Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ncar!ames!killer!mjbtn!root
From: r...@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US (Mark J. Bailey)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: MINIX and harddisk
Keywords: Can Minix run on harddisk partition like Xenix/DOS?
Message-ID: <285@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US>
Date: 7 Sep 88 12:13:31 GMT
Organization: JobSoft Design & Development, Murfreesboro, TN
Lines: 22
Hello,
We have Minix 1.2 and are teaching course in advanced operating systems
and plan to walk through the Minix source code through the semester.
My question is, is it possible to install Minix on a harddisk partition
such that DOS and Minix could somewhat co-exist on the harddisk? I seem
to recall someone mentioning it once, but that was a while back.
Also, with version 1.3 coming out, what (and how much) is the best method
for getting upgrade (or new) disks to version 1.3, and who should I contact?
Thanks in advance.
Mark.
--
Mark J. Bailey "Y'all com bak naw, ya hear!"
USMAIL: 511 Memorial Blvd., Murfreesboro, TN 37130 ___________________________
VOICE: +1 615 893 4450 / +1 615 896 4153 | JobSoft
UUCP: ...!{ames,mit-eddie}!killer!mjbtn!root | Design & Development Co.
FIDO: Mark Bailey at Net/Node 1:116/12 | Murfreesboro, TN USA
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rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!hedrick
From: hedr...@athos.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: MINIX and harddisk
Keywords: Can Minix run on harddisk partition like Xenix/DOS?
Message-ID: <Sep.8.01.38.20.1988.2907@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 8 Sep 88 05:38:20 GMT
References: <285@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 9
At least in 1.3 (I don't know 1.2) you can put all but the boot floppy
on hard disk. You need three partitions. Partition 1 would be DOS,
partition 2 would be Minix /usr, and partition 3 would be Minix root.
If you leave the boot floppy in the drive when you hit =, rather than
putting in the root floppy, Minix tries to load the RAM disk from a
file system on partition 3. So you put root there. Of course you
have to modify /etc/rc to mount /dev/hd2 as /usr rather than asking
the user to insert the floppy. Once you've done this, to boot DOS
you reboot with no floppy in the drive. To boot Minix you reboot
with the Minix boot floppy in the drive.
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ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hpcupt1!hpisoa1!vandys
From: van...@hpisoa1.HP.COM (Andrew Valencia)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: MINIX and harddisk
Message-ID: <3490003@hpisoa1.HP.COM>
Date: 8 Sep 88 18:53:08 GMT
References: <285@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 15
/ hpisoa1:comp.os.minix / hedr...@athos.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) /
10:38 pm Sep 7, 1988 /
>At least in 1.3 (I don't know 1.2) you can put all but the boot floppy
>on hard disk.
Even 1.1 can be made to do this with little trouble. The major/minor
numbers are encoded in the constants ROOTDEV and BOOTDEV (if memory serves)
in the h/ directory. Changing ROOTDEV to the hard disk partition, and
chopping out the floppy-to-rootdev copy results in a very nice root partition
on hard disk, with a much faster boot.
Putting even the boot floppy on hard disk is possible; the diffs went
by a couple of months ago--all it required was some changes to bootblok.s.
Please don't ask me for them; I haven't done this myself (I change kernels
too often!)
Andy
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!munnari!otc!metro!ipso!runx!brucee
From: bru...@runx.ips.oz (Bruce Evans)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: MINIX and harddisk
Message-ID: <1738@runx.ips.oz>
Date: 13 Sep 88 11:45:40 GMT
References: <285@mjbtn.MFEE.TN.US> <3490003@hpisoa1.HP.COM>
Reply-To: bru...@runx.OZ (Bruce Evans)
Organization: RUNX Un*x Timeshare. Sydney, Australia.
Lines: 21
Andrew Valencia writes:
>in the h/ directory. Changing ROOTDEV to the hard disk partition, and
>chopping out the floppy-to-rootdev copy results in a very nice root partition
>on hard disk, with a much faster boot.
Yes, there's little more to do than changing ROOTDEV. I made ROOTDEV a
_variable_ and arranged for the boot program to initialize it interactively
at boot time. Much the same was done for the root image device (BOOTDEV?)
which still gets used if ROOTDEV is /dev/ram, and the RAM disk size which
may no longer be determined from the image. Actually, I soon got tired of
typing the device names and changed Marty Leisner's boot-from-DOS build.c
to set them up from a DOS batch file. This allows the image to be kept in
pieces for convenient testing of different versions, and booting from both
hard and floppy disks almost as transparently as using a bootstrap loader.
A Minix-only version version remains to be done.
These changes are hard to extract from others in my kernel ...
Bruce Evans
Internet: bru...@runx.ips.oz.au UUCP: uunet!runx.ips.oz.au!brucee