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- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.066
-
-
- X
- XOnce you have written your mail, save it and exit GNU emacs (C-xC-c).
- XYou will be prompted if you want to send the current message.
- XIf you enter 'y', the message will be sent and the output will
- Xbe displayed in an emacs window (in case you use -verbose or -snoop).
- XThen you will be prompted to exit emacs. Enter 'y' when you are ready.
- X
- XIf you answered 'n' when prompted to send the message,
- Xthen the draft message will be deleted and emacs will exit.
- X
- XYou can modify the Xmh.ad resources to add more buttons.
- XAny MH command which accepts "+folder msg" can be used
- X(e.g. a replx shell script which includes the body of the
- Xmessage being replied to can be bound to a replx button)
- X
- X
- XAndrew Wason
- Xaw@bae.bellcore.com
- END_OF_FILE
- if test 1269 -ne `wc -c <'README'`; then
- echo shar: \"'README'\" unpacked with wrong size!
- fi
- # end of 'README'
- fi
- if test -f 'Xmh.ad' -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then
- echo shar: Will not clobber existing file \"'Xmh.ad'\"
- else
- echo shar: Extracting \"'Xmh.ad'\" \(457 characters\)
- sed "s/^X//" >'Xmh.ad' <<'END_OF_FILE'
- XXmh*CommandButtonCount: 3
- X
- XXmh*commandBox.button1.label: repl
- XXmh*commandBox.button1.translations:\
- X #override\n\
- X <Btn1Up>: XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand y repl) unset()
- X
- XXmh*commandBox.button2.label: forw
- XXmh*commandBox.button2.translations:\
- X #override\n\
- X <Btn1Up>: XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand y forw) unset()
- X
- XXmh*commandBox.button3.label: comp
- XXmh*commandBox.button3.translations:\
- X #override\n\
- X <Btn1Up>: XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand n comp) unset()
- END_OF_FILE
- if test 457 -ne `wc -c <'Xmh.ad'`; then
- echo shar: \"'Xmh.ad'\" unpacked with wrong size!
- fi
- # end of 'Xmh.ad'
- fi
- if test -f 'xmh-command.el' -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then
- echo shar: Will not clobber existing file \"'xmh-command.el'\"
- else
- echo shar: Extracting \"'xmh-command.el'\" \(1294 characters\)
- sed "s/^X//" >'xmh-command.el' <<'END_OF_FILE'
- X;;; These functions are for use with xemacs and xmh.
- X;;; The R5 xmh has a new action - XmhShellCommand which executes
- X;;; a shell command with the current msg as an arg.
- X;;; By executing something like:
- X;;; XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand repl)
- X;;; you can use xemacs as your editor with xmh.
- X;;;
- X;;; The following elisp functions perform the basic whatnowproc functionality
- X;;; (quitting and deleting, sending)
- X;;;
- X;;; Andrew Wason aw@bae.bellcore.com
- X
- X
- X;;; Override C-xC-c
- X(define-key indented-text-mode-map "\C-x\C-c" 'xmh-command-send-or-delete)
- X
- X
- X(setq mhdraft (getenv "mhdraft")) ; save the filename of the draft
- X
- X
- X(find-file mhdraft) ; load the draft letter
- X(indented-text-mode)
- X(setq draft-buffer (current-buffer)) ; save the buffer the draft is in
- X
- X
- X(defun xmh-command-send-or-delete ()
- X "Prompt to send or delete letter, then quit."
- X (interactive)
- X (set-buffer draft-buffer)
- X (if (y-or-n-p "Send message? ")
- X (progn
- X (save-buffer) ; save the draft buffer
- X (message "Sending...")
- X (pop-to-buffer "MH mail delivery"); pop to a buffer for "send" output
- X (erase-buffer)
- X (call-process "send" nil t t mhdraft) ; call MH "send"
- X (if (y-or-n-p "Exit? ")
- X (kill-emacs))) ; exit emacs
- X (delete-file mhdraft) ; delete the draft letter
- X (kill-emacs))) ; exit emacs
- END_OF_FILE
- if test 1294 -ne `wc -c <'xmh-command.el'`; then
- echo shar: \"'xmh-command.el'\" unpacked with wrong size!
- fi
- # end of 'xmh-command.el'
- fi
- if test -f 'xmhcommand' -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then
- echo shar: Will not clobber existing file \"'xmhcommand'\"
- else
- echo shar: Extracting \"'xmhcommand'\" \(669 characters\)
- sed "s/^X//" >'xmhcommand' <<'END_OF_FILE'
- X#!/bin/sh
- X# This shell should be invoked by the xmh XmhShellCommand() action as
- X# XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand y repl)
- X# XmhShellCommand(xmhcommand n comp) etc.
- X# If the second arg is y, then the message list will be used.
- X
- X# We invoke the passed MH command on the identified message
- X# (we must strip the message number and folder from the pathname)
- X(if [ $1 = "y" ]
- Xthen
- X $2 -whatnowproc xmhemacs +`dirname \`echo $3 | \
- X sed "s;\\\`mhpath +\\\`/;;"\`` `basename $3`
- X
- X# You can use this more readable version instead if you have ksh
- X# $2 -whatnowproc xmhemacs +$(dirname $(echo $3 | \
- X# sed "s;$(mhpath +)/;;")) $(basename $3)
- X
- Xelse
- X $2 -whatnowproc xmhemacs
- Xfi)&
- END_OF_FILE
- if test 669 -ne `wc -c <'xmhcommand'`; then
- echo shar: \"'xmhcommand'\" unpacked with wrong size!
- fi
- chmod +x 'xmhcommand'
- # end of 'xmhcommand'
- fi
- if test -f 'xmhemacs' -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then
- echo shar: Will not clobber existing file \"'xmhemacs'\"
- else
- echo shar: Extracting \"'xmhemacs'\" \(116 characters\)
- sed "s/^X//" >'xmhemacs' <<'END_OF_FILE'
- X#!/bin/sh
- X# Invoke xemacs and load the xmh-command.el stuff.
- X# xmhemacs is used by xmhcommand
- Xxemacs -l xmh-command
- END_OF_FILE
- if test 116 -ne `wc -c <'xmhemacs'`; then
- echo shar: \"'xmhemacs'\" unpacked with wrong size!
- fi
- chmod +x 'xmhemacs'
- # end of 'xmhemacs'
- fi
- echo shar: End of shell archive.
- exit 0
-
- Local Variables:
- mode: outline
- outline-regexp: "^Subject:"
- fill-prefix: " "
- eval: (progn (setq buffer-read-only nil) (hide-body))
- End:
- Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.os.minix:24662 news.answers:4672
- Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,news.answers
- Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!news.bbn.com!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!overby
- From: overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)
- Subject: MINIX Frequently Asked Questions (Last Changed: 1 Oct 1992)
- Message-ID: <minix-faq_724540734@cray.com>
- Followup-To: comp.os.minix
- Summary: Commonly Asked Questions -- With answers!
- Originator: overby@cherry01
- Keywords: info answers
- Lines: 321
- Supersedes: <minix-faq_720837766@cray.com>
- Nntp-Posting-Host: cherry01
- Reply-To: overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)
- Organization: Here and Now
- Date: 16 Dec 92 15:19:00 CST
- Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
- Expires: 31 Dec 92 09:18:54 GMT
-
- Archive-name: minix-faq
- Version: $Id: minix-faq,v 1.8 92/10/01 18:38:07 overby Exp Locker: overby $
-
- If you have questions AND ANSWERS to contribute to this FAQ sheet,
- please send them to me, overby@plains.nodak.edu.
-
- I'm looking for contributions to this FAQ, not questions from people who
- expect me to give them answers.
-
- [This line changed since my last posting, so LISTSERV doesn't have
- a right to bittch at me about duplicate postings]
-
- Frequently Asked Questions on Comp.Os.MINIX
-
- This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list is intended to accompany the
- Minix Information Sheet. Some of the information here is duplicated from
- the Information Sheet when deemed appropriate.
-
- In creating this, I have attempted to recall the Great Questions (and their
- answers) as well as the Great Discussions from the net. Many thanks to
- everyone who has contributed to this document.
-
- Several things to remember when you ask questions on the net:
-
- Supply enough information for people to actually help you. Things
- like what Minix version, your hardware configuration, and so-on are
- almost always necessary to not have to take shots in the dark. If you
- are reluctant to tell any or all of this, don't expect a good answer.
-
- There are some questions for which there is no answer, because nobody
- has encountered the problem previously or there is no good solution to
- the problem.
-
- 1. WHERE CAN I GET MINIX?
- Minix is sold by Prentice-Hall, Inc. and their authorized distribu-
- tors. They hold the Copyright on Minix, and sell it for profit (or at
- least we assume they make a profit on it).
-
- IT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR ANONYMOUS FTP!
-
- However, demonstration versions for the IBM PC and Atari ST exist and
- are available via FTP from ftp.cs.vu.nl, plains.nodak.edu and other
- archive sites. It is also available from Prentice-Hall for a small fee
- (see the Minix information sheet for more details & ISBN number).
- While far from a working system, the demo is sufficient to get a
- "feeling" of what Minix does.
-
- 2. WHAT VERSIONS OF MINIX EXIST?
- The most current version is 1.5.10, known simply as "1.5" if you buy it
- from Prentice-Hall. Upgrade "diffs" have been posted to the net over
- the past several months; consult an archive site listed in the
- Information Sheet to find that. Prentice-Hall has been shipping ALL
- versions of Minix 1.5 for several months.
-
- !!!!! PRENTICE HALL IS SHIPPING 1.5.10, BUT THEY CALL IT 1.5 !!!!!
-
- 3. BUT I'VE HEARD OF THIS A NEWER VERSION, 1.6.16.
- Yes, that sort of exists; it is a mid-development beta release for the
- PC (only) released to beta-testers.
-
- 4. HOW DOES PDP 11/44 MEMORY MANAGEMENT WORK?
- This was the first big off-the-topic discussion on the group, and it's
- still not an appropriate topic, so if you are still intrigued about
- pdp-11 memory management, consult the DEC processor handbooks, or some
- harmless newsgroup like alt.dev.null.
-
- 5. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE ME TO THE MAILING LIST
- why ask 26,000 people to do that, when there is one person who can do
- it, and you can ask a computer to do it for you.
-
- If you are on bitnet or arpanet, you can get this newsgroup via a
- mailing list, info-minix. To subscribe to the list, send a message to
- listserv@vm1.nodak.edu (internet) or listserv@ndsuvm1 (bitnet) saying:
-
- signup minix-l your_full_name
-
- If you have trouble, contact the list maintainer at info-minix-
- request@udel.edu.
-
- 6. PLEASE UNSUBSCRIBE ME FROM THE MAILING LIST
- Use the same procedure as for subscribing, but use "unsubscribe" in-
- stead of "signup".
-
- 7. WHAT IS THE ROOT PASSWORD?
- It's in the book, on pages 373 (login "ast") and 380 (login "root").
- If you didn't buy the book, that's only the start of your problems.
-
- 8. MINIX DOESN'T WORK WITH MY HARD DISK.
- There are many potential sources of this. Several are:
-
- You are running an RLL controller. You must change "NR_SECTORS" in the
- configuration file, <minix/config.h> from 17 (standard for MFM con-
- trollers) to 25 (Adaptec controllers) or 26 (Western Digital and oth-
- ers).
-
- 9. IS THERE A SCSI DRIVER FOR MINIX?
- The following info applies only to PCs.
-
- All SCSI controllers work differently, from the primitive Seagate ST01,
- to the smarter Always IN-2000, and Adaptec with it's own on-board CPU.
-
- Magnus Doell has released his driver for the ST-02, and James da
- Silva has written one for the Adaptec 154X. They can be found
- on plains.nodak.edu in, respectively,
- pub/Minix/pc/scsi07a.tar.Z
- pub/Minix/usenet/1991.Jul/ahascsi1.0.shar
-
- The ROM wini driver should also run most SCSI controllers but you
- lose protected mode capability.
-
- 9A. WHAT TAPE DRIVES WORK WITH MINIX?
- Minix comes from Prentice Hall with no support for tape drives.
-
- For the PC, James da Silva has written a SCSI driver for Adaptec
- 154X type controllers (see section on SCSI support). This driver
- provides support for SCSI tape drives; there are reports of
- people successfully using it with Archive Viper tape drives (NB:
- not all Archive Viper drives have a SCSI interface!)
-
- 10. THE SINGLE THREADED FILESYSTEM IS A REAL BOTTLENCK.
- True. It's only noticeable when you are running massive background
- processes, or putting multiple users on your computer.
-
- This "problem" has been recently "fixed" and the "solution" posted to
- the net. See your nearby bit-bucket (archive site) for it!
-
- You've got the source. Fix it.
-
- 11. IS THERE A 386 MINIX?
- Minix 1.5.10/PC runs on 80286 and 80386 systems using 80286 protected
- mode (so all your memory is used for programs, rather than as bank-
- switched memory "windows" or a big RAM disk). There is an experimen-
- tal 32-bit kernel from Bruce Evans. It is available from
-
- sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au: pub/minix/local
- plains.nodak.edu:pub/Minix/oz
-
- 12. I HAVE AN OLD VERSION OF MINIX. HOW CAN I UPGRADE?
- You need to get an upgrade kit from one of the archive sites; see the
- Minix Information Sheet for a (supposedly) complete list of sites
- which archive Minix-related bits.
-
- Also, read the Upgrading Tutorial -- it was meant to help.
-
- 13. WHAT SHELLS EXIST FOR MINIX?
- sh: Your typical Bourne shell. Comes with distribution Minix
- clam: Tcsh-like shell, runs under Minix & real Unix's. Available
- from ftp sites sirius, ccadfa, plains & others
- ksh: Korn shell, ported to Minix. Diffs for Minix on plains.
- marvin: A kid's shell. Posted months ago in comp.os.minix.
- emacs: Does this count as a shell? Works only under 68K-Minix's
- and perhaps 386-Minix.
-
- 14. IS THERE X-WINDOWS FOR MINIX?
- No, there is not. It would be difficult if not impossible (that was
- meant as a challenge!) to put X on Minix because X is huge. Unless you
- have many megabytes of memory, it would be impossible to run X clients
- and servers on one machine. It will also certainly require 32-bit
- mode operation.
-
- Don't be fooled by the (only) graphic user interface for MinixPC,
- Mini-X. Contrary to what its name seems to imply, this interface has
- nothing to do with a X-Windows implementation under Minix.
-
- 15. WHY CAN'T MY PC BOOT PC-MINIX FROM 1.44MB FLOPPY DISKS ?
- There's a couple of reasons for this. First, straight out of the box,
- MINIX doesn't plan on dealing with 1.44Mb floppy disks. The entries
- in /dev should be set up specifically for your machine, so pick out
- the correct entries here:
- mknod /dev/fd0-dsdd5in b 2 4 360 # Drive A, 360K 5.25"
- mknod /dev/fd0-dshd5in b 2 8 1200 # Drive A, 1.2M 5.25"
- mknod /dev/fd0-dsdd3in b 2 16 720 # Drive A, 720K 3.5"
- mknod /dev/fd0-dshd3in b 2 28 1440 # Drive A, 1.44M 3.5"
- ^^^ ^^
- Change 'fd0' to 'fd1' and add 1 to the minor device number to create
- an entry for floppy drive B. It may be a good idea to link the gener-
- ic floppy disk entries (/dev/fd0 and /dev/fd1) to the proper
- /dev/fd0-ds{whatever} entries for your machine, so that programs like
- dosread continue to work.
-
- All possible formats are:
- mknod /dev/fd0 b 2 0 0 # Drive A, automatic
- mknod /dev/pc0 b 2 4 360 # Drive A, 360K 5.25"
- mknod /dev/at0 b 2 8 1200 # Drive A, 1.2M 5.25"
- mknod /dev/qd0 b 2 12 360 # Drive A, 360K in a 720K 5.25"
- mknod /dev/ps0 b 2 16 720 # Drive A, 720K 3.5" and 5.25"
- mknod /dev/pat0 b 2 20 360 # Drive A, 360K in a 1.2M 5.25"
- mknod /dev/qh0 b 2 24 720 # Drive A, 720K in a 1.2M 5.25"
- mknod /dev/PS0 b 2 28 1440 # Drive A, 1.44M 3.5"
-
- Second reason your PC won't boot from 1.44Mb floppy disks, even though
- you've fixed up the floppy disk device entries: tools/bootblok.s
- doesn't know about 1.44M disks, so it blindly loads the boot image in-
- correctly and then tries to execute it. Get Guy Helmer's bootblok.s
- from an archive site, or get shoelace.
-
- 16. WHAT'S WRONG WITH 'ps'?
- You need to have a copy of the compiled kernel in
- /usr/src/kernel/kernel for ps to read the namelist out of. Note that
- this MUST be the SAME kernel that is booted.
-
- 17. HOW IS THE FORK(2) SYSTEM CALL IMPLEMENTED ON THE 68K PROCESSORS
- WITHOUT A MEMORY MANAGEMENT UNIT?
- This is done by shadowing. This is copying the memory around as long
- as both child and parent processes do exist. Although this seems very
- expensive, it is not because most processes exec(2) almost immediately
- after the fork(). But most terminal emulators who fork() en keep run-
- ning loose.
-
- 18. WHY IS KERMIT SO ABSURDLY SLOW UNDER MINIX-68k?
- See the above question. Kermit forks so that one process listens to
- the serial port and writes to the screen, and the other process
- listens to the keyboard and writes to the serial port. Since the
- second process never "exec's", the two processes are continually
- swapped in and out of one memory slot.
-
- 19. IS THERE ALSO A 64K+64K LIMIT FOR MINIX 68K & MINIX 386?
- For minix 68k, there isn't. For minix 386 there isn't provided you use
- the proper compiler (This means no ACK)
-
- 20. DOES MINIX HAVE BERKELY JOB CONTROL?
- No. Nor does it have its associated signals like SIGSTOP, SIGCONT etc.
-
- 21. DOES MINIX SUPPORT TCP/IP AND NFS
- No. TCP/IP does exist as an experimental package. NFS is a dream for
- many ;-)
-
- 22. WHY CAN'T I RECOMPILE KERMIT OR ELLE ON PC-MINIX 1.5?
- You can't assemble Kermit or elle on a PC using Minix 1.5 or earlier;
- asld reports an "out of space" error, which means it ran out of space
- in the output object file. That is why the binaries are (certainly
- were) on the P-H distribution. Those binaries were compiled by a dif-
- ferent, more efficient compiler.
-
- 23. WHY AREN'T THE MANUALS ONLINE? WHERE CAN I GET THE MANUALS?
- The online manuals are available via anonymous ftp from
- ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au [131.236.1.2] in the file pub/minix/mantar.Z. To
- extract the manuals, ftp the file binary-wise, uncompress it and ex-
- tract using tar when you are in your /usr/man directory. Each manual
- is in a separate file, and to use the distribution 1.5 man(1) you will
- need to read the source to man(1) to see how to create the single
- manual file.
-
- Alternatively, the source to a more Unix-like man(1) is available on
- ccadfa in the file pub/minix/mansrc.Z. To extract the code, ftp
- binary-wise, uncompress and unshar. Before compiling the code, modify
- the header file to reflect your system setup. Compile the code. If you
- are using less(1) as a pager, you will need to modify main.c in
- nroff(1); instructions are included in mansrc.Z
-
- 24. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 80386 AND THE 386sx?
- There is no difference between 386sx/386dx except for the bus (24-bit
- addresses and 16-bit data).
-
- 25. DOES MINIX SUPPORT MAIL/NEWS/UUCP?
- As shipped from Prentice Hall, Minix 1.5 include only local Email, and
- no Uucp nor Usenet News support. Various additional packages from the
- net exist:
- There are two UUCP implementations, by Fred van Kempen and by Will Rose.
- Fred wrote an Email interface, UMail/WMail and a news software, WNews.
- A BNews implementation and the Tass newsreader from alt.sources also
- exist under Minix. All these packages are available via anonymous FTP
- from archive sites.
-
- 26. WHY IS THE DIRECTORY ON PLAINS CALLED "oz" INSTEAD OF 386
-
- Plains maintains several "shadows" of other sites. To allow easy
- automatic updating of packages from the remote sites, we place
- everything from that site in a directory reminiscent of that site's
- name. To absorb the remote site's files into the local directory
- structure would frustrate this, and it probably wouldn't happen.
-
- 27. WHERE CAN I GET THE NEW ANSI C COMPILER?
- (from Andy Tanenbaum's posting <13286@star.cs.vu.nl> 11 Mar 92)
-
- There are three compilers available:
-
- - ANSI C, conforming to ANS X3.159-1989
-
- - Modula-2, conforming to
- "Report on The Programming Language Modula-2", in "Programming in
- Modula-2, 3rd ed." by Niklaus Wirth, Springer-verlag, 1983
-
- - Pascal confrming to level 1 of BSI standard BS 6192: 1982 (ISO 7185),
- with a few small exceptions
-
- Also, a Modula-2 makefile generator and some utilities for handling
- relocatable object files are included (aal, nm, size, strip, etc).
- Complete libraries for ANSI C, Pascal, and Modula 2 are provided.
-
- This package is available in 4 different versions:
-
- - 5.25" DS/DD floppies for 8088/286/386 (4 360K floppies);
- - 5.25" DS/HD floppies for 8088/286/386 (1 1.2M floppy);
- - 3.5" DS/DD floppies for 8088/286/386 (2 720K floppies);
- - 3.5" DS/DD floppies for Commodore Amiga or Atari ST (2 720K floppies).
-
- Many problems with the old Minix C compiler have been resolved:
- - All versions have separate as and ld programs. Asld is gone.
- - Floating point is now supported
- - Library is greatly improved and is ANSI conformant
- - A program aal is provided to manage libraries (ranlib-like)
-
- The package is available from two companies:
-
- Transmediair Products & Support B.V. Unipress Software
- Box 297 2025 Lincoln Highway
- 3720 AG Bilthoven Edison, NJ 08817
- The Netherlands U.S.A.
- Tel: +31 30 281820 Tel: +1 908 287 2100
- FAX: +31 30 292294 FAX: +1 908 287 4929
- Email: msk@unipress.com
-
- Transmediair charges US $200,- for the 4 floppy PC version, US $150,-
- for the other versions. Unipress charges US $199,- for all versions.
-
- 28. BUT THERE *IS* AN AMIGA DEMO DISK!
-
- It can be found on Fish disk 525. Fish disks are available at ftp
- sites carrying Amiga stuff. They should also be available from various
- Amiga groups and retailers.
- Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu comp.os.minix:24661 news.answers:4671
- Newsgroups: comp.os.minix,news.answers
- Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!news.bbn.com!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!timbuk.cray.com!hemlock.cray.com!overby
- From: overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)
- Subject: Minix Information Sheet (Last Changed: 22 Sept 1992)
- Message-ID: <Info_Sheet_724540608@cray.com>
- Followup-To: comp.os.minix
- Summary: Everything you ever wanted to know about Minix on the networks,
- but never dared to ask!
- Originator: overby@cherry01
- Keywords: info answers
- Lines: 985
- Supersedes: <Info_Sheet_720837756@cray.com>
- Nntp-Posting-Host: cherry01
- Reply-To: overby@plains.nodak.edu (Glen Overby)
- Organization: Here and Now
- Date: 16 Dec 92 15:16:57 CST
- Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
-
- Archive-name: minix-info
- Version: $Id: Info_Sheet,v 1.11 92/09/22 20:00:31 overby Exp $
- [From Andy Tanenbaum <ast@cs.vu.nl> Sat, 4 Apr 92]
-
- MINIX INFORMATION SHEET
-
- 1. WHAT IS MINIX 1.5
- MINIX 1.5 is a new version of an operating system that is very similar to
- UNIX. MINIX has been written from scratch, and therefore does not contain any
- AT&T code--not in the kernel, the compiler, the utilities, or the libraries.
- For this reason it can be made available with the complete source code
- (on diskette). It runs on the IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, 386, and most clones.
- Versions are also available for the Atari ST, Macintosh, Amiga and Sun
- SparcStation.
-
- This version (1.5) is a major improvement over all previous releases, with
- many new features, fewer bugs (hopefully), much better performance, and
- proper documentation. The old versions have been in widespread use all over
- the world for 3 years. There are probably tens of thousands of users.
-
-
- 2. MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (IBM, Macintosh, Atari, Amiga and SparcStation versions)
- - System call compatible with V7 of the UNIX operating system
- - Full multiprogramming (multiple programs can run at once)
- - Kernighan and Ritchie compatible C compiler
- - Shell that is functionally identical to the Bourne shell
- - Five editors (emacs subset, vi clone, ex, ed, and simple screen editor)
- - Over 175 utilities (cat, cp, ed, grep, kermit, ls, make, sort, etc.)
- - Over 200 library procedures (atoi, fork, malloc, read, stdio, etc.)
- - Spelling checker with 40,000 word English dictionary
- - Full source code (in C) supplied on diskettes (OS, utilities, libraries)
- - Easy-to-read manual telling all about MINIX and how to install and use it
-
-
- 3. ADDITIONAL FEATURES
- In addition to the above features, there are other features present in
- some (but not all) versions of MINIX 1.5. Some of these are listed below.
-
- 3.1 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (IBM VERSION):
- - Runs in protected mode on 286 and 386
- - Support for extended memory up to 16M on 286 and 386
- - Up to 3 simultaneous users on one machine
- - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc.
- - Distributed computing on Ethernet (remote login, etc.)
-
- 3.2 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (MACINTOSH VERSION):
- - Up to 3 simultaneous users on one machine
- - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc.
- - Runs under Multifinder
- - Includes support for multiple user windows
-
- 3.3 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (ATARI ST VERSION)
- - Up to 2 simultaneous users on one machine
- - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc.
- - Support for various real time clocks (Mega, BMS, ICD, Supra, Weide)
-
- 3.4 ADDITIONAL MINIX 1.5 FEATURES (SUN SPARCSTATION VERSION)
- - Native operating system. Runs on bare SparcStation hardware.
- - Up to 3 simultaneous users on one machine
- - RS-232 serial line support with terminal emulation, kermit, zmodem, etc.
- - Multi-windowed display driver
- - ANSI compatible GNU C compiler
-
-
- 4. HARDWARE REQUIRED
- - IBM: PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 386 that is 100% hardware compatible with
- the IBM line. A hard disk not technically required, but is
- strongly recommended to take full advantage of the system. At
- least 512K of RAM is required, as well as a CGA, EGA,
- monochrome, or Hercules video card, or another card that
- emulates one of these. Both 5.25" and 3.5" diskettes are
- supported, as are printers using the parallel port and modems
- and terminals using the serial port.
-
- - Macintosh: Apple Macintosh Plus, SE, SE/30, II, IIcx, or IIx with at
- least 1M of RAM. An additional 1M of RAM and a hard disk
- is strongly recommended. MINIX has been tested primarily
- with version 6.0 and latter of the Apple system software.
- Problems may conceivably arise with earlier versions. Any
- hard disk or display that is supported by the normal Macintosh
- OS is also supported by MINIX.
-
- - Atari: Atari ST or Mega ST with at least 1M of RAM. Although the
- system will boot with only 512K, you will be very restricted
- in what you can do. A 720K diskette drive is required to
- install the software. The older 360K diskette drives are
- supported, but are not capable of reading the (720K)
- distribution disks. A hard disk is supported, but is optional.
- Some of the Supra hard disks are not Atari compatible, which
- can cause problems. A fix is available from the MINIX Centre.
-
- - Amiga: Commodore Amiga 500 or 2000 with at least 1M of RAM. One 720K
- diskette drive is sufficient. A hard disk is not required
- (or even supported). To use a hard disk with the Amiga,
- someone familiar with how this disk works will have to write
- a driver for it. If this driver is then posted to the net,
- it will be possible to use a hard disk with MINIX on the Amiga.
- Minix will NOT run on 68020 and larger Amiga systems.
-
- - Sparc: Sun SparcStation 1, 1+ or IPC. Does NOT run on a SparcStation
- 2 and has not yet been tested on a SLC, IPX or ELC. A floppy
- disk drive is required, a SCSI hard disk is not required but
- strongly recommended to take full advantage of the system.
- 4MB RAM is sufficient to run Minix, up to 64MB is supported.
- The monochrome framebuffer (bw2) as well as a color framebuffer
- (cg3 or cg6) are supported. SCSI hard disks can be used and
- even booted from. Ethernet, mouse and audio are not supported.
- Printers can only be connected via a serial port.
-
- 5. PARTIAL LIST OF UTILITIES INCLUDED IN MINIX 1.5
- animals ar ascii at atrun backup badblocks banner basename bawk btoa cal cat
- cdiff cgrep chgrp chip chmem chmod chown clr cmp comm compress cp cpdir
- crc cron ctags cut date dd de df dhrystone diff diskcheck dosdir dosread
- doswrite du echo ed elle ex expand expr factor fgrep file find fold fortune
- fsck gather getlf getty grep gres head ic id ifdef indent inodes kill last
- leave ln login look lpr ls m4 machine mail make man mined mkdir mkfs mknod
- modem more mount mref mv nm nroff od passwd paste patch pr prep pretty
- printenv printroot ps pwd readall readfs recover ref rev rm rmdir roff rz
- sed shar size sleep sort spell split strings strip stty su sum sync sz tail
- tar tee term termcap test time touch tr traverse treecmp true tset tsort ttt
- umount unexpand uniq unshar update users uud uue vi vol wc whatsnew whereis
- which who whoami width write
-