117 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
117 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
WELCOME TO MINIX!
|
||
-----------------
|
||
|
||
The complete MINIX sources and binaries are located in the MINIX directory.
|
||
To install MINIX, please print out the README.TXT and INSTALL.TXT files in
|
||
the MINIX directory. (If you have a PostScript printer, print INSTALL.PS
|
||
instead of INSTALL.TXT.) You are VERY VERY strongly urged to read them from
|
||
beginning to end before even starting the installation. Doing so will save
|
||
a lot of grief later. Then go back and read them carefully as you do the
|
||
installation.
|
||
|
||
The source and binary of the fdvol program are also located here. Fdvol (or
|
||
possibly rawrite3 or wrtdsk90) are needed to transfer files from the CD ROM
|
||
to floppies and then to the MINIX hard disk.
|
||
|
||
Before starting to install MINIX, you must do two things. First, you must
|
||
have a supply of (at least 5, preferably 10) formatted floppy disks on hand.
|
||
It does not matter what is on them, but they must be formatted.
|
||
|
||
To run MINIX from a hard disk, you also need a free partition of at least
|
||
25 MB, preferably at least 30 MB. Note that this must be one of the four
|
||
primary partitions, not an MS-DOS extended partition. You can see how your
|
||
primary partitions are allocated by running the MS-DOS fdisk program.
|
||
|
||
If you have enough space, but all of it is in a large MS-DOS partition, it
|
||
is possible to split the MS-DOS partition into a smaller MS-DOS partition
|
||
and an empty partition for installing MINIX. To do this, first run scandisk
|
||
to repair any errors on the MS-DOS partition. Then remove your Windows swap
|
||
file, if any. Next, run defrag to compact the partition. Once these steps
|
||
have been performed, you can use fips to split the partition. For all the
|
||
details, go to the DOSUTILS\FIPS directory on this CD ROM and read the
|
||
following files: README.1st, README.TXT, FIPS.DOC, FIPS.FAQ, and SPECIAL.DOC.
|
||
These files will explain splitting partitions in great detail. In theory,
|
||
no files should be lost by spliting but just to be on the safe side, please
|
||
back up all the files on your MS-DOS partition before splitting.
|
||
|
||
The MINIX distribution consists of a number of .TAZ files. These are
|
||
compressed MINIX tar files. To install them, you must first transfer them
|
||
to your hard disk, then decompress and de-archive them. Getting them to the
|
||
hard disk is done via the blank floppies mentioned above. Since MS-DOS
|
||
does not provide any way to copy a file to a sequence of floppies, byte for
|
||
byte, we have provided a program, fdvol.exe, in this directory and in MINIX
|
||
for that purpose. As an example, if later on you need to put the SYS.TAZ
|
||
file on a set of 1.44 MB floppies using the A: drive, you would change to the
|
||
MINIX directory and type:
|
||
|
||
fdvol 1440 A: SYS.TAZ
|
||
|
||
Fdvol will prompt you to insert floppies until it is done. Be sure to label
|
||
each floppy with the file name and the floppy number. For 360K, 720K, or
|
||
1.2 MB floppies, use 360, 720, or 1200 as the first parameter, respectively.
|
||
You can also use the B: drive if you prefer by replacing the second
|
||
parameter.
|
||
|
||
In summary:
|
||
1. Go get a set of 10 formatted floppies.
|
||
2. Partition your hard disk to have a free primary partition > 25 MB.
|
||
3. Read README.TXT and INSTALL.TXT in the MINIX directory (in that order).
|
||
|
||
|
||
For the current state of the MINIX system, see:
|
||
|
||
The MINIX web page: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html
|
||
The MINIX newsgroup: comp.os.minix
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
OTHER SOFTWARE ON THIS CD ROM
|
||
-----------------------------
|
||
In addition to the basic MINIX system, this CD ROM also contains the
|
||
following directories:
|
||
|
||
LISTING - The full source code listing in several formats
|
||
DOSUTILS - Some MS-DOS programs to help you install MINIX
|
||
COMPILER - Some user-contributed compilers
|
||
NETUTILS - Some user-contributed networking utilities
|
||
DEBUGGER - A user-contributed MINIX debugger
|
||
BOCHS - A 386 interpreter for running MINIX on a UNIX system
|
||
SMX - A version of MINIX that runs as a user program on a SPARC
|
||
|
||
Each of these directories contains a README.TXT file describing installing
|
||
and use of the files. Except for the files in the LISTING directory, all the
|
||
other software and documentation was produced by third parties. We are
|
||
including it here in the hope it may be of interest to some MINIX users,
|
||
but we have not tested it and are in no way responsible for it. Comments
|
||
should be directed to the respective authors.
|
||
|
||
SIMULATING MINIX
|
||
----------------
|
||
In some situations, you may prefer to run MINIX on non-Intel computers.
|
||
We have provided two ways to do this. The simulator in BOCHS is a 386
|
||
interpreter. It also simulates the most common I/O devices, so you can run
|
||
MINIX on top of it. Bochs is written in C and runs on any machine that
|
||
has a C compiler and supports X Windows. The disadvantage of any interpreter,
|
||
of course, is a performance loss due to the interpretation of every 386
|
||
instruction.
|
||
|
||
An alternative simulator is located in the SMX directory. It
|
||
uses a different principle: MINIX is run as a user program on top of Solaris.
|
||
This program works only on SPARCs, but it allows MINIX to run at full
|
||
speed because there is no interpretation. The MINIX binary run this way
|
||
is not identical to normal MINIX because it does not run on the bare
|
||
hardware. Nevertheless, it is very close, all things considered. This
|
||
simulator must be compiled with gcc (not the Sun compiler), so a copy of
|
||
gcc 2.7.2 is provided on this CD ROM.
|
||
|
||
Each simulator contains its own documentation. Please consult these.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl)
|
||
Al Woodhull (awoodhull@hamp.hampshire.edu)
|
||
Kees Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|