The only thing that could save UNIX at this late date would be a new $30 shareware version that runs on an unexpanded Commodore 64.
Don Lancaster, Stalking the Wild Paradigm, March-April 1991.
Four months later…
Hello everybody out there using minix -
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).
I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-)
Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
Won’t be big and professional…
Linus Torvalds, for fun, wrote an operating system so powerful it runs most of the world’s servers, the International Space Station, and all Space-X spacecraft. Much of our progress is made by bored, curious men building amplifiers with nothing to amplify as Don Lancaster put it (“Starting your own technical venture,” Nuts & Volts Magazine, December 1996).
Never underestimate the genius of guys with nothing better to do.