4 ms·

Now we just need Minix to start approaching the hardware portability that NetBSD has fought so hard for.

by bch 9y ago

snvzz 9y ago
Those cases are well covered by netbsd, which runs well even on some Amiga 1200 with an 68030 accelerator board I've got. I've tested recent Minix3 release candidates. Software compatibility is starting to get there, as unlike previous versions, a good portion of pkgsrc builds and runs, including X11 software. However, hardware support is not very good even on x86. It boots fine, X11 can be used well with VESA drivers and most popular NICs do work, but USB is missing, which means keyboard/mouse needs to be attached to PS2 ports. As I understand it, there's USB support, but only for the beaglebone board. I know there's an effort to make it work on x86 too, but it won't be in this release. The main hardship Minix3 is currently experience is that they've been releasing RCs for 3.4 since early last year, and the actual 3.4 is still not out. A lot of work has been done which won't be on 3.4, and the delays on this release are effectively delaying everything else. They need to focus their efforts on closing the blockers, release, and move to some more frequent release schedule, such as strictly time-based; if a feature isn't ready, then it gets delayed to the next release, but releases do need to keep happening. There's a Minixcon soon; I'm hoping it triggers some progress to happen. The project is this close to the important landmark which is being somewhat usable as a workstation. After that, both press and development would pick up considerably.
- bch 9y ago
  Well, according to http://www.minix3.org http://www.minix3.org, MINIXCon2017 is cancelled due to shortage of papers, so there won't be progress-triggering happening there... I hope you're right (and think that you are) that getting itself sort of "self hosting" as a development/workstation will increase the acceleration of its progress. edit: s/minux/minix/
  - snvzz 9y ago
    Bummer. That's extremely sad. They really do need to get that release out, and move on.

Now we just need Minix to start approaching the hardware portability that NetBSD has fought so hard for.

by bch 9y ago

Now we just need Minix to start approaching the hardware portability that NetBSD has fought so hard for.

Those cases are well covered by netbsd, which runs well even on some Amiga 1200 with an 68030 accelerator board I've got. I've tested recent Minix3 release candidates. Software compatibility is starting to get there, as unlike previous versions, a good portion of pkgsrc builds and runs, including X11 software. However, hardware support is not very good even on x86. It boots fine, X11 can be used well with VESA drivers and most popular NICs do work, but USB is missing, which means keyboard/mouse needs to be attached to PS2 ports. As I understand it, there's USB support, but only for the beaglebone board. I know there's an effort to make it work on x86 too, but it won't be in this release. The main hardship Minix3 is currently experience is that they've been releasing RCs for 3.4 since early last year, and the actual 3.4 is still not out. A lot of work has been done which won't be on 3.4, and the delays on this release are effectively delaying everything else. They need to focus their efforts on closing the blockers, release, and move to some more frequent release schedule, such as strictly time-based; if a feature isn't ready, then it gets delayed to the next release, but releases do need to keep happening. There's a Minixcon soon; I'm hoping it triggers some progress to happen. The project is this close to the important landmark which is being somewhat usable as a workstation. After that, both press and development would pick up considerably.

bch 9y ago
Well, according to http://www.minix3.org http://www.minix3.org, MINIXCon2017 is cancelled due to shortage of papers, so there won't be progress-triggering happening there... I hope you're right (and think that you are) that getting itself sort of "self hosting" as a development/workstation will increase the acceleration of its progress. edit: s/minux/minix/
- snvzz 9y ago
  Bummer. That's extremely sad. They really do need to get that release out, and move on.