Hello to the group, and a question about GSoC ideas and application.

[flint...@gmail.com]

Hello to all here;

I am a recent student (just entered an MS CS program this Winter/
Spring), and just came to realize that I'm eligible to participate in
the Google Summer of Code. A little late, I know. I have not
previously been aware of Minix 3 (my last encounter with Minix was the
original version presented in Prof. Tanenbaum's first edition of his
OS text), but I really love the modular reliability concept. I am
interested in several of the project ideas presented on the Minix 3
ideas list, and have a few questions I would like to pose to the Minix
3 organization/mentors. Before asking them, I think a little
information about me might help put my questions into context.

I'm not your typical student, or even Computer Science grad student; I
have a great deal of 'C', assembly, kernel and driver level experience
(gained through 25+ years of mostly embedded development). I have
such a wealth of real-world experience, from writing my own
multitasking kernel and high-performance network device drivers to
writing and modifying GDB monitors and JTAG/OCD adapters, that I think
I may be an ideal candidate for any of the kernel or device driver
projects listed as project ideas. For more details of my experience,
please see my Curriculum Vitae at my Google site (link id is
flintyscott).

Now the questions:

At this late stage I obviously have little time to provide proof of my
ability to actually perform any of the projects. Is there something
specific that I can do or provide before the deadline that would be
considered a good indicator of my ability?

One of the project ideas listed is to write a GDB monitor (or do a GDB
server port?) in order to support embedded Minix 3. Minix 3 is
presently tied to the X86 PC architecture. Is there any interest in
or intention to support embedded minix 3 on any other processor/
platform architecture (I note that the Apple Mac/PPC port seems to
have been abandoned)?

Writing a GDB monitor (for minix 3 on a PC hardware platform), or
providing a GDB server running on embedded minix 3, seems a little
light for a three month project; is there something else it might be
combined with (such as adding a driver port)?

In the interest of maximizing my utility to the Minix 3 project as a
whole I am interested in doing...what most needs doing. Has the minix
3 team prioritized the projects in any way? If taken from the
perspective that you (the Minix 3 organization/team) had me available
for a Summer to do whatever needed doing most, what would that be?

I thank you in advance for any feedback you might have.

Regards,

Scott

[Arun Thomas]

flint...@gmail.com wrote:
> At this late stage I obviously have little time to provide proof of my
> ability to actually perform any of the projects. Is there something
> specific that I can do or provide before the deadline that would be
> considered a good indicator of my ability?
>

You could try to port some program to Minix that we don't have. Some
ideas are listed on our Wishlist:
http://wiki.minix3.org/wikis/minix3/Wishlist.

> One of the project ideas listed is to write a GDB monitor (or do a GDB
> server port?) in order to support embedded Minix 3. Minix 3 is
> presently tied to the X86 PC architecture. Is there any interest in
> or intention to support embedded minix 3 on any other processor/
> platform architecture (I note that the Apple Mac/PPC port seems to
> have been abandoned)?
>

Yes, we want to support architectures other than x86. An ARM port is in
progress. There was some progress on a PPC port, but no one is working
on it currently. Someone sent news of an initial MIPS port to this group
recently. I should note that we're not interested in architecture
porting projects in the context of GSoC.

> Writing a GDB monitor (for minix 3 on a PC hardware platform), or
> providing a GDB server running on embedded minix 3, seems a little
> light for a three month project; is there something else it might be
> combined with (such as adding a driver port)?
>

Sure, you can propose whatever project you want as long as you can
finish it in the time available.

> In the interest of maximizing my utility to the Minix 3 project as a
> whole I am interested in doing...what most needs doing. Has the minix
> 3 team prioritized the projects in any way? If taken from the
> perspective that you (the Minix 3 organization/team) had me available
> for a Summer to do whatever needed doing most, what would that be?
>

I think they're all valuable projects. I would pick the project you're
most interested in doing.

Best,
Arun