After the MINIX machine boots, it enters the MINIX boot monitor. The boot monitor screen appears something like this:
Minix boot monitor 2.5
Press ESC to enter the monitor
Hit a key as follows:
s student
t test_kernel
For general work, you will be using the test_kernel -- any changes made the kernel will appear here. Pressing 't' will start up the test_kernel. The student partition is only used by system staff or when refreshing the machine (see What to do when everything else has gone wrong).
If you started up the test kernel, you will see a login screen like this:
Minix Release 2.0 Version 0
test_kernel login:
The version number will be different if you (or someone else) has changed the kernel. If you started up the student kernel, you prompt will be different:
student login:
The student partition has password protected accounts (except for the student account).
When you are starting a new session on the test partition, you can either log in as root or as bin. The difference (besides a different prompt) is that root can act as superuser and modify files that a normal user (such as bin) could not. You will generally use root to modify and re-compile the kernel; bin should be your default user for everything else. Neither account has a password on the test partition, so to log on as root, just type 'root':
test_kernel login: root
#
Logging on as bin is similar:
test_kernel login: bin
!
As previously stated, the two users have different prompts to distinguish between them.
To log out, simply type "exit".
Occasionally, you may need to change from one partition to the other. After logging out, press Control-Alt-Delete (the "Three-Fingered Salute") to restart the boot monitor. Using the Three-Fingered Salute in the boot monitor will reboot the machines.