The Minix 2 Hints Page modified: 7 July 2006

For MINIX 3 go to http://www.minix3.org. (Minix 3 released Oct 2005)

This is the Minix 2 Hints Page. Where is the FAQ? Frequently Asked Questions are now on a separate page.

Index to this page:

• Hints on installing Minix 2.0 for Intel CPUs
• Minix on small and/or older Intel CPUs (XTs, PS/2s, 286s, etc)
• Minix on Intel systems without repartitioning the hard disk (DOS-Minix, big RAM disks)
• Hints on Minix 2.0 for emulated and virtual platforms. (Bochs emulator, VMWare, Virtual PC, QEMU, etc.)
• Minix 2.0 for non-Intel platforms (Sun Minix, handheld computers)
• Old Minix (Minix for versions pre-2.0, for Intel and other platforms)
• MacMinix (Minix for the MacIntosh)
• Networking Minix
• Patches and enhancements for the Minix 2.0 operating system
• New hardware support for Minix
• New and ported utilities and software for Minix 2.0
• Minix and other operating systems together (data exchange, dual booting)
• Using Minix: working in the Minix environment
• Programming in the Minix environment
• Miscellaneous technical questions about Minix
• Minix documentation
• Sources of additional information on Minix

Hints on installing Minix 2.0 for Intel CPUs:

• Demo of Minix 2.0 setup. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• Problems with the vol command and floppy disks (revised July 2004).
• Notes on cleaning and testing floppy disks and drives (March 2005).
• Minix 2.0 CD-ROM support.
• Starting Minix from MS-DOS.
• Changing the Minix Printer Port. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• Access to 3rd and 4th serial ports.
• Accessing all memory in a machine with more than 16M RAM. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• Install Minix w/o a floppy drive?
• Install Minix from CD-ROM?
• 2.0.3 "gotchas" -- How I stumbled doing my 2.0.2 to 2.0.3 upgrade (ASW Dec 2002, revised Feb 2005).

Minix on small and/or older Intel CPUs (XTs, PS/2s, 286s, etc):

• Using 2.0 Minix on an XT.
• Installing Minix 2.0 on an XT with one 360K drive. (Johan Lindqvist, lindq@etech.chalmers.se)
• Installing Minix 2.0 on a 512K PC. (Hannu Hakkinen, hannu.hakkinen@fak.fi)
• Howto: Minix auf XTs (German)
• A patch for mode-switching problems on 286s. (Osamu Ishibashi, isibasi@nsknet.or.jp)
• An alternative patch for mode-switching problems on 286s. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• Using all 640K on a 286.
• Minix on the IBM PS/2s -- Keith Barrette's experience with an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 with 1MB RAM, 20MB HD, 20MB Hard Card. (Dead link! Can you help?)
• Example: a web server on a 286 running Minix.
• MINIX 2.0.2 en IBM PS/2 Modelo 30 286 (html) (text) (Spanish) -- by Ernesto Celis, noted on comp.os.minix, March 2005

...return to Hints/FAQ page index

Minix on Intel systems without repartitioning the hard disk

• Running Minix on a large RAM disk
• Using a large RAM disk with Minix 2.0.3 -- for installation from CD-ROM or use without a hard disk installation. Note, this was work in progress in early 2003. See the next item for a more successful approach.
• New November 2003: CD-based Minix distribution developed by Aleksander Korzynski and colleagues. This approach boots a complete Minix 2.0.3 installation into a 32 MByte RAM disk.
• How can I make a RAM disk bigger than 8 MBytes?
• Running Minix on top of MS-DOS. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• Demos of DOS-Minix with PPP (Claudio Tantignone, <ctantignone@hotmail.com>).
• The Internet via PPP on a 640K XT running DOSMinix (Tom Butz, 100372.1036@compuserve.com)
• Using DOS-Minix as a bridge between Minix and Windows.

Hints on Minix 2.0 for emulated and virtual platforms.

Under each category articles are listed oldest first. Keep in mind that versions of both Minix and the emulator or virtualizer on which you may want to run evolve, the newest version of both is probably the best place to start. Please tell me (asw@woodhull.com) of experiences, positive or negative, with newer versions of Minix and/or newer versions of any of the virtual or emulated systems mentioned here (or of any other).

• VMWare is a commercial software product that allows multiple operating systems to run and to interact on virtual machines on a single computer. It runs on Linux and Windows host systems. The home page for VMWare is http://www.vmware.com.
  • Patrick Wagstrom wrote Minix under VMWare how-to (2003).
  • Jeff Absher contributed a note on Minix to host file transfers on VMWare (June 2003).
  • Kenichi Takahagi has ported VMware Command Line Tools, for exchanging text data between a guest and a host or between multiple guests. He has also provided a patch to enable a Minix guest on VMware to copy the console screen to the host's clipboard when the F4 key is pressed. Click here for more info... (March 2005)
  • Also from Kenichi Takahagi: a driver for the AMD Lance ethernet device which VMWare emulates, descriptive file is here, complete package is 204ether.tar.Z. This package also supports Intel EEPro ethernet adapters.
  • There's an article on How to install and use Minix on VMware by Jie Yang at http://www.cs.vu.nl/~bs/vmware/. This appears to have been written in February 2005 in support of a class being taught at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (birthplace of Minix).
  • With the support provided by Kenichi Takahagi mentioned above, Minix on VMWare has become a useful environment for my work. I have posted a VMWare + Minix notes: tools, networking, and timekeeping article (ASW, April 2005).
  • I've posted a complete Minix 2.0.4 Virtual Machine for the free VMWare Player ready to run and updated with all Minix 2.0.4 updates as of June 2006 (ASW). It's a <10 MB download, requires about 64 MB disk space to run on a Windows host. (Disk usage expands as empty space on virtual disk is consumed).
  
  
• Bochs is an open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator that runs on many platforms. The Bochs home page is http://bochs.sourceforge.net/.
  • Transferring files from Minix-under-Bochs to the Unix host (1996). (Bradley C. Kuszmaul, bradley@cs.yale.edu)
  • Bradley Kuszmaul's Minix-under-Bochs page (1997). Includes links to info on accessing Minix files from the Linux host, and fixing a bug with the date. (Bradley C. Kuszmaul, bradley@cs.yale.edu) [Link is to Wayback Machine archive].
  • Minix-on-Bochs time problems (Bochs 2.0.2 on Windows, 2003).
  • Minix on the Bochs emulator (Jan 2003).
  • Getting Started with Minix on Bochs on Mac OS (Bochs 2.0.2, Mac OS 8.6, 2003).
  • Minix on Bochs 2.1.1 on Windows 2000 (ASW, Feb 2004).
  • Minix on Bochs 2.1 on Linux (Rob van der Leek, Feb 2004).
  • Minix on Bochs on Windows How-to (ASW, March 2004, updated June 2004)
  • Virtually Minix: A Tutorial & Intro to Minix on XP via Bochs on OSNews (http://osnews.com) (Will Senn, 8 June 2004).
  • When using Minix on Bochs on Linux sometimes when the user types into the Minix shell incorrect characters are echoed. The displayed characters are a mixture of greek and special symbols. Dog Walker describes the problem and a workaround for it.
  
  
• Virtual PC is a virtualization system that supports running multiple PC-based operating systems simultaneously on one workstation. Versions for Windows and MacIntosh hosts are available. Virtual PC was originally developed by Connectix Corporation, and was acquired by Microsoft in 2003. The Virtual PC home page is http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/. There is also a Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac page.
  • Here are some preliminary notes on running Minix on Virtual PC (ASW Feb 2005).
  • I posted a review of Virtual PC 2004 on Amazon.com, relating my experiences using Minix (ASW April 2005).
  
  
• QEMU is a processor emulator using dynamic translation to achieve good emulation speed. It is being developed to run on and emulate a number of different host and guest hardware types. The QEMU home page is http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/.
  • Preliminary Notes on Minix on QEMU (Javen Thyme, 17 June 2004).
  • Minix on QEMU Step-by-step (Javen Thyme, 5 July 2004).
  • Constantine Menychtas has posted several pages with information on installing Minix 2.0.0 on Qemu for use in a teaching lab (March 2006). There is an installer package and HowTo documents for Windows and for GNU/Linux.
  
  
• Information relevant to multiple emulated or virtual systems
  • Exchanging data between file systems of different operating systems.
  • VMWare and Virtual PC are compared in a short article, "A Virtual Shootout" from Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine for August 2004. Minix use is not mentioned, but the article compares the two programs on a number of scales. Both sound good in this account, VMWare is seems a little better on some points but Virtual PC is less expensive.

Minix 2.0. for non-Intel platforms (Sun Minix, handheld computers).

• Patches for Sun Minix. (Paul Ashton, paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz)
• Official SMX Patch Kit 1. (Paul Ashton, paul@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz)
• New Jan 2005: Paul Ashton's SMX site, no longer available at its original location, is now mirrored here. There is some duplication of the two patch kits noted above, but there are also some newer items.
• The Sun freeware site may be of help to those interested in Sun Minix.
• Minix is an attractive possibility for very small systems. Here is a page of links to projects to port Minix to handheld computers. (Most of these are works in progress).
• See also Minix for the MacIntosh:

Older Minix versions (pre-2.0)

The main focus of this website is current versions of Minix starting with the 2.0 release in 1996. However, older versions of Minix were available for a number of hardware platforms using CPUs other than the Intel x86 series, including the Atari ST, the Commodore Amiga, and the Apple MacIntosh. There is still interest in these older computers, and this section is included to provide starting points for those interested in using Minix on these older platforms. Also, details of Minix implementation for these older systems may be helpful to experimenters interested in porting Minix to other non-Intel CPUs.

Older Minix versions now are freely available under the terms of the current Minix License which is much more permissive than the original license under which older versions were originally released.

• Source code for Intel Minix for versions 1.5, 1.6*, and 1.7* is available at Kees Bot's Minix-vmd site.
• Interest still exists in the Amiga, emulations of the Amiga on Linux or Windows, and Minix on the Amiga. Here is a May 2005 post to comp.os.minix from Andreas Eibach about running Minix 1.5 on the WinUAE Amiga emulator.
• Eibach's post refers to The Amiga MINIX Page.
• See also Minix for the MacIntosh:

Minix on Apple MacIntosh computers

There was a release of Minix 1.5 for the MacIntosh which was never updated to Minix 2.0. However, the MacIntosh platform remains popular, and porting to the Mac is easier than ever since the release of Mac OS X, which is based on Unix. Bochs and Virtual PC are both available for the Mac, and these can provide platforms for hosting current versions of Minix as a guest operating system.

• Brad Pliner's MacMINIX home page .
• Getting Started with Minix on Bochs on Mac OS (Bochs 2.0.2, Mac OS 8.6).
• Installing MacMinix 1.5. (Edward Ellis, ellis@3-cities.com)
• Some MacMinix hints. (Andrew Erickson (aje9383@osfmail.isc.rit.edu)
• More MacMinix hints. (Andrew Erickson (aje9383@elvis.cs.rit.edu)

Networking Minix

• Compiling and using Minix 2.0 network support.
• Minix networking code documentation.
• See the hardware support section for information on ethernet cards.
• An explanation of the "received strange length packet" error message.
• SLIP and PPP networking with Minix:
  • Older versions of Claudio's SLIP, PIP, PLIP, and NAT support have been moved to the /pub/ct_net directory. Current versions remain in the /pub/contrib directory.
  • Demos of OS-Minix with PPP (Claudio Tantignone, <ctantignone@hotmail.com>).
  • The Internet via PPP on a 640K XT running DOSMinix (Tom Butz, 100372.1036@compuserve.com)
  • More information on SLIP, PPP, etc., for Minix is available at Claudio Tantignone's site, http://www.geocities.com/ctantignone.
• Older versions of Michael Temari's networking programs are in the /pub/inet directory. The newest version of each package is in the /pub/contrib directory. Michael posts new versions first on his own website, http://TemWare.Com/files/.
• Why does Minix1.hampshire.edu refuse FTP connections, saying FTP Unable to translate?
• Example: a web server on a 286 running Minix.
• New 8/2003: Trouble with Minix behind a firewall

Patches and enhancements

• Some improved keymaps (all available by ftp in the /pub/contrib/ directory):
  • Scandinavian
  • Italian
• Fkey is a small kernel patch for viewing the F-key diagnostic dumps from terminals other than /dev/console (asw).
• An implementation of the select() system call.
• Patches to implement symbolic links.
• Graphic windowing interface for standard Minix? Here is a report on work-in-progress to port Microwindows to Minix.
• See also the Minix Contributions and Uploads page on this site.

New hardware support for Minix:

• Where can I find documentation on PC hardware?
• Using PCMCIA peripherals with Minix.
• Ethernet adapters supported by Minix.
• Using 3C503 ethernet cards. (Kees Bot, kjb@cs.vu.nl)
• A patch for ethernet drivers to support PCI ethernet cards. (This is for PCI versions of the ISA card types previously supported).
• Ken Yap maintains the Network Interface Card settings info page with pointers to info about a large number of different ethernet cards. Note: The URL previously posted for this item, http://www.slug.org.au/NIC/index.html, now is redirected to the EtherBoot Project.
• Updating supported PCI devices for Minix.
• See also the Minix Contributions and Uploads page on this site.

New and ported utilities and software for Minix 2.0:

• Enhancements for the Minix C compiler are available. The C compiler is part of the Amsterdam Compiler Kit (ACK) which also supports Pascal and Modula-2 compilation. The Pascal and Modula-2 front ends were accidentally left off the Minix CD-ROM, but they are freely available on the net. Even if you only want to use C you should get the package for the updated documentation for the C compiler that is included. The upgrade can be found at the ftp /pub/minix.2.0/2.0.0/ack/ directory here.
  Note: If you have installed Minix 2.0.2 you already have the compiler enhancements.
• Perl 5 for 32-bit Minix (work in progress) is available in the ftp /pub/contrib/ directory
• Beta release of Mintools, utilities for copying Minix files under Windows and MS-DOS.
• GNU less 3.32 ported to Minix.
• Ext2tools (utilities to access Linux ext2 file system) ported to Minix.
• Gnu programs for 32-bit Minix. (Terry R. McConnell, trmcconn@syr.edu)
• I wrote a nice hex dump utility called hexd (a replacement for od).
• From Will Rose: an improved version of mined, the classic Minix editor.
• The pico editor has been ported to Minix.
• Browse the web using lynx, a text-oriented browser.

Items listed above are only samples. For a complete and up-to-date list of contributed items see the index to descriptive files in the /pub/contrib directory.

Minix and other operating systems together.

Minix users often want Minix to coexist with other OSs. The most important types of cooperation are

• Arranging to boot alternative operating systems on a single computer, and
• Exchanging data between file systems of different operating systems (revised March 2004).
• Also, there are links to articles about using Minix as a guest OS on virtual and emulated systems elsewhere on this page.

Using Minix: working in the Minix environment

• The usage(8) man page is not just an installation manual, it also has a lot of basic information on using Minix and working as a Minix system administrator. Many other section 8 man pages are also relevant to system administration.
• The sample config file directories have sample configuration files for networked Minix systems.
• Why doesn't the elle editor behave the way the man page says it should?
• Q: I want to edit a man page or write a new one. How do I view a draft man page that hasn't been installed yet?
  A: Use nroff -man man_file | more

Programming in the Minix environment

Please click this link and replace your old bookmark: the Programming in the Minix environment page has been expanded and moved to its own page.

Miscellaneous technical questions about Minix

• How fast is Minix on different types of hardware? Here are results of running the dhrystone benchmark on a variety of different Intel platforms. (Read the dhrystone(1) man page for information on how meaningful these tests are).
• What network interfaces are supported by Minix? See the hardware support section.
• Does Minix support PCI I/O adapters? See the hardware support section.
• Does Minix support PC Card (PCMCIA) I/O adapters? See the hardware support section.
• How does memory allocation for user programs work in Minix?
• Are there limits to file, file system, or memory sizes with Minix?
• How many i-nodes can/should be created for a file system? (In article on creating large RAM disks.)
• Could Minix use separate segments for stack and data?
• [more to come...]

Minix documentation:

Please click this link and replace your old bookmark: the Minix documentation section has been moved to a separate page.

Sources of additional information on Minix:

• Andy Tanenbaum's MINIX home page (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
• Kees Bot's Minix-vmd site -- for Minix-vmd and archives of old versions of Minix.
• Brad Pliner's MacMINIX home page .
• Paul Ashton's Solaris Minix page
• There are archives on the web of the Minix mailing list and newsgroup.
• Don't forget to check the Minix Bug List for items of relevance.
• More references can be found on the LINKS page.

...return to Hints page index