Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
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From: sehr@sp20.csrd.uiuc.edu (David Sehr)
Subject: Upgrading 1.1 to 1.5.10 or above
Message-ID: <1991May6.143050.15181@csrd.uiuc.edu>
Sender: sehr@csrd.uiuc.edu (David C. Sehr)
Organization: Univ of Illinois, Center for Supercomputing R&D, Urbana, IL
Date: Mon, 6 May 91 14:30:50 GMT
Lines: 25

I've read with interest the postings about upgrading the PC version
of Minix from 1.1 to 1.5.10.  I'm interested because I too got v1.1
back in the Dark Ages (pre-MS, ca. 1988), and only once before tried
to bring it up to a more recent version.  I've recently tried, with
the same sad results.

My problem is this: I have a relic PC with two 360K floppies and an
ST225 (20 MB) hard disk.  Version 1.1 persistently refuses to do an
mkfs on my hard disk.  I get the same error pretty much regardless
of which partition (even if it's the whole disk):

``fatal error -1 in winchester process
  put_block failed...''

Is there some way to get a v1.1 kernel to work with my hard disk so
that I can start the upgrade process?  It would be preferable if the
solution would also allow me to use an ST251-1 (42 MB, MFM) hard disk
that I'm thinking about buying (to use with the same Everex controller
I have attached to the ST225).

Thanks in advance for answers that are surely more for the history
buffs in the group than the its edification.

David Sehr
(sehr@csrd.uiuc.edu)