ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Minix

Okay kiddo, have you ever played with Legos? You know how you can stack different pieces together to make something cool? Well, imagine if you could do that with a computer. That's exactly what operating systems do. They take different pieces of computer code, put them together, and make it possible for you to use your computer.

Now, Minix is a type of operating system, which means it's made up of a bunch of different pieces of code that work together to control what your computer does. It was created by a man named Andrew Tanenbaum in the 1980s, and it's actually a smaller version of another operating system called Unix.

Minix is called a "microkernel" operating system, which is a fancy way of saying that it only has the most basic parts needed to function. The rest of the pieces, including drivers and other software, can be added on later as needed. This makes Minix really flexible and easy to customize for different computer systems.

Another neat thing about Minix is that it was created to be used for educational purposes. That means that people who want to learn more about how operating systems work can use Minix to study and experiment with different techniques. So, in a way, it's like a big educational Lego set for computer geeks!

Overall, Minix is a type of operating system made up of basic pieces of code that can be customized for different computer systems. It was created to be used for education and experimentation, and it's known as a "microkernel" operating system because it's really flexible and customizable.
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