Minix 3.1.0 on Virtualbox 4.3.20 - networking, floppy, and scrolling
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Will Senn
Dec 21, 2014, 8:30:00 PM12/21/14
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I have 3 questions, one for networking, one for transferring files without a network, and one about scrolling in the console. First, a little background.
As mentioned in a previous post, I am working through the 3rd Edition of the Tanenbaum book in an attempt to learn about OS development. In order to minimize differences between the version of Minix I'm using for the practical side of things and the theory in the book, I have chosen to use the book version of the OS, 3.1.0. In order to run the OS, I am dependent on a virtualization platform as I don't have any spare PC's laying around. All of my computers are either Intel Macs or Raspberry Pi's and I don't think Minix is working on Pi's yet. I tried QEMU and Bochs and wasn't satisfied with either. Virtualbox is generally my goto platform and it seems to work ok with Minix. I was able to get Minix 3.2.1 working on it with networking and X windows - yay! I was able to get Minix 3.3.0 working on it with networking, X windows isn't available for 3.3.0 - semi-yay. But, with Minix 3.1.0, I wasn't able to get networking or X windows working on it. I'm most concerned with networking. I tried the lance driver and there were no reported errors, however ping yahoo.com or any ip address other than localhost simply doesn't repond.
1. My networking question is, can someone point me to some troubleshooting steps for the network or if there's a relevant thread that I missed that explains how to use/troubleshoot networking on 3.1.0 in Virtualbox 4.3.x, I would appreciate the steer in that direction?
In the absence of a working network (and ssh or somesuch), the only workable solution I found for transferring files between Minix and the host, was to create a floppy image using dd on my Mac, mounting it in Virtualbox, and using mtools to format, copy, and confirm the copy. After the operation, it appears necessary to shutdown Minix in order to mount the floppy image in OS X.
2. My floppy question is, does this seem like a reasonable approach, or is there some more elegant solution out there already?
It appears that the console in Minix doesn't support scrolling via the arrow keys and I suspect it doesn't support any other key combination either. I searched for this in the list and elsewhere and most of the time, folks were directed toward using the more command. While this works, it's not ideal.
3. Is there no way to scroll back in the console?
As mentioned in a previous post, I am working through the 3rd Edition of the Tanenbaum book in an attempt to learn about OS development. In order to minimize differences between the version of Minix I'm using for the practical side of things and the theory in the book, I have chosen to use the book version of the OS, 3.1.0. In order to run the OS, I am dependent on a virtualization platform as I don't have any spare PC's laying around. All of my computers are either Intel Macs or Raspberry Pi's and I don't think Minix is working on Pi's yet. I tried QEMU and Bochs and wasn't satisfied with either. Virtualbox is generally my goto platform and it seems to work ok with Minix. I was able to get Minix 3.2.1 working on it with networking and X windows - yay! I was able to get Minix 3.3.0 working on it with networking, X windows isn't available for 3.3.0 - semi-yay. But, with Minix 3.1.0, I wasn't able to get networking or X windows working on it. I'm most concerned with networking. I tried the lance driver and there were no reported errors, however ping yahoo.com or any ip address other than localhost simply doesn't repond.
1. My networking question is, can someone point me to some troubleshooting steps for the network or if there's a relevant thread that I missed that explains how to use/troubleshoot networking on 3.1.0 in Virtualbox 4.3.x, I would appreciate the steer in that direction?
In the absence of a working network (and ssh or somesuch), the only workable solution I found for transferring files between Minix and the host, was to create a floppy image using dd on my Mac, mounting it in Virtualbox, and using mtools to format, copy, and confirm the copy. After the operation, it appears necessary to shutdown Minix in order to mount the floppy image in OS X.
2. My floppy question is, does this seem like a reasonable approach, or is there some more elegant solution out there already?
It appears that the console in Minix doesn't support scrolling via the arrow keys and I suspect it doesn't support any other key combination either. I searched for this in the list and elsewhere and most of the time, folks were directed toward using the more command. While this works, it's not ideal.
3. Is there no way to scroll back in the console?
Antoine LECA
Dec 22, 2014, 5:06:56 AM12/22/14
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On 2014-12-22 01:29Z, Will Senn wrote:
> 2. My floppy question is, does this seem like a reasonable approach, or is
> there some more elegant solution out there already?
I am not sure, but I feel that un-mounting the floppy from MINIX then
> 2. My floppy question is, does this seem like a reasonable approach, or is
> there some more elegant solution out there already?
un-mounting it from VirtualBox should make its content available
directly from the (MacOS) host, without need to shut down MINIX.
> 3. Is there no way to scroll back in the console?
Antoine
Robby Tanner
Mar 27, 2015, 5:12:03 PM3/27/15
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2. My floppy question is, does this seem like a reasonable approach, or is there some more elegant solution out there already?
How about using shared folders....? I haven't tried it.
Robby Tanner
Mar 31, 2015, 4:53:46 PM3/31/15
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1. My networking question is, can someone point me to some troubleshooting steps for the network or if there's a relevant thread that I missed that explains how to use/troubleshoot networking on 3.1.0 in Virtualbox 4.3.x, I would appreciate the steer in that direction?
Hi Will,
Thought I'd update you on my progress. Maybe we can get this sorted out. I am using VirtualBox (VB, for the remainder of this post) 4.3.18 r96516. VB networking was configured to use NAT and I changed the driver from "PCnet-FAST III (Am79C973) (default) to "PCnet-FAST II (Am79C970A)". When I installed Minix 3.3.0 from the downloaded ISO and selected the "Lance" driver (which I believe is option 9), it could see the network. However, 3.1.0 (option 6 for the Lance NIC driver) it doesn't connect to the network. Ideally, I want to get networking going in the environment that ships with the book. Somewhere between 3.1.0 and 3.3.0 a change was made that allowed the Lance driver to function inside VB. Perhaps there is a backport available.....
Cheers,
Tanner
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