HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lan@inel.gov (D. Lance Murri)
Subject: Re: QNX - contact with users
Followup-To: comp.realtime 
Keywords: QNX 
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 92 19:35:32 GMT


> I'm looking for QNX operating system users. I don't use it,
> but I have some friends who feel very unhappy.
> Please send your answers (if any) to: ekogw@halina.univ.gda.pl
> Thanks in advance,
> Grzegorz M. Wapinski

We have installed a Video Distribution System at NORAD using QNX 3.15.
We have been (for the most part) happy with QNX.  I would be interested in
knowing why you have friends unhappy with QNX and what problems they may
have encountered.

We will be 'migrating' to QNX 4.1 in the next 2-3 months.  I would also be
interested in developing a dialogue between users familiar with QNX.  I would
rather not re-invent the wheel if a problem we find has been encountered and 
solved elsewhere.  Additionally, I would be glad to offer any assistance I
can in the same way.

If you are a QNX user and are interested in exchanging trench warfare tactics,
email me at lan@inel.gov.
========== long legal disclaimer follows, press n to skip ===========

Neither the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory or any of their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever,
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility regarding any
information, disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe
privately owned rights.  No specific reference constitutes or implies
endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States
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opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the
United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory,
and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
From: burley@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley)
Newsgroups: comp.os.misc
Subject: Re: 'Bare-bones' 32 bit OS
Date: 15 Oct 92 17:52:09 GMT
Organization: Free Software Foundation 545 Tech Square Cambridge, MA 02139
In-reply-to: mlesch@syslab.csd.uwo.ca's message of 15 Oct 92 01:41:24 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.014124.28759@julian.uwo.ca> mlesch@syslab.csd.uwo.ca (Mike Esch) writes:

   2)	Any sort of 32 bit 'stripped down' file system available?
	   Even 'code snippets' at ftp sites would be helpful.

   3)	Even better than 1) or 2) would be an actual OS as
	   described above!

   PS Yes we have considered different Operating Systems (such as
   OS/2 and Unix based systems) but have rejected them primarily
   due to excessive overhead and royalty/licensing headaches.

The code in Linux (see comp.os.linux) might be useful as a start.  As of
a recent version, it supports lots of processes and lots of memory
per process (in the GB range).  You wouldn't want all the UNIX-like
overhead, but the basic 32-bit stuff (task switching, device driving,
file-system, &c) stuff would do.  There is an extended file system that
supports >64MB filesystems as well (up to GB or TB range, I forget which),
though it's officially in alpha test.  And, Linux is GPL-protected, which
isn't quite as free as public domain, but might be okay for your needs
(based on what your needs seem to be, it shouldn't make any difference in
your case).

386BSD is another free UNIX for the 386 series, also 32-bit I believe, but
is more portable and thus more burdened with things you don't need.

Good luck!
--

James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson    burley@gnu.ai.mit.edu
Member of the League for Programming Freedom (LPF)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Subject: Re: What's new in 1.6.23
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 14:06:41 GMT

In article <HEIM.92Oct15194527@oliver.peanuts.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> heim@peanuts.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Gerald Heim) writes:

>	1. There seems to be still a litte amoeba support...
Amoeba has changed protocols.  At present neither old nor new is supported.

>	2. The reason why the patches are so huge because the whole
>	   /usr/src/commands - tree is included as complete source,
That is apparently a bug in my shell script.  I'll look at it

>	3. I've tried to build a new library, this seems to be a mess
>	   using the K&R-Compiler.
I'll check that too.  The idea was to start with the old libc.a and add the
new files.


Andy Tanenbaum
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: hpoe@nyx.cs.du.edu (Howard Poe)
Subject: Re: Dynamically Linked Libraries?
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 14:05:10 GMT

Glen Cornell <gcornell%core1@kssib.ksc.nasa.gov> writes:


>AmigaDOS, as well as MS-Windows, provide the capability of linking
>object code to a program at run-time.  

>How does an OS dynamically link object code? Is it taken care of in
>the kernel? 
>Is it possible for an OS like MINIX or UNIX to have this capability?


>-----------------------------------------------------------
>          Glen Cornell
>          e-mail:   gcornell@core1.hssc.ksc.nasa.gov
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>-- 
>Mail System (MMDF)
Linux now uses a similar scheme for linking object files at runtime.
Maybe you can check it out.
I don't have a 386. =(  So, minix is my only alternative for a decent OS.
MeSsy-DOS is NOT my idea of a good OS.  True, it works, but just because a bear
waltzes does that mean it waltzes well?
-Howard J. Poe
nwhoward@antelope.wcc.edu
hpoe@nyx.cs.du.edu
falcor@outlaw.uwyo.edu
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Dynamically Linked Libraries?
Date: 16 Oct 92 15:28:38 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

In article <1992Oct16.140510.25779@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> hpoe@nyx.cs.du.edu (Howard Poe) writes:
>Glen Cornell <gcornell%core1@kssib.ksc.nasa.gov> writes:
>>
>>AmigaDOS, as well as MS-Windows, provide the capability of linking
>>object code to a program at run-time.  
>>
>>How does an OS dynamically link object code? Is it taken care of in
>>the kernel? 
>>Is it possible for an OS like MINIX or UNIX to have this capability?
>
>Linux now uses a similar scheme for linking object files at runtime.
>Maybe you can check it out.

Yes, linux has shared libraries (X is a pain without them - both in
memory and disk usage), but it's not actually done using dynamic
linking, but by a simpler scheme which essentially just mmap()'s the
library at a hardcoded address.  This is fine and works, but if you
really want dynamic linking (not that I see why), you'll have to look
elsewhere.  They were talking about it over in comp.os.bsd for 386bsd -
I don't know if anything got decided (using hardcoded addresses and
jump-tables like under linux, or doing truly dynamic libraries both have
their good and bad sides). 

As to how dynamic linking is done - it can be done totally in user space
(essentially just running 'ld' on the binary at startup or by having
stub functions that load in the library when they get called), but for
good performance you would probably want kernel support (in order to be
able to share pages between different invocations of the same library
etc).  Getting dynamic linking right seemed too hairy for the good
points it offers, so linux went with the simpler scheme where all the
work is done at library creation time.  This may be slightly less
flexible, but it's much easier (and it does have some other good points
too). 

		Linus
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From:         Gary Jarrell <C604441@mizzou1.missouri.edu>
Subject:      Re: Macintosh MINIX
Originator: mmdf@louie.udel.edu
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 17:51:06 GMT

Stephen, I greatly appericate it, if you could summarize your responses
to your Mac question about Minix and E-Mail it to me.  I am thinking about
purchasing a Mac Powerbook 170 and want to put Minix, or AUX on it.  I really
do not wish to pay the prince for Unix or AUX, so I am looking at an alternate
solution.  My E-Mail address is: c604441@Mizzou1.missouri.edu.

Thanks in advance, Gary Jarrell
-- 
Mail System (MMDF)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Sun 2 minix
From: system@kryton.UUCP (Scott Beckstead)
Date: Tue, 06 Oct 92 21:29:55 PDT
Organization: Paradox Alley F&SF BBS 805-492-8789

I have a couple of old sun 2 systems and I was wondering if any one
knew if it had been ported to a sun 2??  If not I'd love to do it but 
I need some technical docs for the sun2 architecture (scsi boards etc.)
if any one has access to such docs or patches to 1.3 or 1.5 I'd appreciate
being able to get at them.
Thanks
Scott


System Administrator Paradox Alley  F&SF BBS and Usenet News/Mail 
805-492-8789  Thousand Oaks, Ca. The Place For Science Fiction and Fantasy
"Spin My Nipple Nuts and Send Me to Alaska!" Kryten, Red Dwarf
From: flebbe@wega.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de (Olaf Flebbe)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: What's new in 1.6.23
Date: 11 Oct 92 14:09:04 GMT
Organization: TAT (Theoretical Astrophysics Tuebingen), U. of Tuebingen, FRG

ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes:

>The direction I want to go is more POSIX.  There is also some work on
Very Good!


>One known bug is curses.  Does anyone have a curses library and header that
>is complete and works?
Yes. I've ported the BSD NET/2 distribution libcurses. It is rather small
and complete (itis the original).

Only minor changes were needed. But I don't know the exact copyright
status of such a beast. Can anyone tell us more about the status of
such a beast?  

Greetings
  Olaf
--
  Olaf Flebbe,  Theoretische Astrophysik Tuebingen
  Internet:     flebbe@tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: meulenbr@prl.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks)
Subject: Re: ST Minix for a TT...
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven, Netherlands
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 08:33:51 GMT

steve2@genesis.nred.ma.us (Steve Gerakines) writes:

>}>Frans Meulenbroeks writes:
>}> I have already running minix on my TT in med res. 
>}> Diffs against ST 1.5 will be posted soon (I hope later this month).

>Seriously?  :-)  I'm still waiting for your 68030 patches you mentioned
>months ago.

This are the very same patches. Problem is that I am far on the 1.6
route. That means that my patches will imply an upgrade to 1.6.??.
However, I don't want to send out 1.6 stuff before ast has done so
for the PC. We are consolidating the stuff and merging it into a
stable/frozen version.

>Also, have you done any work with your new Minix design?  That sounded very
>interesting.  If you've changed the idea around at all I'd love to hear
>about it.

Yes, I thought about it, and I had some discussion with ast about it.
The most difficult problem is interrupt handling. We haven't really
found a neat solution to run an interrupt handler in a driver, which is
usable on all minix platforms.
Note that the driver may have a different memory map, and that for
often occurring interrupts (tty@19200 baud) you want a fast interrupt
handler. Suggestions is this area are very welcome!
How do other micro-kernels with this problem?

Anyway, the plans on implementing it are frozen until we figured out how
to deal with the interrupt problem and until ast and I are fully happy
with our current version, so that we have a stable base to start working
on.

>}Jan-Hinrich Fessel says:
>}Then only one problem remains: how do i bootstrap with the sources from PH.
>}The TT refuses to boot from the boot-disk.  So how can the patches be applied?

>Someone could supply an image of the boot floppy.  That way you could get
>your system up and working enough to rebuild your system.  Amiga Minix
>had this same problem.  Out of the box Minix doesn't work on an Amiga 3000.

I haven't thought about this. Either an image of the boot floppy will be
supplied, or you'll have to borrow a friend's ST. I don't know how Andy
and Johan feel about me posting a boot image.

-- 
Frans Meulenbroeks        (meulenbr@prl.philips.nl)
	Philips Research Laboratories
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: cwr@crash.cts.com (Will Rose)
Subject: Re: Pronunciation
Organization: CTS Network Services (crash, ctsnet), El Cajon, CA
Date: 15 Oct 92 18:24:14 PDT


Minix was once Monix (I've even seen that in the source somewhere)
so I suppose it's a short i.  Meenix would have developed from Moonix...
nice name, Moonix.  Wonder what it refers to.

Will
cwr@crash.cts.com
From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: What's new in 1.6.23
Date: 12 Oct 92 22:58:21 GMT
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam

In article <HEIM.92Oct12152400@charlie.peanuts.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> heim@peanuts.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Gerald Heim) writes:
>Will I be able to use 1.6.23 with the K&R-Compiler from 1.5.10?

Yes. Definitely.  I have compiled all of 1.6.23 with the K&R compiler, and
as far as I can tell, it works.  Doing so takes a big of fiddling with
the library, but I have provided a shell script which I hope does all the
fiddling automatically.  You should be able to just type:  Install kr  
and have it set things up right.  If this is not the case, please report
that back to me (also report back if it does work).

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
From: jac@jacom.UUCP (Joerg Conradt)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Distribution: world
Subject: ST: Badblock trouble
Keywords: minix, badblocks
Organization: GuessIt Ltd.
Date: Fri,  9 Oct 92 11:56:19 +0100

I have trouble with badblock...
"readall" created the following:

> badblocks /dev/hd1d  21479  24156  24215  27725  27781  27841  28167 
> badblocks /dev/hd1d  28227  28286  28346  28669  29324  30250  30487 
> badblocks /dev/hd1d  30547  30701  30938  31168  31201  31261  31320 
> badblocks /dev/hd1d  31355  31380  31439  31742 

I started the file using

sh < <filename>

and I got 4 ".Bad_<nummer>" files.	  That's fine!

But after filling up the news-directory for a while i got Disk errors...
they are on block 21479 and 24156.

Whats wrong? Any idea? Any further information needed?
I am running ST-minix 1.5.14 - runs without problems (excapt of this an
the "tty reply failed" problem!!!)

Thanx for any help/advise,  Joerg

--
Joerg Conradt    Berlin, Germany      ||     UUCP: jacom!jac@obh.in-berlin.de

			- "Selbst wenn sie das Weisse Haus schwarz anmalen,
			    es wuerde nichts aendern." - Unknown
From: tim@maths.tcd.ie (Timothy Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: RaWrite 3 available for anonymous FTP.
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:11:39 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

kjb@cs.vu.nl (Kees J. Bot) writes:

>It isn't the in the spirit of Minix, it's in the MS-DOS spirit.  

Then why post it to comp.os.minix ?

It's lucky your friend kept his CRC,
or he might even now be incarcerated in a Dutch dungeon.
What is the sentence for naughty rawrites in Holland these days?

-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail: tim@maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
From: steve2@genesis.nred.ma.us (Steve Gerakines)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: ST Minix for a TT...
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:35:28 GMT
Organization: Genesis Public Access Minix  +1 508 664 0149

}>Frans Meulenbroeks writes:
}> I have already running minix on my TT in med res. 
}> Diffs against ST 1.5 will be posted soon (I hope later this month).

Seriously?  :-)  I'm still waiting for your 68030 patches you mentioned
months ago.

Also, have you done any work with your new Minix design?  That sounded very
interesting.  If you've changed the idea around at all I'd love to hear
about it.

}Jan-Hinrich Fessel says:
}Then only one problem remains: how do i bootstrap with the sources from PH.
}The TT refuses to boot from the boot-disk.  So how can the patches be applied?

Someone could supply an image of the boot floppy.  That way you could get
your system up and working enough to rebuild your system.  Amiga Minix
had this same problem.  Out of the box Minix doesn't work on an Amiga 3000.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Gerakines           |
steve2@genesis.nred.ma.us |
+1 (508)664-0149          |                         [nothingisforfreeyouknow]
From: Glen Cornell <gcornell%core1@kssib.ksc.nasa.gov>
Subject: RE: INTRO TO *NIX
Originator: mmdf@louie.udel.edu
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 21:52:10 GMT


>For a person like me that uses Minix to learn "how to USE" a UNIX-like
>operating system (I don't want to know how it works), and that has a good
>time testing if applications work:

>Victor Moreno -ikbe1@cc.uab.es


I am, by no means, an expert on operating systems.  However, I will
try to answer your question:

If you are interested in the internal workings of a relatively modern
operating system (the term "modern" is used loosely - supports
multitasking, networking, etc.), then try MINIX.  The source code is
available (for a small price, of course), Dr. Tanenbaum wrote a text
book which uses it as a vehicle for learning, and you already have
access to a huge source of information (the subscribers to the MINIX
newsgroup).

Even if you plan on just "using" or programming on a UNIX-based
platform, the knowledge you would gain from this learing experience is
invaluable.  You could understand how to improve the efficiency of
your programs as well as that of the overall system.  But, most
importantly, imagine the number of people who would be impressed at
your control of the debate over interprocess communications algorithms
at a party.

I have not seen LINUX.  So, I can make no claims other than that I
hear that it is a fairly complete OS except for documentation. If you
want documentation, go to either Coherent or MINIX.

I just want to add that MINIX was intended (forgive me, Dr. Tanenbaum,
if I get this wrong) to be used as a tool for people to learn about
the internal workings of an operating system.  I feel that the
hundreds of utilities that come with it are a bonus.  So if all you
want to do is learn how to use it, you're missing an important point.

-----------------------------------------------------------
          Glen Cornell
          e-mail:   gcornell@core1.hssc.ksc.nasa.gov
-----------------------------------------------------------
-- 
Mail System (MMDF)
From: dennis@solar.csie.ntu.edu.tw (Dennis Cheng-Zen Yang)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Alternate shell
Date: 8 Oct 92 03:30:29 GMT
Organization: University of Delaware
Originator: mmdf@louie.udel.edu

> 
> Where can I get a copy of 'ssh'.  I've read here that it is an enhanced
> borne shell.  I'd love to be able to call back and edit previously typed
> commands.  I've checked plains and they don't seem to have it.  Can anyone
> point me in the right direction or mail me a copy?  BTW.. I have bcc or
> ACK as compilers and I don't have a 32 bit OS running.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> 
> Frank Pursel jwt!minor!fpp
> 
> I just don't have a signature...
> 

I'v ftped from ftp.uni-koeln.de.
You can also ftp to our anony ftp server :
    earth.csie.ntu.edu.tw (140.112.28.163)
    /pub/minix/commands/shells

Wish you enjoy it !


-- 
Dennis Cheng-Zen Yang                    Inter: dennis@solar.csie.ntu.edu.tw
Computer System Lab.                     Tel  : 886-2-3630231 ext 3236 or 3016
Dep. of Computer Sci. and Info. Eng.     ___  ___   ,
National Taiwan University              /    <__   /
				       <___  ___> <___
-- 
Mail System (MMDF)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: meulenbr@prl.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks)
Subject: Re: ST Minix for a TT...
Organization: Philips Research Laboratories Eindhoven, Netherlands
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 10:22:36 GMT

[Hmm. It's pretty weird to follow-up on your own article]
I just saw that ast made his 1.6.23 available for beta test. 
I need to do some testing to see if all works fine with the K&R
compiler. When that is done I'll make the atari diffs available.
This includes TT/68030 support.

After that I intend to look at the micro-kernel stuff again.

Frans.

-- 
Frans Meulenbroeks        (meulenbr@prl.philips.nl)
	Philips Research Laboratories
From: steve2@genesis.nred.ma.us (Steve Gerakines)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: variable # of arguments
Date: 6 Oct 92 19:18:26 GMT
Organization: Genesis Public Access Minix  +1 508 664 0149

> Yue-Herng Lin says:
> Try this,
> 
> int foo(s)
> char *s;
> {
>     char **p;
>     for (p=(char **)&s;*p;p++)
>        printf("Argument: %s\n", *p);
> }
> main()
> {
>     foo("First","Second","Third");
                                  ^^
> }

Might work a little nicer if you put a ,NULL in there.
--
Steve Gerakines  steve2@genesis.nred.ma.us  +1(508)664-0149
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: u31b3hs@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Michael Haardt)
Subject: Re: What's new in 1.6.23
Organization: Rechnerbetrieb Informatik  /  RWTH Aachen
Date: 14 Oct 92 10:18:53 GMT

ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes:

>One known bug is curses.  Does anyone have a curses library and header that
>is complete and works?

I had lots of curses versions, so I think I can answer this.  The best
version I think is ncurses, but it is old code.  As far as I know,
someone in the Linux group started cleaning it up and works on it.  The
curses version I once released was a slightly cleaned up version of a
hacked ncurses version, not very nice but usable.

Perhaps asking in comp.os.linux might help, because I don't know where
to get the current version of ncurses for Linux.  Right now nobody seems
to have that version, even I have only my old version and messy BSD curses.

Good to see that Minix isn't as dead as it seemed, keep up the good work.
Is there still Amoeba protocol support?

Michael
From: mugsy@winton.uucp (Michael G. Bruce)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Minix Pronounciation
Date: 14 Oct 92 18:49:50 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MA
NNTP-Posting-Host: winton.wpi.edu

I'm sorry to divert from the normally technical issues of this newsgroup, but
this problem has been pestering me for a while now.

My German collegues pronounce it "Meenix" while my OS instructor insists on
"Minnix" (supposibly rhyming with Unix).  I know it stands for Miniature Unix
which gives my instructor the sway, but is there a definative way of saying it?



...echoes of a LaTex argument I heard last week...LahTeck that is :)
 
-- 
  Michael G. Bruce - mugsy@wpi.wpi.edu - Computer Science '94	      |
Sun System Adminstrator - Electrical/Computer Engineering Dept	   -- + --
          AK211 - Computational Fields Laboratory		      |
***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***---***--***	      |
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
From: heim@peanuts.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de (Gerald Heim)
Subject: Re: What's new in 1.6.23
Organization: organisiert? ich? ach was!
Date: 15 Oct 92 19:45:27

In article <u31b3hs.719057933@cip-s02> u31b3hs@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Michael Haardt) writes:

   Good to see that Minix isn't as dead as it seemed, keep up the good work.
   Is there still Amoeba protocol support?

   Michael

OK. Yesterday evening I applied the 1.6.23 patches. 

	1. There seems to be still a litte amoeba support, but I think you
	   will have problems to get it running. All the headerfiles
	   changed except the amoeba-related ;)
	2. The reason why the patches are so huge because the whole
	   /usr/src/commands - tree is included as complete source,
	   not as patches, all the patches in there are 0 bytes long.
	   Some shell-script might have gone crazy...
	   I think the whole changes could be in 500kB patches, not
	   in 3MB, as now is.
	3. I've tried to build a new library, this seems to be a mess
	   using the K&R-Compiler. There is no hint which files should
	   be kept that aren't patched and the stdio-subtree seems to miss.
	   (other subtrees too, but they are ansi-cc related)
	   I had to hack a few files, because of changed headerfiles
	   or ansi-style function declarations.
	   I think the declaration of _M is missing now and the macro-ifs
	   in limits.h dosn't work with the K&R compiler, nothing
	   that can't be hacked the ugly way.

I'll keep on trying.....

gjh
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix