Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!hplabs!hpcea!hpfcdc!hpfclp!diamant From: diamant@hpfclp.HP.COM (John Diamant) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: MINIX - From the mouth of the horse Message-ID: <6640001@hpfclp.HP.COM> Date: Fri, 9-Jan-87 03:21:21 EST Article-I.D.: hpfclp.6640001 Posted: Fri Jan 9 03:21:21 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 11-Jan-87 22:52:39 EST References: <485@uvm-gen.UUCP> Organization: HP, Fort Collins Lines: 41 Andy, I read your note with much interest. This sounds like a fantastic system which I am strongly considering buying for my IBM PC. However, your note left a few questions in my mind. Someone else here has already placed an order for your book and we will try to get a copy in Washington. What confused me (and others who already read your note and are interested) is that we could not figure out what the difference between the 4 software packages was. Personally, I am most interested in the 2 PC versions at the moment. You mentioned that the smaller version didn't have the C compiler. If that were the only difference, I would assume you could simply ship the larger one and tell people the compiler will not run on the smaller systems. So I presume that there is some sort of kernel tuning such that the smaller system will run with limited memory. Since you supply source, and I didn't see any mention of a kernel tuning utility, I assume that it requires recompiling the kernel to tune it. This means that the larger system (since it can compile itself) is tunable, whereas the smaller one isn't. Is this correct? Is it possible to create the smaller system by setting a few parameters and recompiling the system on a larger machine? Is this documented in your book? The reason I ask is that I am trying to decide which configuration I would need to order (I have 384K and 2 floppies). If it is worth it, I would upgrade my PC to 640K. What sort of performance difference is there between a 256K version and a 640K version? You also mention a different version for the PC-AT. If I upgrade my PC to an AT will I then have the wrong version? Or would I simply need to recompile the system with a different ifdef active? Which binaries are on the tar format? I also have one question on a completely different topic. I noticed one significant area not mentioned in your feature list -- uucp. Does MINIX not have uucp? Thanks, John Diamant Systems Software Operation UUCP: {hplabs,hpfcla}!hpfclp!diamant Hewlett Packard Co. ARPA/CSNET: diamant%hpfclp@hplabs.HP.COM Fort Collins, CO