Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!alberta!herald.usask.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!mdisea!mitchell From: mitchell@MDI.COM (Bill Mitchell) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: (size of distribution) Message-ID: <1991May15.141707.577@MDI.COM> Date: 15 May 91 14:17:07 GMT References: <53341@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <9914@star.cs.vu.nl> <1991May14.170021.13559@email.tuwien.ac.at> Sender: news@MDI.COM Distribution: "world" Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA Lines: 24 In article <1991May14.170021.13559@email.tuwien.ac.at> hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer) writes: > >[...] > >Compared to all the difficulties users have to go through to install >minix now (find the right boot disk, repartition hard disk, etc.) the >additional step of `cd /usr/src; make all' seems rather trivial. >Besides, this step can be included into the script that copies >everything from floppies to hard disks. > Isn't Minix supposed to be usable out of the box on a floppy-only system? Small, simple, usable by a student on a tight budget. Or perhaps I should phrase that question "Is Minix supposed to be usable out of the box on a floppy-only based system?" Prices have come down and performance gone up over the years, and the budget which bought a floppy-only system a few years back would probably get a hard disk today. Do CS students today commonly have a personal PC with a hard disk? If so, is it reasonable to drop the floppy-only requirement and _require_ a hard disk? -- mitchell@mdi.com (Bill Mitchell)