Re: xt?

[Jon <jonh@cc.usu.edu>]

On Wed, 5 Mar 1997, Vadim Vygonets wrote:

> On Wed, 5 Mar 1997, Greg Vence wrote:
> 
> > David Stein wrote:
> > > Can debian Linux run on an xt? If not is there another linux that can run on an
> > > xt? a http: link in the right direction would be appreciated.
> 
> There was once a project of porting Linux to XT.  There is also a free
> Unix clone called Minix (http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html), which
> runs on XTs; maybe you should try it.

   The project dealing with porting Linux is called ELKS (Embedded Linux 
Kernel Subset).  Last I knew, it wasn't very far along.  That was a while 
ago, though, so maybe they have something new by now.

> > The minimum Linux requirement is a 386.  If you have some kind of
> > upgrade chip/package to allow the XT to use a 386, then yes.  Else, no.
> > 
> > I believe one reason is its a 32-bit "PROTECTED" mode OS.  I don't
> > believe that the 286 chip has that feature available.

   Actually, the 286 does have protected mode.  The problem is, it's only 
a 16-bit chip, so protected mode really doesn't do much.  (It provides 
memory protection and such, but still has the 64 kb segment size limit.)  
When Intel released the 286 with protected mode, the protected mode 
features never really caught on for this reason, so they made a 32-bit 
chip with protected mode (the 386)...and that REALLY caught on.  So, it 
should be easier (though still difficult) to port Linux to the 286.  As 
far as I know, no one is working on that currently.  Of course, Intel 
chips are all backwards compatible, so ELKS or Minix should run on a 286, 
or 386, or whatever, in addition to an 8086.

	--Jon
	(JonH@cc.usu.edu)	(http://cc.usu.edu/~jonh/)