Final Objective

Development of an i386-based Unix (clone) system, which will provide basic internet services for

student dialup access. Each of the following objectives are necessary to accomplish the final objective.

In keeping with SRJC computer naming conventions, the name for this project (and, the name of the machine) will be "Nermal."

Unix is a trademark of AT&T. To describe the class of operating systems that behave like Unix, I will

use the term, "*nix."

Objective One

What are you planning to achieve?

I plan to assemble all hardware and software components required to accomplish the final objective.

How do you intend to accomplish this?

This objective will be accomplished by acquiring the following basic resources, and orchestrating them

into a usable system. To clarify...

"Acquiring resources" -- software sources and binaries will be downloaded off of various Internet anonymous FTP sites. These will be transferred to Nermal via floppy diskette as "tar"

volumes (Tape ARchive). The floppy images for the initial operating system bootstrap, as well as the initial (floppy-based) root filesystem, will also be acquired.

"Orchestrating..." -- The initial, "installation-oriented" operating system will be used to prepare a hard disk for use, and create filesystems thereon. Critical applications (such as a C compiler, an editor, etc.) will be installed on the hard disk.

After the installation is completed and tested, I will begin development and configuration of Nermal's own operating system, including

Configuring out devices that will not be used in the final system

(e.g., SCSI and mouse support)

Adding devices that will be used in the final system

(e.g., Ethernet and multi-port serial support)

Adding TCP/IP extensions

(...which are necessary for Nermal to provide Internet services).

Adding system and user application binaries. (e.g, telnetd, telnet, ftpd, ftp, mail, etc.)

Hardware Resources:

Santa Rosa Junior College Computing Services has graciously provided hardware resources. (Contact: Dave Johnston, x4853). The completed hardware will be assembled from spare

parts.

Software Resources:

Operating System

At least two i386-based *nix operating systems are available that require no licensing fees: 386BSD and Linux.

Operating System

386BSD

Linux

Current Version

0.1

0.97

History

Constructed in a series of columns published in Dr. Dobb's Journal.

Originally developed by Linus Torvalds (a student at Helsinki University, Finland). Currently has over a hundred contributing programmers, all coordinated through the Internet.

The preferred operating system for Nermal will be Linux.

OS Extensions

TCP/IP extensions are available in source form via the Internet. The extensions will be compiled on site into the Linux kernel.

Applications

Standard *nix applications are available in source and binary form via the Internet. Initially, pre-compiled binaries will be used. (Later, sources will be obtained, a source tree constructed, and binaries will be compiled on site -- details on these operations appear under another objective.)

When are you going to complete this objective?

The first objective will be completed prior to September 28th.

What form will the completed project take?

The completed project, at this stage, will consist of an i386 machine with a *nix operating system. The system will be capable of communications over the Internet with the fully qualified domain name of "Nermal.santarosa.edu."

How will it be evaluated?

The project will be evaluated by the level of operability in the system, and whether or not that operability coincides with the goals expressed within this objective.

Objective Two

What are you planning to achieve?

I plan to obtain sources for user applications, place them in Nermal's source tree, configure them, compile them, then install the binaries.

Example Applications

Application

man

troff, cut, split, fold, etc.

awk

lex/yacc

uucp

Description

online documentation

text formating utilities

text processing utility

lexical analyzer programming utilities

Unix-Unix communications system

How do you intend to accomplish this?

I intend to accomplish this by acquiring sources and documentation for all important software, place those sources on Nermal, compile them (with Linux's shared libraries), install the resulting binaries, and configure the system to use the binaries properly.

When are you going to complete this objective?

The second objective will be completed prior to September 28th.

What form will the completed project take?

The completed project, at this stage, will consist of an i386 machine with a *nix operating system. The system will be capable of communications over the Internet.

How will it be evaluated?

The project will be evaluated by the level of operability in the system.