SETUP(8)SETUP(8)NAME
setup - Install MINIX 3 on a hard disk
SYNOPSIS
setup
DESCRIPTION
This appendix explains how to install MINIX 3. Standard MINIX 3
requires a Pentium (or compatible) with at least 16-MB of RAM, at least
200-MB of free disk space, an IDE CD-ROM and an IDE hard disk. Serial
ATA, USB, and SCSI disks are not supported at present. For USB CD-
ROMS, see the Website: www.minix3.org.
PREPARATION
If you already have the CD-ROM (e.g., from the book), you can skip
steps 1 and 2, but it is wise to check www.minix3.org to see if a newer
version is available. If you want to run MINIX 3 on a simulator
instead of native, see Part V first. If you do not have an IDE CD-ROM,
either get the special USB CD-ROM boot image or use a simulator.
Download the MINIX 3 CD-ROM image from the MINIX 3 Website at
www.minix3.org.
Decompress the downloaded file. You will get a CD-ROM image file with
extension .iso and this manual. The .iso file is a bit-for-bit CD-ROM
image. Burn it to a CD-ROM to make a bootable CD-ROM.
If you are using Easy CD Creator 5, select Record CD from CD image from
the File menu and change the file type from .cif to .iso in the dialog
box that appears. Select the image file and click Open. Then click
Start Recording.
If you are using Nero Express 5, choose Disc Image or Saved Project and
change the type to Image Files, select the image file and click Open.
Select your CD recorder and click on Next.
If you are running Windows and do not have a CD-ROM burning program,
take a look at
alexfeinman.brinkster.net/isorecorder.htm
for a free one and use it to create a CD image.
MINIX 3 supports several Ethernet chips for networking over LAN, ADSL,
and cable. These include Intel Pro/100, RealTek 8029 and 8139, AMD
LANCE, and several 3Com chips. During setup you will be asked which
Ethernet chip you have, if any. Determine that now by looking at your
documentation. Alternatively, if you are using Windows, go to the
device manager as follows:
Windows 2000:
Start> Settings> Control Panel> System> Hardware> Device Mgr
Windows XP:
Start> Control Panel> System> Hardware> Device Mgr
System requires double clicking; the rest are single. Expand
the + next to Network adapters to see what you have. Write it
down. If you do not have a supported chip, you can still run
MINIX 3, but without Ethernet.
You can boot the computer from your CD-ROM if you like and
MINIX 3 will start, but to do anything useful, you have to
create a partition for it on your hard disk. But before par‐
titioning, be sure to back up your data to an external medium
like CD-ROM or DVD as a safety precaution, just in case some‐
thing goes wrong. Your files are valuable; protect them.
Unless you are sure you are an expert on disk partitioning
with much experience, it is strongly suggested that you read
the online tutorial on disk partitioning at
www.minix3.org/doc/partitions.html. If you already know how
to manage partitions, create a contiguous chunk of free disk
space of at least 200 MB (even better: 400 MB or more). If
you do not know how to manage partitions but have a parti‐
tioning program like Partition Magic, use it to create a
region of free disk space of at least 200 MB. Also make sure
there is at least one primary partition (i.e., Master Boot
Record slot) free. The MINIX 3 setup script will guide you
through creating a MINIX partition in the free space, which
can be on either the first or second IDE disk.
If you are running Windows 95, 98, ME, or 2000 and your disk
consists of a single FAT partition, you can use the
presz134.exe program on the CD-ROM (also available at
zeleps.com) to reduce its size to leave room for MINIX. In
all other cases, please read the online tutorial cited above.
WARNING: If you make a mistake during disk partitioning, you
can lose all the data on the disk, so be sure to back it up
to CD-ROM or DVD before starting. Disk partitioning requires
great care, so proceed with caution.
BOOTING
By now you should have allocated at least 200 MB of free
space on your disk. If you have not done so yet, please do
it now unless there is an existing 200-MB (or larger) parti‐
tion you are willing to convert to MINIX 3.
Insert the CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive and boot the com‐
puter from it. If you have 16 MB of RAM or more, choose Reg‐
ular; if you have only 8 MB choose small. If the computer
boots from the hard disk instead of the CD-ROM, boot again
and enter the BIOS setup program to change the order of boot
devices, putting the CD-ROM before the hard disk.
When the login prompt appears, login as root. After a suc‐
cessful login as root, you will see the shell prompt (#). At
this point you are running fully-operational MINIX 3. If you
type:
ls /usr/bin | more
you can see what software is available. Hit space to scroll
the list. To see what program foo does, type:
man foo
The manual pages are also available at
www.minix3.org/manpages.
To start the installation of MINIX 3 on the hard disk, type
setup
After this and all other commands, be sure to type ENTER
(RETURN). When the installation script ends a screen with a
colon, hit ENTER to continue. If the screen suddenly goes
blank, press CTRL-F3 to select software scrolling (should
only be needed on very old computers). Note that CTRL-key
means depress the CTRL key and while holding it down, press
key.
INSTALLING TO THE HARD DISK
These steps correspond to the steps on the screen.
When you are asked to select your national keyboard, do so.
This and other steps have a default choice, in square brack‐
ets. If you agree with it, just hit ENTER. In most steps,
the default is generally a good choice for beginners. The
us-swap keyboard interchanges the CAPS LOCK and CTRL keys, as
is conventional on UNIX systems.
You will now be asked which of the available Ethernet driver
you want installed (or none). Please choose one of the
options.
If you are tight on disk space, select M for a minimal
installation which includes all the binaries but only the
system sources installed. 200 MB is enough for a bare-bones
system. If you have 400 MB or more, choose F for a full
installation.
You will first be asked if you are an expert in MINIX 3 disk
partitioning. If so, you will be placed in the part program
to give you full power to edit the Master Boot Record (and
enough rope to hang yourself). If you are not an expert,
press ENTER for the default action, which is an automated
step-by-step guide to formatting a disk partition for MINIX
3.
Substep 4.1: Select a disk to install MINIX 3
An IDE controller may have up to four disks. The setup script
will now look for each one. Just ignore an error messages.
When the drives are listed, select one. and confirm your
choice. If you have two hard disks and you decide to install
MINIX 3 to the second one and have trouble booting from it,
please see www.minix3.org/doc/using2disks.html for the solu‐
tion.
Substep 4.2: Select a disk region
Now choose a region to install MINIX 3 into. You have three
choices:
(1) Select a free region
(2) Select a partition to overwrite
(3) Delete an existing partition to free up space and
merge with adjacent free space
For choices (1) and (2), type the region number. For (3) type
delete
then give the region number when asked. This region will be
overwritten and its previous contents lost forever.
Substep 4.3: Confirm your choices
You have now reached the point of no return. You will be
asked if you want to continue. If you do, the data in the
selected region will be lost forever. If you are sure, type:
yes
and then ENTER. To exit the setup script without changing the
partition table, hit CTRL-C.
If you chose an existing MINIX 3 partition, in this step you
will be offered a choice between a Full install, which erases
everything in the partition, and a Reinstall, which does not
affect your existing /home partition. This design means that
you can put your personal files on /home and reinstall a
newer version of MINIX 3 when it is available without losing
your personal files.
The selected partition will be divided into three subparti‐
tions: root, /usr, and /home. The latter is for your own per‐
sonal files. Specify how much of the partition should be set
aside for your files. You will be asked to confirm your
choice.
Disk block sizes of 1-KB, 2-KB, 4-KB, and 8-KB are supported,
but to use a size larger than 4-KB you have to change a con‐
stant and recompile the system. If your memory is 16 MB or
more, use the default (4 KB); otherwise, use 1 KB.
The setup script will now scan each partition for bad disk
blocks. This will take several minutes, possibly 10 minutes
or more on a large partition. Please be patient. If you are
absolutely certain there are no bad blocks, you can kill each
scan by hitting CTRL-C.
When the scan finishes, files will be automatically copied
from the CD-ROM to the hard disk. Every file will be
announced as it is copied. When the copying is complete,
MINIX 3 is installed. Shut the system down by typing
shutdown
Always stop MINIX 3 this way to avoid data loss as MINIX 3
keeps some files on the RAM disk and only copies them back to
the hard disk at shutdown time.
TESTING
This section tells you how to test your installation, rebuild
the system after modifying it, and boot it later. To start,
boot your new MINIX 3 system. For example, if you used con‐
troller 0, disk 0, partition 3, type
boot c0d0p3
and log in as root. Under very rare conditions the drive num‐
ber seen by the BIOS (and used by the boot monitor) may not
agree with the one used by MINIX 3, in which case try other
drive numbers. This is a good time to create a root pass‐
word. See man passwd for help.
To test MINIX 3, at the command prompt (#) type
cd /usr/src/test
make
and wait until it completes all 40 compilations. Log out by
typing CTRL-D,
To test the system, log in as bin (required) and type
cd /usr/src/test
./run
to run the test programs. They should all run correctly but
they can take 20 min on a fast machine and over an hour on a
slow one. Note: It is necessary to compile the test suite
when running as root but execute it as bin in order to see if
the setuid bit works correctly.
If all the tests work correctly, you can now rebuild the sys‐
tem. Doing so is not necessary since it comes prebuilt, but
if you plan to modify the system, you will need to know how
to rebuild it. Besides, rebuilding the system is a good test
to see if it works. Type:
cd /usr/src/tools
make
to see the various options available. Now make a new bootable
image by typing
su
make clean
time make image
You just rebuilt the operating system, including all the ker‐
nel and user-mode parts. That did not take very long, did it?
To update the boot image currently installed on the hard
disk, type
make hdboot
To boot the new system, first shut down by typing:
shutdown
This command saves certain files and returns you to the MINIX
3 boot monitor. To get a summary of what the boot monitor
can do, while in it, type:
help
For more details, see www.minix3.org/man‐
pages/man8/boot.8.html. You can now remove any CD-ROM or
floppy disk and turn off the computer.
If you have a legacy floppy disk drive, the simplest way to
boot MINIX 3 is by inserting your new boot floppy and turning
on the power. It takes only a few seconds. Alternatively,
boot from the MINIX 3 CD-ROM, login as bin and type:
shutdown
to get back to the MINIX 3 boot monitor. Now type:
boot c0d0p0
to boot from the operating system image file on controller 0,
driver 0, partition 0. Of course, if you put MINIX 3 on
drive 0 partition 1, use:
boot c0d0p1
and so on.
A third possibility for booting is to make the MINIX 3 parti‐
tion the active one, and use the MINIX 3 boot monitor to
start MINIX 3 or any other operating system. For details see
www.minix3.org/manpages/man8/boot.8.html.
Finally, a fourth option is for you to install a multiboot
loader such as LILO or GRUB (www.gnu.org/software/grub).
Then you can boot any of your operating systems easily. Dis‐
cussion of multiboot loaders is beyond the scope of this
guide, but there is some information of the subject at
www.minix3.org/doc.
USING A SIMULATOR
A completely different approach to running MINIX 3 is to run
it on top of another operating system instead of native on
the bare metal. Various virtual machines, simulators, and
emulators are available for this purpose. Some of the most
popular ones are:
· VMware (www.vmware.com)
· Bochs (www.bochs.org)
· QEMU (www.qemu.org)
See the documentation for each of them. Running a program on
a simulator is similar to running it on the actual machine,
so you should go back to Part I and acquire the latest CD-ROM
and continue from there.
SETUP(8)