Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!swidir.switch.ch!01-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!news.iif.hu!isyshu!hole.news.pipex.net!pipex!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!news.mathworks.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!surfnet.nl!newshost.vu.nl!cs.vu.nl!ast
From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum)
Subject: SPARC SIMULATOR; MINIX CD ROM approaching
Nntp-Posting-Host: flits.cs.vu.nl
Sender: news@cs.vu.nl
Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, VU, Amsterdam
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 1996 22:12:52 GMT
Message-ID: <DwtHpH.Ky9@cs.vu.nl>
Lines: 54

A release of Solaris MINIX based on MINIX 1.7.4 is now available via
anonymous ftp.  Solaris MINIX will be included on the CD-ROM that
accompanies the MINIX 2.0 book, and the 1.7.4 version is very close to
the version that will go out on CDROM.  While Solaris MINIX 1.7.4 is
very stable, I am keen to get final feedback on all apsects of the
distribution so that the version distributed on CD-ROM is as good as
possible.  I have to produce the final version by about September 11,
so time is short!

The release is available from ftp.cs.vu.nl:/pub/minix/sparc,
as the files README.TXT and (the binary file) SMX174B1.TAZ.
Download both of them, then follow the instructions in README.TXT.
A Solaris MINIX blurb follows.

Solaris MINIX is a version of MINIX that runs as a user process on Sun
4s running Solaris 2.4 or 2.5 (and perhaps earlier releases of Solaris
2).  It can be used to support MINIX in operating systems laboratories
in a Sun/Solaris environment.  Earlier versions of Solaris MINIX have
been used in OS laboratories for several years.

In Solaris MINIX, MINIX runs within a single SunOS process.  The
processor time used is the time allocated to the SunOS process running
Solaris MINIX.  Each file system is a SunOS file, and the console is
/dev/tty of the SunOS process.  Also, it is possible for multiple
users to log into a single instance of Solaris MINIX, and to connect
multiple Solaris MINIX instances using a simulated ethernet.

Because Solaris MINIX runs as a user process, it does not require a
dedicated machine.  Also, multiple instances of Solaris MINIX can run
on a single machine simultaneously without interfering with each other.
 
Most of the changes are in the MINIX kernel, with the memory manager,
file system, init, inet and user programs and function libraries
largely unchanged.  

Any enquiries should be sent to Paul Ashton (paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz).
There is a Solaris Minix mailing list.  Postings and admin requests for
the mailing list should be sent to the same address.

Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)

P.S. I am going to burn the MINIX 2.0 CD ROM on 13 September.  If anyone
has useful stuff to put on it, please prepare each package as two files:
XXXXXX.TAZ (a compressed tar file) and README.TXT, an ASCII file telling
what it is and how to install it.  We will provide a generic mechanism to
get compress tar files (.TAZ) from the CD ROM to the MINIX hard disk and
de-archive them.  You have to supply the rest, either in the README.TXT file
or in documentation contained in the tar file.  The README.TXT file should
give a good idea of what the software does, how to use it generally, where
the documentation is, and stuff like that.  Detailed user manuals can go in
the .TAZ file.

If anyone has stuff to put on the CD ROM and has not already contacted me,
please do so now.
