Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!wuarchive!rex!ames!pacbell!indetech!sharkey!cfctech!rphroy!trux!car From: car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Should I acquire minix? Message-ID: <347@trux.UUCP> Date: 26 Dec 89 14:51:14 GMT References: Distribution: comp Organization: Central Cartage, Sterling Hgts., MI Lines: 74 In article , alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) writes: > I am seriously thinking of acquiring something like minix. ******************** Well Andy, there you have it. You know that you've made it big time when others start cloning something you've created. :-) > Before I order it, I would however like some information about it; > The questions are: > 1. How close to an unix system minix can bring the pc to be? Minix was based on Unix System 7. > 2. I have the following configuration: > A pinus XT-compatible computer (10 Mhz 8088) > an 21-Mb hard disk drive > a hercules screen adapter > a 360 kb floppy disk. > Does minix support this hardware? If the hardware was properly cloned you shouldn't have any trouble. I have a XT (10Mhz 8088) with (2) 10Mb HD's, Hercules, and (1) 360Kb. I had to make some changes to the hard disk driver because my controller broke a rule but other than that Minix works great. > Can I have dos (I need it for some applications) and minix running on the > same computer (booting minix from hd and dos from floppy) in separate > disk partitions or hard disks? Yes to all. DOS and Minix can run on the same computer (but not at the same time :-). Booting Minix from HD is possible with some help from the net. You can use one partition for Minix and one for DOS, or, one hard disk for DOS and one for Minix. This is common. > Can I get rid of the minix ram-disk (I have some memory-hungry applications > in mind)? This is possible - again with help from the net. (Non-standard) > 3. How many parallel processes does minix support? Depends on your RAM size. > 4. Is there a cshell for minix? Not that I'm aware of. > 5. How can I acquire minix? This information is in the Minix information sheet. It is posted here regularly. Basically, you order it from Prentice Hall for around $100. > 6. If the next version is coming soon, when? Minix 1.5 is being posted NOW. The last word is that PH is shipping Minix 1.3. > 7. How is the patching from one version to another done (for future)? By using the PATCH program and obtaining the upgrade kits from the net. > If you can answer any of the above questions, please email me. > Don't post, since I don't have the habit of reading news. I'll do both. > Thanks in advance. > > alukka@kannel.lut.fi (Anita Lukka) car. -- Christopher A. Rende Central Cartage (Nixdorf/Pyramid/SysVR2/BSD4.3) uunet!edsews!rphroy!trux!car Multics,DTSS,Unix,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek trux!car@uunet.uu.net Minix 1.2,PC/XT,Mac+,TRS-80 Model I,1802 ELF "I don't ever remember forgetting anything." - Chris Rende