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From: kjeld@iesd.auc.dk (Kjeld Flarup)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Unix on a 286
Message-ID: <1990Feb6.092805.13460@iesd.auc.dk>
Date: 6 Feb 90 09:28:05 GMT
References: <14054@reed.UUCP> <3877@cpoint.UUCP>
Reply-To: kjeld@iesd.auc.dk (Kjeld Flarup)
Organization: Mathematics & Computer Science, University of Aalborg
Lines: 33

In article <3877@cpoint.UUCP> alien@cpoint.UUCP (Alien Wells) writes:
>In article <14054@reed.UUCP> minar@reed.bitnet (Nelson Minar) writes:
>>what are the options for running Unix on a 286 box, with 640k? Hard drive
>>space isn't too big of a problem, but I'd like to have both MS-DOS and Unix
>>on the same physical drive.
>
>Real Unixs will not run on a 286 (for quite a few reasons ...).  Real Unixs
>also won't run in 640k.  The one I am using requires a 386 and (I believe)
>4MB of memory (I have 8MB, which is much more reasonable).  You also need
>at least about 100MB hard disk (plus whatever you want for DOS).

The 80286 chip is fully capable of doing the task's needed for running UNIX
It has 1G of virtual memory, and a protected mode to execute task's in
multitasking. 

The problem however would be that all software should be compiled for
286 protected mode. It will not be possible to execute any MS-DOS software
because on the 286 the shift to protected mode is a one way ticket, going
back is done by a hardware reset. Furthermore the BIOS is disabled by the
protected mode, thus making it impossible to use disksystem w/o writing
your own drivers in protected mode versions. 

>The best you will be able to do is to use one of the 'baby Unixs' like Xenix,
>but even then I think you are looking at a memory upgrade ...

Some kind of baby unix is bound to come up, handling the POSIX standard on
a 286 machine. The number of 286 machines is simply to high. One OS may
be MINIX.


-- 
*     I am several thousand pages behind my reading schedule.    *
Kjeld Flarup Christensen                         kjeld@iesd.auc.dk