Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!purdue!mentor.cc.purdue.edu!asd
From: asd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: GCC, Minix (was:  Contructive discussions on Apple future)
Message-ID: <1972@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 24 Mar 89 22:58:19 GMT
References: <8903181257.aa27040@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> <931@n8emr.UUCP> <2692@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <447@athertn.Atherton.COM>
Reply-To: asd@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Kareth)
Organization: Purdue University
Lines: 42

In article <447@athertn.Atherton.COM> paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) writes:
>In article <2692@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Michael Steele) writes:
>> 	              GNU has started working on generalized UNIX but we
>> 	ought to get started on the kernel.  Minix would be and excellent
>> 	place to start. Given a free compiler and multi-tasking OS would
>> 	fill in Major gaps that Apple is never going to fill for us. I 
>> 	personally like the line oriented environment for poking around
>> 	the machine since it is considerably faster than Windowing!
>
>Minix is available (with source code) for PC's and ST's.  It has also been
>ported to other platforms.  However, its performance is not considered to
>be real great (this comes from reviews which are on public record).
I have talked to one fairly knowledgeable fellow who explained why porting
it to the GS wouldn't really be feasible.  It was written for a PC and isn't
really styled very well.  Apparently, Minix does so really hokey things
with swapping memory, moving pointers, and stuff.  The reason why it was also
on ST was because the port for it was equally hokey.

From what he said, Minix was not designed to be something to work with.  It
was designed to be for use in operating systems courses so folks could work
with creating/modifying a UNIX-like OS.

>An alternative to Minix is XINU which was developed by Comer.  Textbooks
>and source code are available for it, and it has been ported to several
>platforms (including PDP-11s, Suns, and CP/M machines).  XINU is also
>a multitasking OS, and I am under the impression that there is a
>respectable base of utilities for it.  XINU is also more mature than MINIX,
>having been available at least years before.
If what I heard about Minix is true, then it won't ever be really mature.
It'll just be doing the job for OS classes.

>XINU appears to have the advantage that it has Internet support as well.
I don't know anything about XINU but that'd probably be the one I'd port
if I did try anything.

If anybody knows anything more about this then please, mail me.  I'd like
to hear what ya know.

Kareth.
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