Newcomer; How to create text files and shortcuts within folders

[Lux]

Hello i am new;

I downloaded minix 3 (the latest version as of june 28 2015)

I have it running on oracle virtual box.

It runs well.

I am new to minix and have just been setting up folders for fun.

I would like to include text files in each folder to comment what each folder is used for.

I would also like to include a windows style short cut from one folder to another to make getting around the file system easier.

Does anyone know how to create and save text files in Minix 3?

Does anyone know how to loop/link folders together with a windows style "shortcut"?

[Jean-Baptiste Boric]

Does anyone know how to create and save text files in Minix 3?

Minix comes with vi preinstalled, the traditional Unix text editor. It is not known for its user-friendliness though. There's also mined, but I never used it personally.

I'd recommend nano for a beginner, but you'll have to install it via pkgin. Check the Minix user's guide on the wiki to learn how to install binary packages.

Does anyone know how to loop/link folders together with a windows style "shortcut"?

Unix's equivalent of Windows shortcuts is the symbolic link. You can create one with the command :

ln -s path/to/destination symlink_name

Looks like you're a newcomer to the world of Unix. Welcome aboard, and remember there's plenty of tutorials on the web to help you get started.

[Lux]

I hate to ask so much but i dont have pkgin installed and i dont have git installed so i cannot start to install any packages until these two packages are saved on my minix vm.

I followed these steps

http://pkgin.net/

first command resulted in 

git: not found

I went ahead and followed the rest of the commands that followed and got pretty much the same results.

____________________________

I also went to find another tutorial. 

http://wiki.minix3.org/doku.php?id=releases:3.2.1:usersguide:installingbinarypackages

The commands here do not work either.

I cannot figure out what this part means though. :

• "Edit /usr/pkg/etc/pkgin/repositories.conf so it contains :

  ftp://ftp.minix3.org/pub/minix/packages/$osrelease-testing/$arch/All
  #ftp://ftp.minix3.org/pub/minix/packages/$osrelease/$arch/All"

Do you have any ideas as to how to get either of these how to, guides to work?

Is there a better way to install pkgin or git?

[Jean-Baptiste Boric]

I hate to ask so much

Don't worry, we don't bite :-)

About pkgin : if you installed Minix with the unofficial ISO mentioned in the other thread, pkgin isn't installed (a limitation due to the experimental nature of the ISO). Hopefully this should be the only undocumented surprise you'll get with that ISO.

The workaround is to use pkg_add, a lower-level tool. Type

PKG_PATH=http://minix3.org/pkgsrc/packages/3.3.0/i386/All/
export PKG_PATH

You can then install binary packages with pkg_add package_to_install. For example, you can install Git and Nano with

pkg_add git-base nano

[Sambuc Lionel]

At this point I would recommend using the following instead:

> PKG_PATH=http://minix3.org/pkgsrc/packages/3.3.0/i386/All/

PKG_PATH=http://minix3.org/pkgsrc/packages/3.3.1/i386/All
export PKG_PATH
pkg_add pkgin

then edit the file "/usr/pkg/etc/pkgin/repositories.conf" so that it contains:

http://minix3.org/pkgsrc/packages/3.3.1/i386/All

instead of

http://minix3.org/pkgsrc/packages/$osrelease/$arch/All

then you can do "pkgin update", and afterwards use pkgin as usual. This setup will give you access to the most recent build of the packages we currently have.

Keep in mind you are starting from an experimental ISO, so the road might be a bit bumpy.


Regards,

Lionel

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[Lux]

Ok thanks for all the help i have pkgin, git, and nano all installed.

Startx is running its got two xterms and one terminal. and a little clock.

Now that i got a bit of a hang on things im going to look for other things to put onto this OS.

I wonder what else there is to put on this system.

Do you have any cool programs on your minix 3?

[Jean-Baptiste Boric]

Do you have any cool programs on your minix 3?

Depends on what you want to do.

If you're going to develop Minix from within Minix then installing Git, curl, OpenSSH and a good text editor is a must.
If you want to browse the Web then use lynx.
If you just want to mess with X11 you can try xpenguins and xneko.

Although there are thousands of packages available for Minix 3 with pkgsrc, nearly all of them aren't tested. You are encouraged to try some of them to see if they work.

Also, games tend not to build, but their data packages do, so for example you can install doom1 shareware files but I didn't found the Doom game engine package to actually play Doom.

[r0ller]

On minix 3.1.8 Igor managed to get Doom running but the secrets of building it has never been revealed:(

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/minix3/doom/minix3/8NL3kJNrZIM/OCDBXoNQrOIJ

[Jean-Baptiste Boric]

On minix 3.1.8 Igor managed to get Doom running but the secrets of building it has never been revealed:(

Without SDL, looks like our best bet would be to try and make xdoom run. I'll give it a shot.

[r0ller]

Hi Lux,

One more thing once you have pkg path set to 3.3.1 and you would like to have a something better than twm: jwm is available as binary pkg among the 3.3.1 pkgs:)

Regards,

r0ller

[r0ller]

Sorry, must correct myself: it's not among the binaries but builds fine from source. Sorry again, seems I'm getting old:(