Minix 3

Minix 3
Minix 3 running X11 with twm as Window Manager
DeveloperAndrew S. Tanenbaum et al.
Written inC, assembly language
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateAbandoned
Source modelOpen source
Initial release24 October 2005; 19 years ago (2005-10-24)
Latest release3.3.0 / September 16, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-09-16)
Latest preview3.4.0 rc6 / May 9, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-05-09)
Repository
Marketing targetEmbedded systems, education
Available inEnglish
PlatformsIA-32, ARM
Kernel typeMicrokernel
UserlandMinix, NetBSD
Default
user interface		ash
License2005: BSD-3-Clause[a][1]
Original: BSD-3-Clause
Preceded byMinix 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0
Official websitewww.minix3.org
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Minix 3 is a small, Unix-like operating system. It is published under a BSD-3-Clause[a] license and is a successor project to the earlier versions, Minix 1 and 2.[1]

The project's main goal is for the system to be fault-tolerant by detecting and repairing its faults on the fly, with no user intervention. The main uses of the system are envisaged to be embedded systems and education.[2]

As of 2017, Minix 3 supports IA-32 and ARM architecture processors.[3] It can also run on emulators or virtual machines, such as Bochs,[4][5] VMware Workstation,[6] Microsoft Virtual PC,[7] Oracle VirtualBox,[8] and QEMU. A port to PowerPC architecture is in development.[9] The distribution comes on a live CD and does not support live USB installation.[10] The project has been dormant since 2018,[11] and the latest release is 3.4.0 rc6 from 2017,[12] although the Minix 3 discussion group is still active.[13]

Minix 3 is believed to have inspired the Intel Management Engine (ME) OS found in Intel's Platform Controller Hub, starting with the introduction of ME 11, which is used with Skylake and Kaby Lake processors.[14][15] It was debated that Minix could have been the most widely used OS on x86/AMD64 processors, with more installations than Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS, because of its use in the Intel ME.[16]


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  1. ^ a b "The Minix license". Archived from the original on 2005-11-24. Retrieved 2005-11-24.
  2. ^ corbet (2005-10-24). "Minix 3 hits the net". Lwn.net. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  3. ^ "minix3.org". minix3.org. Retrieved 2017-04-16.
  4. ^ "Getting Started with Minix on Bochs on Mac OS". Woodhull.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  5. ^ "OSNews.com". OSNews.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  6. ^ "Minix under VMWare Installation How-To". Patrick.wagstrom.net. Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  7. ^ "Minix on Virtual PC: first look". Woodhull.com. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  8. ^ "Minix 3 on Virtual box". inopinion.org. 6 August 2014.
  9. ^ Alting, Ingmar. "A port of the MINIX OS to the PowerPC platform" (PDF).
  10. ^ "Minix3". Minix3. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  11. ^ "git.minix3.org Git - minix.git/summary". git.minix3.org. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  12. ^ "Index of /Iso/Snapshot/".
  13. ^ "minix3 - Google Groups". groups.google.com. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  14. ^ "Intel ME: The Way of Static Analysis". blog.ptsecurity.com. Archived from the original on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  15. ^ Corna, Nicola (2017-08-28). "me_cleaner: Tool for partial deblobbing of Intel ME/TXE firmware images". GitHub. Retrieved 2017-08-28.
  16. ^ Tanenbaum, Andrew S. "An Open Letter to Intel". Archived from the original on 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2022-09-06.