<s>
MiNT	B-Application
is	I-Application
Now	I-Application
TOS	I-Application
(	O
MiNT	B-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
software	I-Application
alternative	O
operating	B-Operating_System
system	I-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
for	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
system	O
and	O
its	O
successors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
multi-tasking	B-General_Concept
alternative	O
to	O
TOS	B-Application
and	O
MagiC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Together	O
with	O
the	O
free	O
system	O
components	O
fVDI	O
device	B-Application
drivers	I-Application
,	O
XaAES	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
widgets	O
,	O
and	O
TeraDesk	O
file	B-Application
manager	I-Application
,	O
MiNT	B-Application
provides	O
a	O
free	O
TOS	B-Application
compatible	O
replacement	O
OS	O
that	O
can	O
multitask	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Work	O
on	O
MiNT	B-Application
began	O
in	O
1989	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
developer	O
Eric	B-Application
Smith	I-Application
was	O
trying	O
to	O
port	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
library	O
and	O
related	O
utilities	O
on	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
TOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
turned	O
out	O
quickly	O
,	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
much	O
easier	O
to	O
add	O
a	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
layer	O
to	O
the	O
TOS	B-Application
,	O
than	O
to	O
patch	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
software	O
,	O
and	O
MiNT	B-Application
began	O
as	O
a	O
TOS	B-Application
extension	O
to	O
help	O
in	O
porting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MiNT	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
released	O
by	O
Eric	B-Application
Smith	I-Application
as	O
"	O
MiNT	B-Application
is	I-Application
Not	I-Application
TOS	I-Application
"	O
(	O
a	O
recursive	O
acronym	O
in	O
the	O
style	O
of	O
"	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
's	I-Operating_System
Not	I-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
"	O
)	O
in	O
May	O
1990	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
Kernel	B-Operating_System
got	O
traction	O
,	O
with	O
people	O
contributing	O
a	O
port	O
of	O
the	O
MINIX	B-Operating_System
Filesystem	O
and	O
a	O
port	O
to	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
TT	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
Atari	O
was	O
looking	O
to	O
enhance	O
the	O
TOS	B-Application
with	O
multitasking	B-Operating_System
abilities	O
,	O
they	O
found	O
that	O
MiNT	B-Application
could	O
fulfill	O
the	O
job	O
,	O
and	O
hired	O
Eric	B-Application
Smith	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
MiNT	B-Application
was	O
adopted	O
as	O
an	O
official	O
alternative	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
Falcon	I-Device
,	O
slightly	O
altering	O
the	O
MiNT	B-Application
acronym	O
into	O
"	O
MiNT	B-Application
is	I-Application
Now	I-Application
TOS	I-Application
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atari	O
bundled	O
MiNT	B-Application
with	O
a	O
multitasking	B-Operating_System
version	O
of	O
the	O
Graphics	B-Application
Environment	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
(	O
GEM	B-Application
)	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
MultiTOS	B-Application
as	O
a	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
based	O
installer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
Atari	O
left	O
the	O
computer	O
market	O
,	O
MiNT	B-Application
development	O
continued	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
FreeMiNT	B-Application
,	O
and	O
is	O
now	O
maintained	O
by	O
a	O
team	O
of	O
volunteers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FreeMiNT	B-Application
development	O
follows	O
a	O
classic	O
open-source	B-Application
approach	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
hosted	O
on	O
a	O
publicly	O
browsable	O
Git	B-Application
repository	O
on	O
GitHub	O
and	O
development	O
discussed	O
in	O
a	O
public	O
mailing	O
list.	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
maintained	O
on	O
SourceForge	O
,	O
after	O
an	O
earlier	O
(	O
2014	O
)	O
move	O
from	O
AtariForge	O
,	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
maintained	O
for	O
almost	O
20	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
minimal	O
install	O
of	O
MiNT	B-Application
will	O
run	O
on	O
an	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
with	O
its	O
stock	O
8MHz	O
68000	B-Device
CPU	O
,	O
with	O
4MB	O
RAM	O
and	O
a	O
hard	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
highly	O
recommended	O
that	O
an	O
Atari	O
computer	O
with	O
a	O
16MHz	O
68030	B-Device
CPU	O
and	O
8MB	O
of	O
RAM	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MiNT	B-Application
can	O
also	O
run	O
inside	O
the	O
emulators	O
Hatari	B-Application
and	O
,	O
and	O
with	O
networking	O
on	O
the	O
68040	B-Device
virtual	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FreeMiNT	B-Application
provides	O
only	O
a	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
,	O
so	O
several	O
distributions	O
support	O
MiNT	B-Application
,	O
like	O
VanillaMint	O
,	O
EasyMint	O
,	O
STMint	O
and	O
BeeKey/BeePi	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
FreeMiNT	B-Application
can	O
use	O
the	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
of	O
the	O
TOS	B-Application
(	O
the	O
Graphics	B-Application
Environment	I-Application
Manager	I-Application
GEM	B-Application
and	O
the	O
Application	O
Environment	O
Services	O
or	O
AES	O
)	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
better	O
served	O
with	O
an	O
enhanced	O
AES	O
which	O
can	O
use	O
its	O
multi-tasking	B-General_Concept
abilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
default	O
one	O
is	O
currently	O
XaAES	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
developed	O
as	O
a	O
FreeMiNT	B-Application
kernel	B-Operating_System
module	O
.	O
</s>
