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Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

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Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#11

Post by varjag »

phicoh wrote: post #6
pictur wrote: post #5

What makes the minix operating system special?

MINIX was special because the book was used in many universities to teach operating system principles. MINIX also one of the few affordable Unix-like operating systems you could run on your own PC, and it came with full source (except for the compiler) Linus was running MINIX when he created Linux. And finally there the famous discussion by Linus and Andy Tanenbaum (the creator of MINIX) about how operating systems s…

Minix also runs Intel Management Engine in ring -3 on every CPU where it is enabled. That makes it one of the most deployed OS in the world.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#12

Post by phicoh »

johnisgood wrote: post #7
pictur wrote: post #5

What makes the minix operating system special?

I think these features make it special: https://wiki.minix3.org/doku.php?id=www:documentation:reliab...

Note that there is quite a big difference in goals between the MINIX versions that were current when Linus started writing Linux (i.e. MINIX 2.0 and earlier) and the MINIX3 project.

For early versions of MINIX the goal was teaching. Many limitations were left in place, both to keep the system simple and leave space for assignments for undergraduate students.

Many people in the MINIX community went to the Linux community because Andy Tanenbaum would usualy reject patches and Linus would welcome them.

Way later the MINIX3 project was created as research project. It has many cool ideas.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#13

Post by ThinkBeat »

I see that Linux and MacOS run Unix dervied kernels.

I dont see how Windows does so. Its heritage is more along the line of VMS.

https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vm...

Unless he means the Windows Subsystem for Linux but it is my understanding that it is not runing a Linux kernel, but mapping to the Windows (NT) kernel.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#14

Post by ulkesh »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #13

I see that Linux and MacOS run Unix dervied kernels. I dont see how Windows does so. Its heritage is more along the line of VMS. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vm... Unless he means the Windows Subsystem for Linux but it is my understanding that it is not runing a Linux kernel, but mapping to the Windows (NT) kernel.

I suspect he means the WSL given the context of the previous sentence.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#15

Post by rconti »

ulkesh wrote: post #4

Articles like this always make me feel like I missed out on all the geek going on in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Of course I was a toddler when Xerox PARC was demonstrating their UI to Steve Jobs, and was in middle school when Linus was posting about his "(free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones." So as I enter mid-life, I realize just how much I miss…

Well, I would have been in 4th grade when Linux was posting about his free operating system, and we had an XT at home. My sister went to college in '93, so we gave her our old computer and got a brand-new 486/33. In 93 I was BBSing; 94 had a shell account, 95 had Linus' "hobby" installed on the family PC.. So I guess that was 8th/9th grade.

But I, too, often feel I "missed out". I guess it's part of the human condition :)

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#16

Post by meddlepal »

ulkesh wrote: post #4

Articles like this always make me feel like I missed out on all the geek going on in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Of course I was a toddler when Xerox PARC was demonstrating their UI to Steve Jobs, and was in middle school when Linus was posting about his "(free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones." So as I enter mid-life, I realize just how much I miss…

Better to ask what you can be part of now than worrying about what you missed.

The shape of computing has changed a bit since then but there's still a lot of very interesting work now and going forward.

But I totally get it... I've felt that way before about tech and music. In the case of music I spent so many years only paying attention to rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's and telling myself music was dead now, but it is not... it's just different and needs to be discovered.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#17

Post by ytwj »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #13

I see that Linux and MacOS run Unix dervied kernels. I dont see how Windows does so. Its heritage is more along the line of VMS. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vm... Unless he means the Windows Subsystem for Linux but it is my understanding that it is not runing a Linux kernel, but mapping to the Windows (NT) kernel.

Didn't windows used to distribute BSD code? The old EULAs used to mention the regents of berkley. Was that the Windows kernel or some network stack?

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#18

Post by ThinkBeat »

ulkesh wrote: post #14
ThinkBeat wrote: post #13

I see that Linux and MacOS run Unix dervied kernels. I dont see how Windows does so. Its heritage is more along the line of VMS. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vm... Unless he means the Windows Subsystem for Linux but it is my understanding that it is not runing a Linux kernel, but mapping to the Windows (NT) kernel.

I suspect he means the WSL given the context of the previous sentence.

WSL provides a Linux-compatible kernel interface developed by Microsoft (containing no Linux kernel code)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#19

Post by mnbvkhgvmj »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #13

I see that Linux and MacOS run Unix dervied kernels. I dont see how Windows does so. Its heritage is more along the line of VMS. https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-and-vm... Unless he means the Windows Subsystem for Linux but it is my understanding that it is not runing a Linux kernel, but mapping to the Windows (NT) kernel.

ytwj your comment has been killed for some reason and I don't have enough karma to vouch it.

There was some BSD code for the network stack in Windows 95. This was all legal and license compatible. I'm pretty sure it was gone by the next windows version.

Re: Back in the Day: Unix, Minix and Linux

#20

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

pjmlp wrote: post #3
secstate wrote: post #2

I love historical pieces about technology. There's so much new and shiny all the time in tech, it's nice to reflect on where we've been. Makes me want to re-watch Bryan's talk at Monktoberfest a few years ago on oral tradition in tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PaWFYm0kEw

Here are a couple of good places to start. https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/ https://archive.org/search.php?query=xerox Change the previous query to any company or research institute, e.g. Burroughs, Apple, ETHZ, Borland and so forth.

Network; TCP or something
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