Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!mimsy!jds
From: jds@mimsy.UUCP (James da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: To minix or not to minix
Message-ID: <15955@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 15 Feb 89 17:01:09 GMT
References: <621@oracle.UUCP> <413@lzaz.ATT.COM> <896@infmx.UUCP>
Reply-To: jds@mimsy.umd.edu (James da Silva)
Organization: University of Maryland, Department of Computer Science
Lines: 31

In article <896@infmx.UUCP> kevinf@infmx.UUCP (Kevin Franden) writes:
>
>Yes but what about my endless array of DOS-based junk I have accumulated 
>over time?  Are my compilers now defunct?  what about TSRs? how 'bout all
>the (pseudo) nifty stuff you need to take into mind when designing a 
>DOS program?  Will my hard disk need to be reformatted?

Minix is not a replacement for DOS, and was never meant to be.  You can not
run your DOS compilers or TSRs or Flight Simulator or Egaroid under Minix.
Sorry.  Yes, you would need to repartition your disk to put Minix on it.

Minix was designed as a teaching aid for Operating Systems courses.  It
also happens to be lots of fun for OS hackers and would-be OS hackers that
don't have Vaxen and a BSD source license to play with.  Minix is not yet
robust enough to be a replacement OS for people who just want a stable
platform for their applications.

I hope this answers your question.

>Kevin Franden
>Informix Software
>
>"Programming is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer...
>	it feels SO good when you stop" 

If this is how you feel, then you definitely wouldn't like Minix.

Jaime
...........................................................................
: domain: jds@mimsy.umd.edu				     James da Silva
: path:   uunet!mimsy!jds