Listserv. For example, to obtain a "Subject" index of the MINIX-L archives, send the listserv a file or mail with the following "job" in the message body: // JOB Echo=No Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * search * in minix-l since 90/04/01 index and you will be sent a file containing all of the 'Subject:' lines sent to the mailing list since December 1, 1989. If you wish to request one or more items, replace the 'index' line in the above job with "print [ref-num]", where "refnum" is the reference number from the index listing. Documentation on this and other database functions is available by sending the command "INFO DATABASE" to the listserv. To obtain more information on the listserv, send the command: INFO ? and you will be enlightened with a list of available documentation on using LISTSERV. This archive is automatically maintained by the list server. If you have questions, contact Glen Overby, , at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND USA (46 52 N / 96 48 W city) 13.3. Publicly accessable Bulletin Boards For people without a network connection, there is a PC-based Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS) that has carried the traffic of Usenet's Comp.os.minix steadily since August, 1987 as well as a formal MINIX archive. The BBS is not a true gateway to Usenet, like some Fidonet nodes are; rather it is a "delivery service" whereby new comp.os.minix articles are gathered daily and posted as messages on the BBS. Long articles are automatically ARC'ed and posted to the file area for downloading. Raw traffic is kept for about 2 months. Once a month the articles of lasting interest from the previous month are saved into several ARC files, all less than 100K, to make downloading easier. For any given month, the index of articles is in MNXyymmA.ARC, and the actual articles start in MNXyymmB.ARC. You can just download the index, then download the ARC files that contain articles of interest to you. A complete index is always in MNXINDEX.ARC. Call: The Mars Hotel BBS, (301)277-9408 (PC-Pursuitable) 300,1200,2400 baud, 8,n,1. No registration required, no donations accepted. Everyone gets 60 minutes/day. No upload/download ratios (but don't be a jerk!) Spread the word to those without net access. This BBS is run by James da Silva. UUCP: uunet!mimsy!jds Internet: jds@mimsy.umd.edu NLMUG-ONLINE ("minixug"), (02522) 18363 in Holland. 300,1200,2400 baud, 8,n,1. No registration required, no donations accepted. Everyone gets 60 minutes/day. No upload/download ratios (but don't be a jerk!) This BBS is run by Fred van Kempen -- Glen Overby uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet) Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com