Minix on the HP palmtop

[Tim Pitman <http://www.SOUTHCOM.COM.AU/~tpitman>]

I've managed to get minix going on the palmtop in a much simpler way than
that mentioned at www.erols.com/rld/
If you'd like to try it, everything you need is in a ~700k zip file at:
www.southcom.com.au/~tpitman/
it's under the link to "palmtop software"

Here's a copy of the reame file:


MINIX 2.0.2 ON THE HP PALMTOP

INTRODUCTION

This set of files is a very early version of minix for the hp100lx/200lx
palmtop.
The included files will allow you to (some of the time) boot minix from the
RAM disk or flash disk of the palmtop.

BACKGROUND

sometime in 1998, the information on how to boot minix on the palmtop was
posted
on the web at www.erols.com/rld/  The method mentioned was very compilated,
involving reformatting a flash card under linux, installing minix on it, and
using special software to boot it.

With the release of minix version 2.0.2, Minix now has support for using a
large
DOS file as a 'virtual' hard disk.  It also is supplied with a program that
will
boot Minix from the MSDOS prompt.

To get this new version to its current state has taken less than a day,
showing
that it is realtively easy with the new version of minix.  There are still
some
problems, however, that appear to be identical to those mentioned at
www.erols.com/rld  Often the palmtop will lock-up part way though booting,
and
at best only one or two commands can be executed before it crashes.  This
seems
to be somehow related to special interrupts on the palmtop, and can probably
be
fixed.

INSTALLATION

Now for the fun part!  To run minix on the palmtop, you will need about
1.5Mb
free space on your ram disk or a flash card.  Simply coppy the included
files
to a directory, and type BOOT DISK.NEW to start minix.

You should have as much RAM as possible allocated to system RAM (this can be
changed in the setup program in System Manager) and if possible, no drivers
loaded in your config.sys or autoexec.bat file (I found that the Times2Tech
speed driver interferes with minix)

OTHER

That's about it, so far.  I've only used minix information from
http://www.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/2.0.2/index.html to get this up and running.
Anyone who would like to experiment a bit more can get all necessary files
from here.  If you would like any further information, please email me:
http://www.southcom.com.au/~tpitman

Good Luck!

Tim Pitman

** HPLX-L LIST Info at http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mchem1/HPLX.shtml