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by iomotoko 3234 days ago
Regarding microkernels:

[0] Minix 3: still around, great resource for learning, especially since there is a great book about it by Tanenbaum himself. Btw: it utilizes NetBSD's pkgsrc infrastructure, so quite a lot of applications should run

[1] RedoxOS: effort to create a unix-like microkernel OS using the Rust programming language, pretty interesting. Hope it win gain some traction, the idea itself is neat

[2] QNX: RIM/Blackberry's proprietary RTOS used in embedded systems (for example cars), also BlackberryOS is based on QNX

[3] GNU/Hurd: not sure how much software runs on it, the "most usable" form is probably trying to run the Debian GNU/Hurd distribution

[0] http://www.minix3.org/ https://www.amazon.com/Operating-Systems-Implementation-Pape...

[1] https://www.redox-os.org/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_GNU/Hurd

(kind of keep track of various operating systems as a hobby, always interested what's out there for some reason)
2 comments
snvzz 3234 days ago
Look into http://www.microkernel.info/

Note one of these doesn't belong (hurd), as unlike everything else, it is first gen and effectively dead.

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bogomipz 3233 days ago
Can you say why it is effectively dead? I see a recent-ish release:

http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/news/2016-12-18-releases.ht...

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snvzz 3233 days ago
It has about 0 developers on any given time, with the occassional work being done. There's been no real (fundamental) progress on it for over a decade. The issues in the hurd critique paper haven't been addressed. The L4 port failed.
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throwaway7645 3233 days ago
Without knowing much, GNU Hurd has been in development for ages, yet is pretty far behind everything else out there in terms of usability. I think it is still active (remember a recent HN post), but it's progress is seen as being slow.
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carussell 3234 days ago
> Minix 3: still around, great resource for learning, especially since there is a great book about it by Tanenbaum himself. Btw: it utilizes NetBSD's pkgsrc infrastructure, so quite a lot of applications should run

The current Minix source tree (after integrating NetBSD) doesn't resemble what's in the book much. Even Tanenbaum has commented that they perhaps went too far in pulling in so much of NetBSD.

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wolfgke 3233 days ago
> Even Tanenbaum has commented that they perhaps went too far in pulling in so much of NetBSD.

Simply refactor this stuff for Minix 4. :-)

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