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Table of Contents
Gentle Introduction
Frequently Asked Questions aka FAQ
How do I see all processes?
ps axtop
Note that the output display of top is constrained by the size of the terminal/console, so if there are more processes than lines, top will not show all processes.
Why do some processes have a negative PID?
The processes have a negative PID because they are part of the kernel.
What do the names of the operating system processes mean and what is their function?
Kernel "processes"
| name | full name | purpose |
| asyncm | ||
| idle | ||
| clock | ||
| system | ||
| kernel |
System processes: servers
| name | full name | purpose |
| pm | process mananger | |
| vfs | virtual file system | |
| rs | reincarnation server | monitor other system processes and re-start them as needed, see man service |
| ds | data store server | |
| vm | virtual memory server | |
| pfs | pipe file system | |
| sched | scheduler | |
| init | grandparent of all processes, see man init |
|
| procfs | ||
| mfs | Minix file system | |
| is | information server | for debug dumps |
| inet | Internet Protocol server | |
| ipc | inter-process communication |
System processes: device drivers
| name | full name | purpose |
| log | log driver | buffers log output |
| memory | memory driver | |
| tty | terminal driver (historical origin of name is “teletype”) | console and keyboard driver |
| pci | ||
| floppy | ||
| at_wini | AT disk driver | |
| random | ||
| printer |
Why can't I refresh the Ethernet driver? When I type "service refresh e1000" I see "no such process" in response.
The Ethernet driver can have multiple instances and its label is the name of the driver followed by an underscore followed by a number which represents the instance number (starting at 0).
For instance, when I enter ps ax, I see “/usr/sbin/e1000 instance=0”, so the label is “e1000_0”. I can also see the labels of the services by hitting Shift + F6 at the Minix console. See CommandLineInterface for more of these useful function keys. See man service for details on the service command.
So, the proper answer is service refresh e1000_0.
