HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cwr@crash.cts.com (Will Rose)
Subject: Re: Another MacMINIX 'suggestion'
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 23 Jan 93 15:04:44 PST

James Abendschan (bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:
:  
: >Date: Fri Jan 22 08:05:47 1993
: >From: jimlynch@netcom.com (Jim Lynch)
: >Subject: Re: Things I Wish Were In MINIX
: >To: bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu
: >Newsgroups:  comp.os.minix

[lines omitted]

: >On longer names: the files limits.h, unistd.h and ar.h all have a
: >#define whose name contains NAME_MAX. Can I increase this value 
: >without screwing things up? Specifically, would I then have a different
: >flavor of directory entry (and therefore a different flavor of 
: >filesystem?)
:  
: Actually, I think 13 chars is a POSIX requirement or some such.  I
: don't know about this.  It should work though, I suppose.

NAME_MAX is the maximum length of a filename; depending on how it is
used in application programs or the kernel, changing it could blow
away the filesytem on which the resultant programs are run.  Minix
uses short filenames of 14 characters because a 14 character filename
and a 16 bit inode number fit into a 16 byte directory entry.  You
can write filesystems with very_long_names, and I think it's been 
done for Minix, but I wouldn't just change NAME_MAX and recompile
if I were you...

Good luck - Will
cwr@crash.cts.com
From: bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Abendschan)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Things I Wish Were In MINIX
Date: 22 Jan 93 06:27:54 GMT
Reply-To: bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Abendschan)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Yes, I know, this is unsolicited, but these things have been gnawing at
me.

* a "nice" command [or some way of increasing or decreasing command
priorities] .. this would be handy for cron and background tasks in
general.. so a backup called from cron doesn't slow the whole system to
a crawl [hypothetical.. I don't have another drive in which to back
MINIX upon!]    

* faster i/o.  anything that goes to stderr seems to run much slower
than the rest of the text..  I have heard vague and unconfirmed rumors
about an "enhanced" stdio program which speeds reads & writes up a bit,
but, given my luck, it won't work on MacMINIX.  Also, why do exec and
system calls take so long to execute the program?  Even with both
absolute filenames and caching, it still takes a long time.. why?

* I've been crying for some time about this one: how come there's no
support for AppleTalk? [MacMINIX]  There is an include file, but no
code to go with it.  Is this coming soon?  I dearly hope so.  My Mac has
been lonely too long..

These shouldn't be interpreted as flames [grr.. I hate MINIX.. shoulda
never got the thing.. grr..] ... I *like* MINIX.  It is a great learning
platform, plus it is far more inexpensive than MachTEN or A/UX, and
requires fewer resources.

I know what you're going to say.. "You've got the source, fix it
yourself!"  I knew about { } much of C before I got MINIX, and I'm still
learning... someday, perhaps you will see my contributions on your
favourite FTP site.. but not anytime soon.

Well, I'm done ranting. Replies are feverently desired.
-- 
Copyright (c) 1993 AT&T All rights reserved
THIS IS UNPUBLISHED PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE OF AT&T
From: hlin@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (hua.t.lin)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Born again MINIX enthusiast, has questions!
Date: 27 Jan 93 19:04:50 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T


After putting away MINIX software on the shelf for almost 2 years, a few
days ago I decided to install the software on the hard-disk, and have
completed that as well as compiled the OS and made a working boot floppy.
I have a few questions that more regular MINIX user can answer:

1. It looks to me that the OS is not in 32 bit mode. Even though the
shell /usr/src/kernel/config has 386 options, there is no klib386.x and
mpx386.x. I compiled the OS with `config at'. Am I missing something?
The source listing in the manual also does not seem to have those files.

2. How is the OS executing in protected mode when you hit the `=' sign from
the boot menu? (I have a 386sx machine). Is it running in 286 protected
mode? Or what else?

3. How can you make the system boot from the hard disk? I did
`cp image /dev/hd1', and use fdisk to mark the first partition active.
The system would not boot and it says `Missing operating system' (probably
a print message from the ROM). I tried other partitions as well with the
the same result.

4. Using the MINIX `fdisk' to partition the disk seems to always result in
a print at MINIX boot time like `invalid partitions on winchester 0'.
When I did the partition with Dos, the first partition start with
Base sector 34. So I did the MINIX fdisk and made the a similar
Base sector for partition 1, and everything worked out. Also, if the
partition 1, starts at Base sector less than 34, mkfs seems to clobber the
partition table. The example in the manual wasn't very clear on this.
It seems to say that the first 2 sectors are reserved for something.
Also the partition table shouldn't take 17kbytes to store. What am I
missing here? ( I adusted the even sector Bases and Sizes).

Much appreciate all the responses.
- Lin
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer)
Subject: Re: Atari compile problem of MINIX 1.5
Organization: Technical University Vienna, Dept. for Realtime Systems, AUSTRIA
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 12:47:23 GMT

wl@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Lam;d410sz90;[03724) writes:

>Hi,

>  I have successfully installed the MINIX 1.5 on ATARI 1040ST with a 40M hard
>disk and a 720k drive.
>  However, when I follow the manual to recompile the system boot disk, I got 
>lots of memory related error message.

The Minix cc runs all passes in parallel by default, connected with pipes. This
can use a lot of space. If you use the -F option (I think. It has been
a long time since I last used the ACK compiler), it calls one pass
after the other, and each pass writes its output to a temporary file,
which is read by the next file. This is slower, but needs only as much
space as the largest pass instead of the sum of all passes.

Hope this helps,
	Peter
-- 
|    _  | Peter J. Holzer                       | Think of it   |
| |_|_) | Technical University Vienna           | as evolution  |
| | |   | Computer Science/Real-Time Systems    | in action!    |
| __/   | hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at                 |     Tony Rand |
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer)
Subject: Re: Things I Wish Were In MINIX
Organization: Technical University Vienna, Dept. for Realtime Systems, AUSTRIA
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 15:35:36 GMT

bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (James Abendschan) writes:


>Yes, I know, this is unsolicited, but these things have been gnawing at
>me.

>* a "nice" command [or some way of increasing or decreasing command
>priorities] .. this would be handy for cron and background tasks in
>general.. so a backup called from cron doesn't slow the whole system to
>a crawl [hypothetical.. I don't have another drive in which to back
>MINIX upon!]    

Look for a package named kub-scheduler or sysupd2 at your favourite
Minix archive. It gives you a much better scheduler (no more
coffee-breaks after ls, if something is running in the background :-),
a nice command and the profil system call.

>* faster i/o.  anything that goes to stderr seems to run much slower
>than the rest of the text..  I have heard vague and unconfirmed rumors
>about an "enhanced" stdio program which speeds reads & writes up a bit,
>but, given my luck, it won't work on MacMINIX. 

It is called estdio, and I see no reason why it shouldn't work with 
MacMinix. The version I have (and am not entirely happy
with) is 2.3. I have read that there is a newer version but I haven't
seen it anywhere yet. You could also use any of the public domain stdio
implementations floating around on the net.

>Also, why do exec and
>system calls take so long to execute the program?  Even with both
>absolute filenames and caching, it still takes a long time.. why?

Good question. 

-- 
|    _  | Peter J. Holzer                       | Think of it   |
| |_|_) | Technical University Vienna           | as evolution  |
| | |   | Computer Science/Real-Time Systems    | in action!    |
| __/   | hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at                 |     Tony Rand |
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: cwr@crash.cts.com (Will Rose)
Subject: Re: Things I Wish Were In MINIX
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 22 Jan 93 19:31:33 PST

James Abendschan (bf795@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:
: 
: Yes, I know, this is unsolicited, but these things have been gnawing at
: me.
: 
: * a "nice" command [or some way of increasing or decreasing command
: priorities] .. this would be handy for cron and background tasks in
: general.. so a backup called from cron doesn't slow the whole system to
: a crawl [hypothetical.. I don't have another drive in which to back
: MINIX upon!]    

There's a nice patch for the IBM PC; and possibly for the Atari.
I know nothing about Mac's, but it's Minix, right - you could try
porting.  Where do you find the patches - er... pass.  I know the
IBM stuff is on Warren Toomey's archive, someone just mentioned it.
KaiUwe Bloem (?sp) wrote the *essential* 1.5.10 scheduler and (I'm almost
certain) a nice call, on which I based the IBM port.  You could try a
German archive.

Good luck - Will
cwr@crash.cts.com

Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: osymh@giac1.oscs.montana.edu (Michael L. Hitch)
Subject: Re: Amiga minix upgrades
Keywords: n
Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman  MT
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 02:40:27 GMT

In article <93012013125@monty.apana.org.au> newton@monty.apana.org.au (Mark Newton) writes:
>seob@eskimo.com (Samuel Bayne) writes:
>>  I just got an old set of minix 1.5 for the amiga.  I had heard there
>> were gvp hard drivers available on the net.  unfortunately everywhere I
>
>Michael L. Hitch <osymh@giac1.oscs.montana.edu> has written a device
>driver for GVP controllers (looks like a cut-down version of the A590
>drivers :-)

  Yep - I just took the driver for the Commodore controllers and made the
changes for the DMA control.  The Commodore and GVP controllers are quite
similar since they both use the same Western Digital SCSI chip.  The primary
differences are in the DMA control interface.  I do have a driver I wrote
for my homebuilt SCSI interface that includes some error checking and 
support for SCSI tapes.  I want to change the Commodore & GVP drivers to
include the same features my driver has.  I was also thinking that since
the Commodore and GVP drivers were so similar, they could be combined and
the appropriate vendor-specific code conditionally compiled.

>These questions are asked every couple of weeks.  Why aren't they in the
>FAQ?  Indeed, why does the FAQ actually say that a hard disk is not needed
>OR SUPPORTED under Amiga MINIX?

  I seem to remember that the answer to that question was that the FAQ
reflected the PH distributed version, although I would think that the FAQ
could indicate that the 680x0 and hard disk support was available with
the update patches.

Michael
-- 
Michael L. Hitch			BITNET:    OSYMH@MTSUNIX1.BITNET
Computer Services Consultant		INTERNET:  osymh@msu.oscs.montana.edu
Office of Systems and Computing Services
Montana State University	Bozeman, MT	USA
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: meulenbr@ce.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks)
Subject: Re: Atari compile problem of MINIX 1.5
Organization: Philips Consumer Electronics, Eindhoven
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 08:07:37 GMT

wl@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Lam;d410sz90;[03724) writes:

[question of stack sizes and ram disk size for compiling 1.5]

For an out-of-the-box 1.5 system the values in the book should work.
I tested this in the past on my own 1040.

Reducing the memory of the compiler passes with chmem will not help you,
because the compiler will run out of memory.
Its no problem to reduce the size of the ram disk. Especially if you
have a hard disk with a minix partition, you can trim the ram disk (to
say 150 or 200 k).
I don't have the manual handy, but I'm not sure if it tells that you
should create a 512k ram disk when trying to recompile. I think you can
recompile using the supplied root fs. 

The only reasons I can think of why you run out of memory are:
- if you booted tos before booting minix, and you have things like a
  reset-proof ram disk. If so, turn of the system, wait half a minute
  and reboot from the minix boot disk
- if you modified /etc/rc so that there are several other utilities
  started. Try the 1.5 root fs, with the delivered /etc/rc
- if you are running other software in the background memory
  fragmentation may occur. Run the compile process as a foreground
  process with as little other things running as possible.

Good luck!
--
Frans Meulenbroeks		Philips Research Laboratories
preferred email address: 	meulenbr@prl.philips.nl
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Torvalds)
Subject: Re: 68000/i386 C Compiler V4.1 -> V4.2 Patch [Part 1/4]
Organization: University of Helsinki
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 14:01:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan21.124103.6725@email.tuwien.ac.at> hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer) writes:
>nemossan@uitec.ac.jp (Sakurao NEMOTO) writes:
>>	I am using C386 version 4.1 on the 486 (33 MHz) machine.  I works
>>fine.  But new Version (4.2 - compiled by 4.1) can not compile itself.
>>This new c386 loops forever at compiling src/optimize.c.
>
>I tried to compile it with gcc 2.2.2, but it wouldn't link. The linker
>(from gcc 1.37.1) doesn't print any error messages, but it doesn't
>produce an executable either. There must be something magic about
>c386 4.2 :-(

No - it's probably due to a bug in the linker.  I had similar problems
when I used the original 1.37 version of gcc+binutils under minix, and
solved most of them by compiling gcc-1.40 and a newer version of
binutils.  I don't remember what the exact reason for the bug was, but
it was annoing: 'ld' just died without doing anything (I don't think it
even returned an error code to tell you something went wrong). 

		Linus
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: bde@runx.oz.au (Bruce Evans)
Subject: Re: Another MacMINIX 'suggestion'
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare.  Sydney, Australia.
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 08:10:44 GMT

In article <1993Jan24.025500.13455@netcom.com> jimlynch@netcom.com (Jim Lynch) writes:
>>[Changing NAME_MAX]
>I see the problem. If I made this change, I wouldn't be able to refer to
>the old-style short-filename filesystems.
>
>So,,, howbout allowing Minix to have multiple file systems?

1.6 already has multiple file systems:

1. the old (V1) file system
1b. the V1 file system, byte swapped (8088 byte swapped == 68000 not
    swapped and vice versa)
2. the new (V2) file system, with larger inodes and 32-bit block numbers,
   but still with 14-char file names and 16-bit inode numbers (16/2 + 14
   == 16 == size of directory entry)
2b. the V2 file system, byte swapped

but these are not supported in a way suitable for adding more file systems.

The V2 file system probably should have had 28-byte file names and 32-bit
inode numbers.
-- 
Bruce Evans  (bde@runx.oz.au)
From: ez001496@hamlet.ucdavis.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: pc minix problems
Date: 22 Jan 93 18:23:12 GMT
Organization: Computing Services, UC Davis

Hello,

  I just recently installed unix onto my 486 and I'm having a couple of
problems.

1. Sometimes when I try to open a file with ELVIS (vi) I get a 
   "<file> is busy" message from the shell.

2. After being online for a couple of hours, the screen freezes and 
   in the middle of the screen I get the msg "alarm clock".  The keyword then
   locks up and I will have the reboot.


Anybody have any insights on these problems.

Thanks a bunch,
 
Dave
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: laurent@babbage.csus.edu (Laurent Chavey)
Subject: looking for the wd1003E card
Summary: I am trying to run the amoeba kernel(downsized for minix), need card. 
Organization: California State University, Sacramento
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 00:25:07 GMT

I am trying t find two or three Western Digital Ethercard. WD1003E.
I called arround, but could only find some WD1003 -V
                                                  -UA2
                                                  -WAH.

I would rather find the one listed in the minix user's manual.
If anyone has had the patience to run the amoeba minix kernel other than 
on one machine, I would be thankfull to know how.

Any other info linked to a device driver, tech specs or others are also
welcomed.
Thank you.
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: nh8038@csc.albany.edu (Nai-Cheng Ho Ivan)
Subject: Re: New to minix, where to ftp FAQ and minix
Organization: State University of New York at Albany
	<1993Jan27.184019.26468@cbnewsi.cb.att.com>
Distribution: usa
Date: 28 Jan 93 21:43:24

>  Buy the software, and it comes with the source code and a manual.
>  It is published by Printice Hall.
>  - HTL

Could you give more detailed information about the address to order
and how much does the software cost?  I am an IBM/PC-386 user.

Nai-Cheng Ho
SUNY at Albany
From: ndl@unix.brighton.ac.uk (  The Unix Guru)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Cry for Help
Date: 21 Jan 93 13:02:03 GMT
Organization: University of Brighton, UK

Please do not flame me for having such pathetic hardware, I am only a poor
student. Such as - what the hec did you buy an amstrad for in the 1st place ?

I have an amstrad ppc640,
and i have just got hold of minix 1.5
my machine boots as far as asking what keyboard to use, and then
on selecting a keyboard type it reports:-
PANIC
NonMaskable Interrupt
Process number -9, PC=0x0060:0x00000A70

It is probably my amstrad "pc compatible" (my foot!) hardware at fault,
as I know minix is pretty IBM hardware dependant.

Has anybody got a suitable boot disk for my machine ? , can you at least
tell me what the error means ?

Or am I sentanced to a life of DOS ?
Alternatively, will anybody take pity on me and give me that old IBM PC
that is lying around in the loft since they bought their new 486 ?

Yours PANIC-stricken,

Nathan Lock.
From: wmk@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Kwong;d410sz90;[03724)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: wd1003E card
Date: 28 Jan 93 16:32:51 GMT
Organization: University of Brighton, UK

Hello floks,

I think in the minix user's manual, the Western Digital Ethercard
number is misprinted.  It should be WD 8 003E.

Maverick
.
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: meulenbr@ce.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks)
Subject: Re: Atari compile problem of MINIX 1.5
Organization: Philips Consumer Electronics, Eindhoven
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 08:10:52 GMT

hp@vmars.tuwien.ac.at (Peter Holzer) writes:

>wl@unix.brighton.ac.uk (Lam;d410sz90;[03724) writes:

>>Hi,

>>  I have successfully installed the MINIX 1.5 on ATARI 1040ST with a 40M hard
>>disk and a 720k drive.
>>  However, when I follow the manual to recompile the system boot disk, I got 
>>lots of memory related error message.

>The Minix cc runs all passes in parallel by default, connected with pipes. This
>can use a lot of space. If you use the -F option (I think. It has been
>a long time since I last used the ACK compiler), it calls one pass
>after the other, and each pass writes its output to a temporary file,
>which is read by the next file. This is slower, but needs only as much
>space as the largest pass instead of the sum of all passes.

The 68000 version of cc does NOT, repeat NOT, run the passes in
parallel. All communication between passes is done through intermediate
files, which are stored in /tmp. 

68000 cc will either treat -F as a no-op or reject the flag.
--
Frans Meulenbroeks		Philips Research Laboratories
preferred email address: 	meulenbr@prl.philips.nl
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: archetyp@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Joseph R Pickert)
Subject: Re: estdio, MacMinix.
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 14:49:00 GMT

glalonde@vnet.ibm.com (Glen Lalonde (448-4278)) writes:

>The last I heard, the next update to macminix will use the comm toolbox
>for the windows, thus you get cut/paste and scroll back.

Actually, I changed this. The window management stuff has been moved 
out into a macintosh device driver (more like a desk accessory really).
This is so that eventually a nonkernel process can be fully in charge
of the screen, with its own windows, menus, etc, and this process and
the "terminal" windows will be able to coexist without any special
work. It does have scrollback, copy/paste.

Joe P.
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: jimlynch@netcom.com (Jim Lynch)
Subject: I did it! (I think...)
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 06:21:41 GMT

I now have a MacMinix version 1.5.10.7! And I _think_ I rebuilt everything...

Anyway, now I have a new question: I have in a Minix filesystem somewhere,
a copy of the source for GNU GCC 2.3.3 (the latest, with C, C++ and Objective-
C all rolled into one.) I know that the there is a GCC 1.36 binary for Minix,
because I have that too, and made it all work. My question is: what is the
proper cpu-company-os target/host string to give gcc's configure?

I have already tried: m68k-local-minix; didn't work... When I get the compiler
properly configured, I will post to that effect. When I succeed in getting
it compiled, I will then compile libg++-2.3 and post again. Then Minix will
have three compilers in one... as well as however many cross compilers as you
care to build! Just think... you can compile sequent code on your PC... (maybe
a better idea is the other way around...)

Thanks for all the help...
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: uab1017@dircon.co.uk (Charles Brain)
Subject: TT version of MINIX
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 15:53:58 GMT
Keywords: MINIX for ATARI TT


Hello all,
 Sometime ago it was mentioned that an ATARI TT version of minix
maybe available. I would like to know where I can get hold of 
the required patches and a boot disk. I already have a version 
for the ST but would like a version for my TT.

Regards C.H Brain
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix