NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/applications/140

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 6.2 KB

Path: news.restena.lu!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Manou BILLA)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Subject: Re: AmiNIX
Date: 4 Jan 1996 01:36:45 GMT
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On 03-Jan-96 01:16:17, Jim Saklad ([e-mail]) wrote to
All () about Re: AmiNIX (<[e-mail]>):

Hi Jim

>On 23-Dec-95 19:41:54, Manou BILLA commented:
>>On 20-Dec-95 22:12:21, Reg Martin ([e-mail]) wrote
>>>Manou BILLA ([e-mail]) wrote:
>>>:         Aminix (in development, runs at the same time with the AMIGA-OS)
>>>Tell me more!
>>Yep here's what I did find on the homepage!

>Sounds interesting! Where is the homepage?
> (i.e., URL: http://.......................)

try http://www.afn.org/~aminix/

but it hasn't changed for months, but the project is still alive. The author
responded to an email lately that the project is going on slowly because of
personal problems. The mailing list still exists but there hasn't been any
mailings yet!

Here's the author's email:

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From: Out of his mind <[e-mail]>
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Subject: Re: UNixes...
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 95 15:23:00
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On 8 Nov 1995 [e-mail] wrote:

> Aminix looks curious, but I've not looked closely.  I'm not certain what
> the difference between this and a gcc/ixemul.library/DaggeX combination.
> Perhaps somebody could enlighten us?

Since that's my progject, and it's back under construction finally, I
suppose I'll do the enlightening here.

AmiNIX was first meant to be just a 'better than ixemul' library. But in
the creation of it, using NetBSD sources, it grew and expanded into
something a bit different than I first planned. Here's some of the
differences (guess I'll make a copy of this message for when I get around
to making a FAQ :) ...

- ixemul still has system problems. I've seen crashes consistently on two
A3000s, one of them my own, as well as an A500... no peering through the
source helped me whatsoever. This was the initial drive that pushed me to
start AmiNIX, before debt and depression killed it for a while.

- AmiNIX has modularity. In the spirit of BSD devices, modules located in
/usr/dev (AmigaOS path AXROOT:usr/dev/) just about any special feature
can be added by overlaying itself onto the syscall and/or internal function
tables. Already supported are:
  * MultiUserFileSystem, v1.7 and up (patches many passwd and uid/gid
    functions)
  * VMM and GigaMem (all process memory is allocated virtual-preferred
    and buffered into public memory when necessary)
  * V39 memory pools (pools.lib isn't exactly reentrant yet for V37... ;)
    ....and in work are:
  * Locale.library for ctype and some locale functions (this one
    will be getting a major overhaul soon to add full locale support)
  * AmiTCP, AS225/INet-225, and Mlink for socket  calls
  * 'Special file' devices (real mknod device support)
  * NIS (well, maybe. RPC is a biggie.) * Any suggestions? 8-)

- AmiNIX supports System V shared memory, semaphores, and IPC. Though,
without protected memory, it only supports attaching shared memory at the
"default location" (NULL ptr passed to shmat()).

- Signals in AmiNIX work exactly as you'd expect them to under a 'real'
UNIX. Unless the process is in the middle of an AmigaOS call, any task can
have its context interrupted at any time and have a signal handler take
over. This is the trickiest thing I've had to put together, because it is
somewhat OS dependent, and does fool with the six "undocumented" Exec
instructions. (Don't worry--it uses a system independent alternative,
albeit less able to kill runaways, on unknown CPUs and OS versions.)

- Speaking of processes, AmiNIX does real process handling, to the tee.
That means you can actually do a 'ps' to get information on running AmiNIX
processes, and maybe, with a little idle-monitor tinkering, port 'top'. :>

- AmiNIX is directly source compatible with NetBSD user programs
(excepting fork() calls, there's some slightly different semantics around
*that*). The system calls, albeit with different numbers, are the same.
Part of libc is in the kernel, making binaries smaller (this is the same
as ixemul).

- As far as X goes, AmiNIX will (after some serious porting of libX) work
with AmiWin, since that server uses AmiTCP/AS225/INet-225 for its socket
stack as well.

....And since I know how many people like to fiddle around with unfinished
projects, a version of the aminix.library with the completely finished
support routines (this means you can't run programs with it yet :) is
available at <ftp://ftp.afn.org/aminix/axdemo_0.8.1.lha>. It does nothing
more than start up and shut down, but if you want to see what its console
display looks like, that will show you. (Only 4.5K, after all.)

=====
== Todd Vierling ([e-mail]): In cyberspace no one can hear you scream. ==
== (Plug:) I do freelance C/Perl *IX programming and WWW design. E-mail me ==
== Vierling's Axiom: The revolution won't be televised; it will be posted. ==

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--
Bye Manou
------------------------_----------------------------------------------
Manou BILLA       |  _ //  Connect your AMIGAs...
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