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The End Of Minix?

Posted by timothy on from the i'm-shrinking-i'm-shrinking dept.

Otter writes "Minix is best known as the Unix clone for x86 that inspired Linus Torvalds to write one himself. It's pretty much dropped off the map since. The latest patch for XFree86's xterm drops support for Minix. As the changelog notes, 'Juliusz Chroboczek noted it was removed from XFree86 server; there have been no users since 1996.'"

13 of 401 comments (clear)

  1. so XFree86 = usage stattistics? by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    since when were you required to run XF86 when you ran any Unix-based OS?

    Just b/c they feel that there have been no users since 1996 (which is probably the case, but not the point) that means the end of Minix?

    At least get some real proof it is dead before you put such scandalous headlines on the frontpage ;)

    1. Re:so XFree86 = usage stattistics? by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actially the shame of this is Minix(VMD) and X make a seriously slim little X terminal on crappy old hardware.
      This is a shame, as I learned on Minix, and still have a spot in me heart for it.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    2. Re:so XFree86 = usage stattistics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "...why would I use it?"

      To browse the web. Lynx and co are nice and all, but the web really was the one final killer app in favour of the GUI.

      The entire web paradigm is built graphical manipulation. You simply can not get a good web experience from the CLI.

      Everything else you could argue, but not the web.

  2. "Minix is dying!"? by Mage+Powers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this post makes me think of that BSD is dying stuff ;o
    Minux is dying! Clearly you can see that because its users don't use X windows!

    Just had to ;)

  3. Learning Source by antibios · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Minix makes an awesome unix OS to learn from. You all must agree that it doesn't have to be used as a production machine, it's really quite suited to use for teaching students.

    1. Re:Learning Source by oh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Minux wasn't intended to help you learn how to use a UNIX, it was intended to help you learn how to write UNIX.

      It was written to be used as lab work for Operating sytem courses. I don't know about the "no users since 1996" comment. As recently as 1999 (when I was last in University) a group of undergrads were writing a process migration system for it.

      While I agree BSD or Linux are probably much more practical for production use, they are a bit more daunting to the programming student.

      --
      Democracy isn't about no one telling you what to do. It's about everyone telling you what to do.
  4. What I would like to know is... by messiertom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If there have been no minix users since 1996, why did they wait six years to drop support?

  5. Re:I had to say this... by messiertom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No.

    The name "GNU/Linux" is derived from the fact that almost all Linux distros make good use of the GNU tools. Minix makes no use of them.

  6. Let's not forget ... by vlad_petric · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ... that, leaving aside the political debates, flamewars, etc, Minix was the operating system from which Linux was bootstrapped (IIRC the very first Linux versions were compiled under Minix, had the Minix fs "hardcoded" - way before VFS existed, etc.)

    So, while it may be dead (some may claim that it wasn't ever really alive), it is still alive through one of its most successful offsprings, our most beloved Linux!

    The Raven.

    --

    The Raven

  7. It's still around by Sheetrock · · Score: 4, Insightful
    True, not many people are using it on the desktop anymore, but there are still a number of things that Minix excels at. It was adapted to embedded computing before Linux, for one thing, because it could run the 286 processor in extended mode. It makes a much more efficient/lightweight server than any *BSD, and is actually responsible for a large segment of the Apache userbase on the Internet yet goes underreported because the server string in the apache-minix package says Linux. Additionally, the code is (IMHO) much easier to follow for CS students, and demonstrates many more esoteric yet practical systems engineering principles than can be found in its fork (Linux).

    So no, I wouldn't fire off that 'Minix is dying' troll just yet; the presence of Minix filesystem compatibility in its friendly rivals betrays the foothold Minix yet retains among many of the computers that power the Internet today. We wouldn't argue that Linux is dying simply because it doesn't have nearly the desktop share of Microsoft Windows, because we are aware that it is churning away out there just beneath the consciousness of most computer users. So too we should remember that Minix occupies as well a place within our hearts as well as within the Internet.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  8. Was it superior by SexyKellyOsbourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even though Minix is long dead, there still is a good question: was a microkernel architecture better, or is Linux's monolithic kernel the right way to go?

    WindowsNT uses the microkernel design, but most operating systems since DOS haven't used a monolithic kernel, which was only truly necessary in the days of extremely scarce resources. It's true that Linux does extremely well under many circumstances, but could it have been done even better with a nice, modular, microkernel design?

    If history had changed and Minix took off instead of Linux, would we be better off today with the superiority of a microkernel design?

    I think we would.

  9. Minux is a teaching OS by Katz_is_a_moron · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comparing Minux to Linux is like comparing a wagon to a Lexus. Minux was never designed to be a production O/S. It was designed to teach for students taking a first course in operating systems design.

  10. Re:If Linus were Homer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You miss the same point that all the newly baptized Linux zealots miss when they read that seminal thread.

    The point? Tanenbaum is a *Professor*. The key line "If you were my student, I'd give you an F." -- and he's right. From an academic standpoint, Linux's design was and mostly is completely uninteresting. He's not arguing for microkernels as much as telling a student that plagurizing 20-year old monolithic Unix wasn't exactly groundbreaking work.

    The interesting parts of Linux (free versus $1000/seat, the development model, the licencing) probably belong in a Sociology or History of Technology paper rather than in the Computer Science department with Tanenbaum.