Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 18th Apr 2007 20:46 UTC
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"Mr Tanenbaum still deserves credit for engineering an architecture that makes bug-free programming and porting simpler by design."
Actually, it turns out that microkernels are notoriously hard to debug (debugging an async kernel is much harder than a heavily threaded one), and that's the reason microkernel projects have such slow progress. Even RMS admitted this as the primary reason why Linux prevailed and GNU/Hurd didn't.






Member since:
2005-12-31
> What do you mean? Does Minix only run on x86?
I'll quote from the main page of minix3.org:
> To run MINIX 3, you need a PC driven by a 386, 486,
> or Pentium CPU or compatible.
and the FAQ:
> What hardware do I need to run MINIX 3?
> You need an Intel 386 or higher with 4 MB of RAM, an
> IDE hard disk with100 MB of free disk space, and an
> IDE CD-ROM for booting. It is not possible to boot
> off a USB CD-ROM drive (yet).
And from the Tanenbaum vs. Torvalds debate (Tanenbaum quote):
> MINIX was designed to be reasonably portable, and
> has been ported from the Intel line to the 680x0
> (Atari, Amiga, Macintosh), SPARC, and NS32016.
> LINUX is tied fairly closely to the 80x86. Not the
> way to go.
I'll omit a quote that tells what hardware Linux runs on. Seems like one of AST's arguments has turned against him.
Mr Tanenbaum still deserves credit for engineering an architecture that makes bug-free programming and porting simpler by design. Yet he obviously missed that good engineering is not all you need. From actually looking at the Linux code, I can tell that the code is rather messy, but I can't deny the fact that it works well and was ported to more platforms than Minix can ever hope to reach.