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From: rhyde@ucrmath.ucr.edu (randy hyde)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Software development from Hell!
Keywords: Minix UNIX
Message-ID: <13087@ucrmath.ucr.edu>
Date: 27 Mar 91 18:22:45 GMT
References: <1991Mar25.011616.21708@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <13031@ucrmath.ucr.edu> <13809@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Organization: University of California, Riverside
Lines: 26

and acts" like UNIX's cshell, but doesn't do any of the 'real' things 
UNIX can do? (i.e. multitasking, sockets, etc.)
<<<<<

Minix is a system 7 clone.  It comes from AS Tannenbaum's operating systems
book.  It is a real OS (some might argue that it's only a "toy", but it is
more modern than, say, UNIX).  It has a shell but it's much more than that.
Yes, it includes multitasking and interprocess communications (I don't know
Minix well enough to know if they've implemented it via sockets, I know it 
uses a message passing protocol though).  Currently it runs on PCs, Macs,
Amigas, STs, PC532s, and other machines.  Why use Minix rather than "real"
UNIX-- the sources are available.  Furthermore, Minix runs just fine in
a segmented, non-protected, environment.  The same can't really  be said about
UNIX.

The big problems-- to date I haven't seen a C compiler for the '816 that
(a) comes with sources so you can port it to GS/Minix (I don't think you
could really get GCC up and running on an Apple IIgs, it's possibly, I don't
think anyone would be willing to put in the effort; (b) the libraries available
for the GS C compilers are pretty spartan.  You'd spend a lot of time getting
those things up to snuff.  (c) I don't know how pratical the result would be.
While it's theoretically possible to get Minix up and running on the GS,
I suspect the result (since it's written in "C") would be too slow to be practical.
Perhaps some enterprising individual would be willing to rewrite it in assembly.
Then It might run at a decent rate. :-)
*** Randy Hyde