Linus Torvalds vs Andrew Tannenbaum
Philo
well...i've been using both windows and linux for about 2 years now
and have barely heard of minux until i recently read the new book
by Linus Torvalds
i read the now ten year old argument concerning the micro kernel
so i figured i'd like to try minux and judge for myself
since i have a modem connection, downloading it is a bit
impractical...
is there some place where i could get a cd?
or is the download small?
any comments would be welcomed
JohnandRhiannon
It's only a small operating system. You can download it in a reasonable amount
of time even on an old tin box. In fact it's particularly suited to old tin
boxes!
You may still find the book usefull.
John G Martin
Philo
i think i may just go for the download
and keep my eye out for the book
thanks!
Philo
i actually got the basic installation done now
but find i wouldn't know the difference between a micro kernel
and a monolithic kernel
but it was fun to try...
i will probably work with it some more
--
Philo
website: www.plazaearth.com/philo
anastasiA
> ok
> i actually got the basic installation done now
> but find i wouldn't know the difference between a micro kernel
> and a monolithic kernel
> but it was fun to try...
>
Obviously, one wouldn't know the difference between the two kernels just by
fiddling with the prompt as it is meant to hide, like all other unices, the
complexity of it all for the end-user.
The difference is in the source code.
The difference is in the approach to kernel engineering in regards to
issues like maintainability, portability, performance, etc.
--
a
Philo
reasons...
after all it was Minux which gave Torvalds his start
since Linux was written originally on a Minix system
my curiosity got to me...but my question was not answered by me merely
giving minux a try...
Did Linux become such a great success because it is superior
to Minix?
or were there other, "political" issues involved in some way like
microsoft's windows and NT dominating OS/2
just curious as i missed out on all those developments
as i was still using a typewriter until about 3 years ago...
and to me, computers did not exist
--
Philo
website: www.plazaearth.com/philo
anastasiA
> Did Linux become such a great success because it is superior
> to Minix?
My take on that can be read directly from the pages of Tannenbaum's book
(p. 14-15). In short, T. discusses the immense popularity of comp.os.minix
within weeks of it's creation, reaching around, according to him, 40.0000
subscribers. He then says that he resisted the demands of several hundred
of them to add features to Minix in order to keep it small for students to
understand. As people understood that "he really meant it", enter
Torvald's intention to write "Minix clone" as a "feature-heavy production
system".
So at this point, one can see Linux's popularity from the horse's mouth:
- Tannenbaum never intended for Minix to be a "feature heavy" OS which is
always a turning point for geeks to dable with.
- Tannenbaum never intended for Minix to be a "production" OS which is a
turning point for the industry to take it seriously.
Whether or not Linux meets these criterias is another debate.
Whether or not Minix as enough "serious" features or can be use for several
months without rebooting is again another debate.
Whether Linux is a good contender to beat Windows or OS/2 is yet again
another debate.
The issue is that Tannenbaum would not have not a developped beyond the
pace of an educationnal tool. Linux, however, had claims that attracted
both geeks and industry alike as we went into the OS war of the late '90s.
My 0.02$
--
a.
philo
library
and read some Tanenbaum...
at any rate i was quite impressed with the way Torvald's main concern
seemed to be
getting things right (and having fun).
after reading the book, not only have i now taken an interest in
Minux...
i am very slowly starting to actually like Linux a bit :)
William Parry
for my $0.02 worth, I came by comp.os.minix from the interest gained by
reading a book called "Rebel Code Linux and the Open Source Revolution" this
may give you an unbiased viewpoint you may be looking for.
Linux and Minix are two very different things, as has already been
mentioned, as one was designed for teaching, and the other as a free OS.
I've played with installing Linux a couple of times, but due to my lack of
programming knowledge at the time, never looked a the source, I hope soon to
by the Tanenbaum book, and try out minix, and look a the sources for both
that and linux.
"philo" <ph...@plazaearth.com> wrote in message
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