A Client/Server Version of MINIX for 68000

[Darrel R. Carver]

I read the original MINIX book by ast over a year ago.  At the time I
was considering several different machines for purchase.  I ended up
with a 3B1 since AT&T was having that great fire sale at the time.

I am now curious about a couple of points.  Consider the following 
scenario:

[1] I purchase a stripped down version of the ATARI ST (i.e. the
    minimum configuration of the 1M ST with no hard drive). 
[2] Buy PH's new version of MINIX for the ST
[3] Recode the FS module of MINIX to use part of the 3B1 as a file
    server.

To expand on number 3 I am just thinking of switching the calls in the
FS to send messages to a server on the 3B1.  All files on the user
partition would be on the 3B1.  You boot the ST from the floppy as normal.
When MINIX comes up it remotely mounts the /usr partition from the
3B1.  This spawns a server process on the 3B1 that allows the ST to
treat the 3B1 drive as a local drive.

I was thinking of having the process that runs on the 3B1 use the 3B1
file system (say under the directory /minix) and do a chroot after
getting to that directory.  All file manipulation commands would work
using the 3B1's system calls and the data passed using the current
MINIX message system.  The question of byte order etc could be ignored
since the CPU's are identical.  

The systems would be linked through their RS232 ports.  The two
machines could communicate by a simple protocal for messaging (i.e
xmodem for packet encoding).  The connection would be rather slow
by ethernet standards.  I don't know if you could use this scheme for
program execution, as the time to load a program from the 3B1 may
be unacceptable.  However for data files and editing you should be
able to get this type of scheme to work.  (My boss uses Laplink on his
PC at work and the transfer time is not too bad).

I am looking for comments on the whole scheme.  Am I totally out in
left field?  Would such a system be workable?  What are major pitfalls
I can expect or have missed?

Thanks in advance...
-- 
Darrel R. Carver		                          Home: uunet!bsadrc!drc
Computer Sciences Corporation	                          Work:	att!wp3b01!drc
White Plains, NY 10606	 	                          	attmail!dcarver