Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!paula
From: paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: To minix or not to minix
Message-ID: <10155@bcsaic.UUCP>
Date: 16 Feb 89 00:55:01 GMT
References: <621@oracle.UUCP> <413@lzaz.ATT.COM> <896@infmx.UUCP>
Reply-To: paula@bcsaic.UUCP (Paul Allen)
Organization: Boeing Computer Services AI Center, Seattle
Lines: 40

In article <896@infmx.UUCP> kevinf@infmx.UUCP (Kevin Franden) writes:
>In article <413@lzaz.ATT.COM>, hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) writes:
>> In article <621@oracle.UUCP>, sbulchan@oracle.uucp (Sanjay Bulchandani) writes:
>>> [Sanjay asked basically, "What's so great about Minix?"]
>> [Mr. Johnson responded, (paraphrasing) "It's fun, it's like Unix..."] 
>
>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?

None of your DOS stuff will run under Minix, but you can still run it all 
under DOS.  If you choose to put Minix on your hard disk, you can keep a
partition for DOS.  Unless you've got some empty partitions on your hard
disk, installing a Minix partition will involve a full backup, fdisk,
and DOS-level format for the new DOS partition.  Minix has its own C 
compiler, so you won't need your DOS compilers, although several people have
done Minix work by cross-developing with DOS C compilers.  When working on
Minix, most of the nifty DOS tricks you know are useless.  But you can
still make use of your knowledge of PC hardware.

>Although I am new to UNIX and (very) tired of DOS I do have a substantial
>investment in the DOS arena. ($5000+) I would LOVE to have a full-blown
>UNIX setup on my system at home but will I have to compromise (trash, throw 
>out, and otherwise make useless) my DOS stuff?

Not at all.  You'll just have two separate environments, one full of
expensive tools for doing useful work, and the other a pleasing place to
hack just for the fun of it.  Minix is not what I would call
"full-blown" UNIX.  It does look like Unix.  It has real pipes, shell
scripts, and background processes.  It's performance is quite mediocre,
however.  But you do get all the sources, so you could fix that, if you
had a mind to.  :-)

Paul Allen

-- 
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Paul L. Allen                       | pallen@atc.boeing.com
Boeing Advanced Technology Center   | ...!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!pallen