# Banned computing books?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-computing-books/786182>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 9, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-computing-books/786182 "2017-05-09T05:23:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-computing-books/786182/21 "2017-05-10T00:30:53Z")

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You still have to sign non-disclosure agreements for some things.

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-computing-books/786182/22 "2017-05-10T05:41:08Z")

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> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> From here: [https://www.computer.org/web/awards/pioneer-linus-torvalds](https://www.computer.org/web/awards/pioneer-linus-torvalds)
> 
> Here is the actual thesis (warning, pdf):  
> ftp://ftp.polsl.pl/pub/linux/kernel/people/torvalds/thesis/torvalds97.pdf

Interesting. I didn’t know that.

> [@](#):
>
> I never said Linus copied Tanenbaum’s design. In fact, I would say he most definitely did not copy Tanenbaum’s design because, as you pointed out, they had drastically different opinions on how the kernel should be designed.
> 
> Linus started by playing around with Minix though. If you look at his original Linux announcement that I quoted, it was posted to the Minix newsgroup. 🙂
> 
> I don’t see how I am magnifying Minix’s role in the history of Linux.

Calling it a Minix clone is the sticking point because, as you said, it has no elements of the Minix design in it, and indeed explicitly rejected that design, which you also agree with. It is, instead, a clone of the older systems Minix also drew some inspiration from, collectively referred to as “Unix” even though they had, by that time, been divergent for over a decade.

To me, for something to be a Minix clone instead of a Unix clone, it has to have features Minix has and Unix lacked, and Linux really did not and, to my knowledge, does not. The closest it came was implementing the Minix filesystem, albeit most definitely not in the Minix fashion.

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