Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!nuchat!sugar!peter From: peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.unix.wizards,comp.os.misc Subject: Re: Free Software Foundation (was: Re: Mach, the new standard?) Message-ID: <772@sugar.UUCP> Date: Fri, 18-Sep-87 18:13:47 EDT Article-I.D.: sugar.772 Posted: Fri Sep 18 18:13:47 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 06:05:52 EDT References: <1665@ncr-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <8381@utzoo.UUCP> <797@Pescadero.ARPA> <37461f69.ccb2@apollo.uucp> Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX Lines: 50 Summary: The speaker implies, the listener infers. Xref: mnetor comp.arch:2238 comp.unix.wizards:4325 comp.os.misc:192 In article <37461f69.ccb2@apollo.uucp>, fdr@apollo.UUCP writes: > In article <692@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: > >> MINIX is a decent, small system for teaching. GNU is supposed > >> to be suitable for research or commercial development. > >Are you implying that Version 7 wasn't suitable for research or commercial > >development? > Are you impying that MINIX is suitable for research or commercial > development? No, I was inferring that you were implying that Version 7 wasn't. > All I implied was that MINIX was not suitable for research or commercial > development. Actually, that's what you stated. You implied by the analogies between V7 and MINIX, and GNU and BSD, that V7 wasn't. Right now, neither MINIX nor GNU is suitable for commercial development... MINIX because it's incomplete, and GNU because it's nonexistent. > MINIX is similar, but not equal, to Version 7. Some of the > features that are lacking are very important. On the other hand, > Version 7 is pretty old and lacks some things that are important to *me*. MINIX can be made equal to V7. And then it can be made better. In the meantime you and I and everyone else can work on doing this. GNU might be the greatest system since OS/360, but first it has to come out. > It is not clear to me that MINIX needs much in the way of extentions. I > think it is welled suited to the task it was designed for, i.e., teaching. Yes, MINIX is now pretty much in the state UNIX was in the 5th edition days. UNIX was never intended to be the most popular minicomputer operating system ever, but it did a good job. I think that with today's software tools MINIX can follow the 12 year path of UNIX in considerably less than 12 years. > I suspect, though I can't prove, that these facilities are > important to an awful lot of researchers and commercial developers. Not important enough to keep them from using Messy-DOS, it seems. > If MINIX is extended along these lines then I will check it out again, > otherwise, I will wait for GNU. Got a good book to read? I'd recommend "Software Tools" by Kernighan and Plauger. If GNU ever comes out, then I'll check it out for the first time. If I worked at Apollo too then maybe I'd be content to just sit and wait. -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- 'U` Insert cute saying here.