Sort-of OT: Minix

[Leo J Mauler]

On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 13:27:55 -0600 "Brian Kelsay" <BLKELSAY at kcc.usda.gov>
writes:
> Well, from a quick Google, I found that you can use that 8088

[snip!]

> you can run Minix

Just to let everyone know, I found a site which does carry the Minix OS,
it will run on x86 computers as low as an original IBM PC (thats PC, not
necessarily XT).  It does appear that MFM/RLL isn't supported, as the
docs only talk about IDE hard drives.  This means that your IBM PC will
be running Minix entirely on floppies, though you can probably load up
Minix on your 286's hard drive.

I'm downloading the Minix v2.0 CDROM right now (files, not ISO).

http://www.minix.org/

from the Minix Information Sheet
(http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html):

HARDWARE REQUIRED

To run MINIX 2.0, you need a PC driven by an 8088, 286, 386, 486, or
Pentium CPU. The system must be 100% hardware compatible with the PC-AT
and its successors (i.e, EISA bus, IDE disk, etc.).
To run the 16-bit version, 640K is the minimum. To run the 32-bit
version, 2MB is the minimum. To run comfortably, another 512K is needed.
A hard disk is not technically required, but is strongly recommended to
take full advantage of the system. To load all the sources and be able to
recompile the system, 30 MB is the practical minimum but with a 20 MB
disk partition, you can still run and compile parts of the system.
The system must have either a CGA, EGA, VGA, monochrome, or Hercules
video card, or another card that emulates one of these. Both 5.25" and
3.5" diskettes are supported, as are printers using the parallel port and
modems and terminals using the serial ports. Mitsumi CD-ROMs are also
supported, as are some Ethernet cards.