"MINIX is an operating system designed for 'resource limited' or embedded computer systems. Versions 1 and 2 were teaching operating systems upon which the famous book, Operating Systems Design and Implementation, by Andrew S Tanenbaum and Albert S Woodhull, is based and also was the inspiration for Linux. With this latest release, version 3, MINIX aims to be a complete, stable, secure desktop operating system for everyday use. Does it live up to those claims? Read on to find out."
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2007-02-22
Luckily, Mr. Tanenbaum's book is not the only one available to me. Operating System Concepts has been a much better reference, and compares more concepts in cleaner language, instead of presenting the-One-True-Design.
I dare hope that it's not that I'm not trying hard enough; this is what I've wanted to do since I was a little kid, and it's what I'm paying $50K/year to get a degree for!
Member since:2005-10-13
For instance, you can see how x86 cpus are handled - loading the OS into protected mode, switching tasks, security rings. Interrupts are handled almost exactly like in any other Unix like system. Drivers tend to be different at a high level, but if you look at them close up they would be similar. There's a primitive scheduler. Etc.
If you're looking at the overall architecture then maybe it wouldn't be the best place to start, but there are tons of details that are more interesting IMHO. After all, you can learn the basic architecture really quickly - it is the details of how things work that takes a while to learn.
Edit:
I have to admit I never really read through the book itself - the class I took spent most of our time going through the code at the end with the rest spent on slides/lectures my professor made. So perhaps if I was just going through the text I would think differently.
Edited 2007-03-02 00:02
Member since:
2005-10-13
While certain parts are different because of the microkernel structure, a lot of the code is very similar to what you would see in any OS, so I don't think it's fair to say you've "learned nothing" unless you really weren't trying very hard.