Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bellcore!att!linac!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ogicse!plains!overby From: overby@plains.NoDak.edu (Glen Overby) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Commonly Asked Minix Questions Summary: First cut Commonly Asked Questions Keywords: info answers Message-ID: Date: 1 Feb 91 06:30:22 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: 142 [ What follows is a still-VERY rough try at a "Commonly Asked Questions" which is ment to approach questions in a different way than the Information Sheet does. Since Guy Helmer suggested it I thought I'd post what I've got. If you have questions and answers to contribute, please send them to me, overby@plains.nodak.edu] Commonly Asked Questions on Comp.Os.MINIX The venerable Minix Information Sheet never seems to give ade- quate answer the common questions on comp.os.minix. As a result, I have decided to create a "Question-Answer" format companion. In doing so, I have attempted to recall the Great Questions (and their answers) as well as the Great Discussions from the net. When asking questions of the net, please supply information about what version you are running, what your hardware configuration is, and so-on. If you are reluctant to tell any or all of this, don't expect a good answer. 1. Where can I get MINIX? Minix is sold by Prentice-Hall, Inc. and their authorized distri- butors. They hold the copyright on Minix, and sell it for profit (or at least we assume they make a profit on it). IT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR ANONYMOUS FTP. 2. What versions of Minix exist? The most current version is 1.5.10. Upgrade "diffs" have been posted to the net over the past several months; consult an ar- chive site listed in the Info Sheet to find that. Prentice-Hall has been shipping ALL versions of Minix 1.5 for several months. 3. PDP 11/44 Memory Management This was the first big off-the-topic discussion on the group, and it's still not an appropriate topic, so if you are still intri- gued about pdp-11 memory management, consult the DEC processor handbooks, or some harmless newsgroup like alt.dev.null. 4. Please subscrbe me to the mailing list why ask 26,000 people to do that, when there is one person who can do it, and you can ask a computer to do it for you. If you are on bitnet or arpanet, you can get this newsgroup via a mailing list, info-minix. To subcribe to the list, send a mes- sage to listserv@vm1.nodak.edu (internet) or listserv@ndsuvm1 (bitnet) saying: signup minix-l your_full_name If you have trouble, contact the list maintainer at info-minix- request@udel.edu. 5. What is the root password? It's in the book, on pages 373 (login "ast") and 380 (login "root"). If you didn't buy the book, that's only the start of your problems. 6. MINIX doesn't work with my hard disk. There are many potential sources of this. Several are: You are running an RLL controler. You must change "NR_SECTORS" in the configuration file, from 17 (standard for MFM controllers) to 25 (Adaptect controlers) or 26 (Western Digi- tal and others). 7. Is there a SCSI driver for MINIX? All SCSI controlers work differently, from the primitive Seagate ST01, to the smarter Always IN-2000, and Adaptec with it's own on-board CPU. Nobody has yet posted a wini driver for any of these, but there has been talk of it. For now, you are stuck us- ing the ROM wini driver. 8. The single threaded filesystem is a real bottlenck. True. It's only noticeable when you are running massive bacground processes, or putting multiple users on your computer. You've got the source. Fix it. 9. Is there a 32-bit Minix? Yes. Bruce Evans has an experimental 32-bit system. It is available from the archive site in Australia as well as plains.nodak.edu. 10. I have an old version of Minix. How can I upgrade? You need to get an upgrade kit from one of the archive sites. Also, read the Upgrading Tutorial -- it was ment to help. -- Glen Overby uunet!plains!overby (UUCP) overby@plains (Bitnet) Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com