48 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
48 lines
1.9 KiB
Plaintext
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Using Minix in 640K RAM
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modified: Sun Sep 1 10:43:20 EDT 1996
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_________________________________________________________________
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Q: I installed Minix on a 640K XT and get a lot of error messages when
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I try to do real work.
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A: The problem is probably lack of memory. When you run out of memory
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errors multiply, and the error message that is printed sometimes isn't
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a good indicator of what caused the problem in the first place.
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Here are some hints for using Minix on a 640K machine:
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1. 640K just doesn't leave much space for Minix plus other stuff. Don't
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try to use the RAM disk unless you absolutely must (i.e., one floppy
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drive). If you have two floppies put the root on one of them. This is
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only temporary until you can have the root on the hard drive. To
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prevent a RAM disk from being created at startup make sure the ramsize
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boot parameter is 0 and change the rootdev parameter to "rootdev=bootdev".
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2. The ash shell is very big for use on the XT. It is nice, but you may
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want to change the default shell to sh in /etc/passwd. Alternatively, you
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can type "exec sh" when you are about to do something that strains memory.
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3. If you want to network an XT it can be done, but you need to streamline
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things. The default /etc/rc starts daemons you don't really need. Also,
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you should have a separate non-networked small kernel you can boot as an
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alternate when you want to do something memory intensive, like recompiling
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the kernel.
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4. When things are desperate use exec, i.e, "exec make". When the task
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finishes you have to log in again, but this method gives you more memory.
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5. It is possible to recompile the system by issuing "make" in
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/usr/src/tools, but you need a small kernel. It may be easier just to go
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into each directory (kernel, mm, etc.), and do a make in each.
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Albert S. Woodhull
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Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
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awoodhull@hamp.hampshire.edu
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http://minix1.hampshire.edu/asw
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