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need opinions on minix book

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Alan Rodriguez

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Feb 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/3/99
to
I want to learn about minix and am looking to buy a book to help me
along.
I have found the most mentioned book to be
Operating Systems : Design and Implementation by Andrew S. Tanenbaum

Has anyone read it? What do you think about it? Does anyone recommend
another book,
magazine, article, website about learning about minix internals (not
how to install)?

Thanks in advance -alan


Lew Pitcher

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Feb 4, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/4/99
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On Wed, 03 Feb 1999 10:50:47 -0500, Alan Rodriguez <arodr...@brodeur.com>
wrote:

It's *the* book, but it only covers Minix v1
IIRC, the second edition (Tanenbaum and Woodhull) of OS: D&I
covers Minix v2

Lew Pitcher
Joat-in-training

Mike Redrobe

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Feb 5, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/5/99
to
Hi Lew Pitcher ,

..the second edition no longer includes the CD (with minix source code).

(At least not here in the UK)

Is /everything/ on the CD available on the net ?

Mike


Will Rose

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Feb 5, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/5/99
to
Mike Redrobe (Mi...@redrobe.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: Hi Lew Pitcher ,

Actually more is available on the net - you really want 2.0.2, which
has a number of improvements over 2.0.


Will
c...@crash.cts.com


Julian Robert Yon

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Feb 15, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/15/99
to
Mike Redrobe wrote:

> >It's *the* book, but it only covers Minix v1
> >IIRC, the second edition (Tanenbaum and Woodhull) of OS: D&I
> >covers Minix v2
>
> ..the second edition no longer includes the CD (with minix source code).
>
> (At least not here in the UK)
>
> Is /everything/ on the CD available on the net ?
>

> Mike


I bought the second edition 2 days ago in paperback form - it came with
the CD (Minix 2). So it does exist in the UK...

Julian

Mike Redrobe

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Feb 17, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/17/99
to
Hi Julian Robert Yon ,
>Mike Redrobe wrote:

>> >It's *the* book, but it only covers Minix v1
>> >IIRC, the second edition (Tanenbaum and Woodhull) of OS: D&I
>> >covers Minix v2
>>
>> ..the second edition no longer includes the CD (with minix source code).
>>
>> (At least not here in the UK)
>>

>> Mike

>I bought the second edition 2 days ago in paperback form - it came with
>the CD (Minix 2). So it does exist in the UK...

Yup, I had to order it from a bookshop, their 'puter database didn't mention a
cd, so she rang up the publisher (who also siad it didn't include a cd)

I ordered it anyway, and when it arrived it had a CD in the back (and even a
CD logo on the front- doh)

'tis an excellent book.

Mike


R. O'Connor

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Feb 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/20/99
to
Mike Redrobe wrote:

All,
I've seen somewhere the claim that the 2nd ed. has a lot of inaccuracies WRT the
source for 2.0. If so, are they significant? And are errata available with
corrections? Any other comments on the value of the book for learning OS theory
with application to Minix?

TIA

--
Rory O'Connor: r o o c o n n A T i b m D o T n e t (put 'em
together for my email addr.)

Al Woodhull

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Feb 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/20/99
to
On Sat, 20 Feb 1999 00:43:24 -0500 R. O'Connor (r...@ibm.net) wrote in
comp.os.minix:

: I've seen somewhere the claim that the 2nd ed. has a lot of


: inaccuracies WRT the source for 2.0. If so, are they significant?
: And are errata available with corrections? Any other comments on
: the value of the book for learning OS theory with application to
: Minix?

You may be thinking of the first edition, which had the source for
version 1.1 or 1.2 (or some mix). The first edition was published more
than 10 years ago and the technology for keeping things updated was
not as good as it is now. The earliest versions of Minix were meant to
be compiled and used on an IBM PC with two 360K floppy drives.

I am quite proud of the completeness and accuracy of the source
included with the second edition. I had a Minix system networked to
the system on which I edited my portions of the text, and I could
instantly look up anything in the source by switching to another
window. The "book" version of Minix is stripped down slightly, but is
almost complete (lacking only the parallel printer driver source
code), and I verified that it could be compiled into a working Minix
system after each change in the code received from Kees Bot.

There are no errata available for the text. Prentice-Hall deliberately
made a small first print run, and some small errors discovered soon
after publication were corrected in the second printing. I understand
this is a fairly common practice in technical publishing.

There are a few code bugs (mostly in parts of the system not discussed
in the text), you should look in the bugs file and the fixes directory
on ftp.cs.vu.nl for the official fixes to Minix 2.0.0. There are a few more
unofficial bugs and fixes available on my site, minix1.hampshire.edu.
The Minix 2.0.2 directories have similar bugs and fixes files, but I
think there is not anything there yet.

Al

+----------------------------------+
| Albert S. Woodhull |
| Hampshire College, Amherst, MA |
| awoo...@hampshire.edu |
| http://minix1.hampshire.edu/asw/ |
+----------------------------------+

ajam

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Feb 24, 1999, 3:00:00 AM2/24/99
to
OS:D&I is not bad.  Actually, it is the most complete excursion into the Minix realm.  But being my first OS book, I've found myself lagging behind in a few areas.  It also has some typos that just make you wonder.  Also, many important topics are barely scratch  (i.e. the topic of semaphores could have been a little bit more complete and clear).  Also, the notion of showing you many possible solutions before getting to the chosen one, just drives me crazy.  Not because of the possible solutions, but because most of the topics on the way are barely touched.  On the other hand, they are showing you a life OS system that it is at an acceptable level of comprehension, and that is something.  It is good though, but another OS book that I'm reading is way more complete in terms of theory, OS: Internals and Design Principles by William Stallings.  You can find info about this book at:

http://www1.shore.net/~ws/OS3e.html

I believe that the ideal scenario is to combine a general OS theory book with OS:D&I in order to get the best of both worlds.  I've heard that Modern OS by Tanenbaum is also pretty good, all-around book.  Good luck!

Regards, ajam

R. O'Connor wrote:

Mike Redrobe wrote:

> Hi  Julian Robert Yon ,
> >Mike Redrobe wrote:
>
> >> >It's *the* book, but it only covers Minix v1
> >> >IIRC, the second edition (Tanenbaum and Woodhull) of OS: D&I
> >> >covers Minix v2
> >>
> >> ..the second edition no longer includes the CD (with minix source code).
> >>
> >> (At least not here in the UK)
> >>
> >> Mike
>
> >I bought the second edition 2 days ago in paperback form - it came with
> >the CD (Minix 2). So it does exist in the UK...
>
> Yup, I had to order it from a bookshop, their 'puter database didn't mention a
> cd, so she rang up the publisher (who also siad it didn't include a cd)
>
> I ordered it anyway, and when it arrived it had a CD in the back (and even a
> CD logo on the front- doh)
>
> 'tis an excellent book.
>
> Mike

 All,

I've seen somewhere the claim that the 2nd ed. has a lot of inaccuracies WRT the
source for 2.0.  If so, are they significant?  And are errata available with
corrections?  Any other comments on the value of the book for learning OS theory
with application to Minix?

TIA

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