New to MINIX
Cynthia Rates
I have always had an interested in various operating systems (ABM,
although I shamefully have Windows 95 installed), especially UNIX.
Unfortunately most of this knowledge has been withheld from me as I
wasn't old enough at the time of their widespread popularity. I sought
refuge in Linux for a while, but something is just missing. I would like
to find out what it was like in the past with OSs by using MINIX on a
possibly a 386, 486, or earlier machine (In really don't feel like
partitioning my Hard Drive again). I have ordered the book "Operating
Systems Design and Implementation", but it will be almost two weeks
before it comes. Also, in my adventures of searching the Net I have
found very little information on installing and generally configuring
MINIX. I'm not sure as to what version to use either. Any help on this
subject would be greatly appreciated. By the way, before I go, who
maintains this NG?
Thomas Rates,
An ambitious kid left out because of his age,
psx...@netscape.net (No data files, please)
Will Rose
: Hello all,
: I have always had an interested in various operating systems (ABM,
: although I shamefully have Windows 95 installed), especially UNIX.
: Unfortunately most of this knowledge has been withheld from me as I
: wasn't old enough at the time of their widespread popularity. I sought
: refuge in Linux for a while, but something is just missing. I would like
: to find out what it was like in the past with OSs by using MINIX on a
: possibly a 386, 486, or earlier machine (In really don't feel like
: partitioning my Hard Drive again). I have ordered the book "Operating
: Systems Design and Implementation", but it will be almost two weeks
: before it comes. Also, in my adventures of searching the Net I have
: found very little information on installing and generally configuring
: MINIX. I'm not sure as to what version to use either. Any help on this
: subject would be greatly appreciated. By the way, before I go, who
: maintains this NG?
Either install off the CDROM which comes with the book, or install
dosminix (since its very much easier to install, and won't require
repartitioning) from cs.vu.nl. The CD version is 2.0, the current
(cs.vu.nl) version 2.0.2. Run it on a 386 or better with 4 - 16MB
of RAM, and it'll be fine. All the docs are on cs.vu.nl, in either
ASCII or HTML format.
Cynthia Rates
Will Rose wrote:
Thanks for the advice, although I already have dosminix installed. I would
like to put the real thing on however. I currently have a Celeron 400 with 64
MB of RAM, a two gig HD and a 10 gig HD so I will most likely get a 386 or 486
and put it on that. I have read in the 2.0.2 usage faq that MINIX can only use
one gig. Is that true for the entire disk or just one filesystem. If I were to
put my 2 gig HD in a 486 (hopefully) would I be able to use the rest of the
disk? Thanks again Will.
Thomas Rates (using windows with my mother's account name on it so no jokes),
psx...@netscape.net
Will Rose
: Will Rose wrote:
: Thanks for the advice, although I already have dosminix installed. I would
: like to put the real thing on however. I currently have a Celeron 400 with 64
: MB of RAM, a two gig HD and a 10 gig HD so I will most likely get a 386 or 486
: and put it on that. I have read in the 2.0.2 usage faq that MINIX can only use
: one gig. Is that true for the entire disk or just one filesystem. If I were to
: put my 2 gig HD in a 486 (hopefully) would I be able to use the rest of the
: disk? Thanks again Will.
If dosminix will run on your system, I'd be inclined to repartition one
of the drives and simply run Minix/bootmonitor on the main machine. The
1G limit is for filesystems; I run Minix on 2G SCSI drives without problems.
You need a patch for 2.0 for Minix to see over 16MB of RAM, but I'm pretty
sure that's fixed in 2.0.2.
Cynthia Rates
:of the drives and simply run Minix/bootmonitor on the main machine.
The
:1G limit is for filesystems; I run Minix on 2G SCSI drives without
problems.
:You need a patch for 2.0 for Minix to see over 16MB of RAM, but I'm
pretty
:sure that's fixed in 2.0.2.
:Will
:c...@crash.cts.com
Our messages have been a movin' on up, as the Jeffersons would say so I
started a new one. I figure I will repartition /hd5 (10 gig, Ultra DMA
but PIO mode is set to 2 in BIOS) into 4 partitions; one for MINIX, one
for Slackware, one for Swap Space (Linux), and one for scratch. I assume
MINIX can't boot off a logical partition so I won't do that. One thing
though. How do I hook up a boot manager? I know LILO can boot windows
and Linux, but can it boot MINIX? There are no docs on this subject in
the LDP. Or could I put LILO on the superblock of the root partition and
have MINIX's boot manager boot that? So confusing. Also, to complicate
things my mother is using the first HD (2 gig) for windows 95 now, and I
had LILO set to automatically boot that partition without a time-out so
things wouldn't get screwed up, and now I'll have to do the same thing.
Maybe I could just get a third party bootloader or find and install
OS/2's because I've heard that works well. By the way, I was looking at
the stats on minix1.hampshire.edu and from that I assumed that there are
not many MINIX users out there. That brings something to mind. Any MUGs
out there, say around Pittsburgh?
Will Rose
: :If dosminix will run on your system, I'd be inclined to repartition one
: :of the drives and simply run Minix/bootmonitor on the main machine.
: The
: :1G limit is for filesystems; I run Minix on 2G SCSI drives without
: problems.
: :You need a patch for 2.0 for Minix to see over 16MB of RAM, but I'm
: pretty
: :sure that's fixed in 2.0.2.
: :Will
: :c...@crash.cts.com
: Our messages have been a movin' on up, as the Jeffersons would say so I
: started a new one. I figure I will repartition /hd5 (10 gig, Ultra DMA
: but PIO mode is set to 2 in BIOS) into 4 partitions; one for MINIX, one
: for Slackware, one for Swap Space (Linux), and one for scratch. I assume
: MINIX can't boot off a logical partition so I won't do that. One thing
: though. How do I hook up a boot manager? I know LILO can boot windows
: and Linux, but can it boot MINIX? There are no docs on this subject in
: the LDP.
Lilo should be able to boot Minix. The advantage of boot monitor is
that it keeps itself out of the way; it installs at the start of
Minix' primary partition, and whatever boots that partition boots
boot monitor without knowing it. The only OS I've ever had fail with
it was Coherent, btw. You can then have Lilo as the 'master' boot
for the system, and boot monitor on a short time out so you can
just let it zip by. That's more or less what I do with OS/2s
Boot Manager, tho' I haven't tried mixing it in with Lilo.
You probably want to set aside a couple of MB at the start of your
Minix primary for sub-partition a; that's useful for storing a
ram disk image for eg. the root filesystem. The b sub-partition
can then be mounted as /usr, or you can split things up and have
b, c, and d sub-partitions.
Back up your system before messing with the partitions, btw.
Albert S Woodhull
: ... I know LILO can boot windows and Linux, but can it boot MINIX?
Yes. I recently have done some work on the Minix FAQ pages at
minix1.hampshire.edu/hints.html and have begun to add some information
about making Minix work together with other OSs. It's a bit sketchy
now, but I think you'll find an example of a LILO configuration file
that supports booting Minix.
Alas, as I write this I am far from home on a Sunday morning and find I
cannot contact minix1. It may be down, it may be very busy, or the
Hamsphire College network may have problems. Anyway, I can't give you a
more detailed URL now, nor can I promise that you'll be able to get to it
before I can reset the system on Monday.
Al
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Albert S. Woodhull -- PC Support Specialist |
| Office of Information Technology, PC Classroom Operations |
| University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA |
| phone: 413-545-1614 fax: 413-577-0749 |
| e-mail: wood...@oit.umass.edu |
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