
From:  Oscar Barlow                To:  Unix Users Msg #27,
24 Dec 86 11:50:00            Subject:  UNIX FOR THE IBM PC

    [I picked up this arcticle from USENET mod.os.unix. - Oscar]

(message is from Andrew Tanenbaum, author of MINIX and the book explaining
it entitled: "Operating Systems - Design and Implementation")

I have recently finished rewriting UNIX from scratch. This system, called
MINIX, does not contain even a single line of AT&T code, so it can be
distributed with source code.  It runs on the IBM PC, XT, and AT and those
clones that are 100% hardware compatible (not all, unfortunately).  To the
average, unsophisticated user, using MINIX is indistinguishable from using
V7 UNIX.  Experts will notice that some relatively less commonly used
programs and features are missing.  MINIX FEATURES: - System call
compatible with V7 UNIX (except for a couple of minor calls) - Kernighan
and Ritchie compatible C compiler is included - Shell that is functionally
identical to the Bourne shell is included - Full multiprogramming
(fork+exec; background jobs in shell:  cc file.c & ) - Full screen editor
vaguely inspired by emacs (modeless, autoinsert, etc.) - Over 60 utilities
(cat, cp, grep, ls, make, mount, sort, etc.) - Over 100 library procedures
(atoi, fork, malloc, stdio, strcmp, etc.) - Supports a hard disk, but also
works quite well with just floppies - Contains programs to read and write
MS-DOS diskettes - Full operating system source code is included - Source
code for all the utilities (except C compiler) is included - System will
recompile itself (requires 640K and 2 floppies or 1 hard disk) - C compiler
source is available as a separate package - Kernel organization radically
different from UNIX and much more modular - Software is not copy protected
Furthermore, I have written a 719 page book telling you everything you ever
wanted to know about operating systems in general and this one in
particular. The book contains the manual pages, an appendix describing how
to recompile the system from the sources supplied, a full source code
listing of the operating system (253 pages), and a cross reference map.
The software is available in 4 packages (book is separate):
  - Box of eight 360K diskettes for 640K IBM PCs (512K is sort of ok too) -
  Box of eight 360K diskettes for 256K IBM PCs (no C compiler) - Box of
  five 1.2M diskettes for the IBM PC-AT - 9 track industry standard tape
  (1600 bpi, tar format)
All four distributions contain the full source code, about 54,000 lines,
(kernel + utilities, except the compiler), virtually all of it in C.  The
source code for the C compiler is also available separately (as described
in the book).  The C compiler is NOT based on pcc at all.  It is based on
ACK (see Communications of the ACM, Sept. 1983, pp. 654-660).  The
following programs are included, among others.  Like the kernel, these have
all been rewritten from scratch by me, my students, people I paid to write
them or in a small number of cases, were donated by other people to whom I
am grateful:
.  ar basename cat cc chmod chown cmp comm cp date dd
   df dosread echo
.  grep gres head kill ln login lpr ls make mkdir mkfs
   mknod mount mv
.  od passwd pr pwd rev rm rmdir roff sh shar size
   sleep sort split stty
.  su sum sync tail tar tee time touch tr true umount
   uniq update wc The book and software are being sold by Prentice-Hall.
They are NOT public domain.  However, the publisher does not object to
people making a limited number of copies of the software for noncommercial
use.  For example professors may make copies of the software for their
students.  Universities may exchange modified versions. You may make a few
copies for your friends etc. If you want to port the software to other CPUs
and sell it, you need permission from Prentice-Hall, but they will not be
unreasonable.  To acquire the software, go to any bookstore and ask them to
order the book for you:
.Title:      Operating Systems: Design and Implementation
.Author:     Andrew S. Tanenbaum
.Publisher:  Prentice-Hall (Jan. 1987)
.ISBN:       0-13-637406-9
In the book you will find a postcard that you can use to order the
software. Please don't ask me for the software.  I have already spent
approximately 8000 hours over the past 5 years writing it; I don't want to
spend the next 5 years duplicating floppy disks.  The book costs about $35.
The software is $79.95 per set, including the source code.  I hope most
people will consider $79.95 for the binaries and sources of something
almost functionally equivalent to UNIX as being reasonable.  I know of no
other software package where you get 54,000 lines of source code for this
price.  As bugs are reported, I will send Prentice Hall new disks, so that
the version they sell will remain up to date.  (This also provides some
incentive to buy rather than copy.) For those of you going to USENIX or
UNIFORUM in Washington, D.C. January 20-23, Prentice-Hall will have a stand
at the show where you can play with the software.  You can also buy the
stuff there, but since the P-H people drive to Washington in their own
cars, they have a limited carrying capacity and they are only taking 50
copies, so get there early the first day.  If anyone is interested, we
could set up a newsgroup comp.os.minix to discuss minix, report bug fixes,
distribute updates of individual files etc. This letter is being multiply
posted to several newsgroups.  I propose that the initial discussion take
place in comp.sys.ibm.pc (subject: MINIX) to avoid having it spread all
over the place.  Besides, the only other newsgroup I read is mod.recipes.
I don't think the moderator will go for floppy disk with Hollandaise sauce.
Andy Tanenbaum, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (mail to minix@cs.vu.nl; if
your machine doesn't know where nl is [The Netherlands], try
minix@vu44.uucp, but that will vanish soon).
