jtang@ucbcory.BERKELEY.EDU (Suresh K. Sastry) (12/10/85)
Who better to ask for the following information than my friends on the 'net', who know more about Unix and Unix Systems than anyone I know. It has been many months since I decided that I was going to purchase a Unix System (preferably a micro)--a choice over the IBM-PC/PC-DOS and PC-compatible/MS-DOS computers. But unfortunately information on Unix Systems is available but hard to find. : Question #1: : Is 'Unix World' the only magazine available for the Unix : Operating System? : Question #2: : What microcomputers have 4.2BSD Unix available on them? : How much do they cost (range)? Where are they available? : Question #3: : What kind of networking capabilities do these computers have? : I need a computer that can handle five or six users simulta- : neously. : Question #4: : Is the Operating System usually packaged with the comp- : uter or does it have to be purchased separately from : other sources? : Question #5: : What does the Unix 4.2BSD Operating System come with as : standard software (i.e. such things as 'vi', 'troff', : 'ingres'?)? : Question #6: : What kind of software is commercially available for Unix : 4.2BSD (i.e. word processing (not 'troff' or 'nroff'), : database, spreadsheet, etc.)? : Question #7: : I know of only one company porting 4.2BSD onto micros which : is Unisoft. Is this true? If there are others, what exper- : ience have people had (or heard from others) with these? As a prelude to Questions #2 and #3, I know of the 'Onyx' computer. I have seen the 4.2BSD run very nicely on it. I was also impressed with the speed at which it even with five people playing 'rouge' and two people using 'vi'. Please give more suggestions. Many of you might ask me, "Why 4.2BSD?" Well I have only experience with 4.2BSD because I live in (B)erkeley. If there are better ver- sions of Unix (like System IV) open my eyes and tell me why I should consider any others. I am sure many people will be responding to my query. I would like to thank you all in advance for your answers/replies. Sincerely, Suresh K. Sastry (jtang@ucbcory.ARPA)
ron@BRL.ARPA (Ron Natalie) (12/11/85)
: Question #1: : Is 'Unix World' the only magazine available for the Unix : Operating System? There is Unix Review, also. Unix Review tries harder. I am convinced that there is no editorial staff whatsoever at UNIX/WORLD. The articles are poor, selected from a bunch submitted from upstart hackers with no verification of accuracy. I have limitted my reading to Lauren's back page column. The free copy given to me at the last UNIFORVM was so full of crocked articles I had to laugh. : Question #2: : What microcomputers have 4.2BSD Unix available on them? : How much do they cost (range)? Where are they available? Any number of processors, typically starting at around $10,000 though. The Symetric portable and the Integrated Solutions Optimum come to mind. There may be a 4.2 port to one of the 68000 or 32032 cards for the PC that might be cheaper, but I am currently unaware of any. : Question #3: : What kind of networking capabilities do these computers have? : I need a computer that can handle five or six users simulta- : neously. Almost everyone who has 4.2 have stuck an ethernet card in them. If not, various companies such as Excelan, CMC, and SCOPE have introduced cards that do the TCP/IP on the card. These are fairly easy to introduce as an extra device into the UNIX system. : Question #4: : Is the Operating System usually packaged with the comp- : uter or does it have to be purchased separately from : other sources? Most companies who will run UNIX will sell it. Even IBM. : Question #5: : What does the Unix 4.2BSD Operating System come with as : standard software (i.e. such things as 'vi', 'troff', : 'ingres'?)? My ISI came with most everything including learn, pascal, lisp, etc. Vi and troff are there, but no ingress. Possibly this is because there is not enough room on the disk. When delivered I only had about 10,000 Kbyes left on the disk. I think Learn and PASCAL will go. : Question #6: : What kind of software is commercially available for Unix : 4.2BSD (i.e. word processing (not 'troff' or 'nroff'), : database, spreadsheet, etc.)? Getting better each day. 20/20 is one package that comes to mind. Check the literature (the ads that is, see item #1). : Question #7: : I know of only one company porting 4.2BSD onto micros which : is Unisoft. Is this true? If there are others, what exper- : ience have people had (or heard from others) with these? Unisoft seems to spend a lot of time hacking System V these days. The manufacturers usually hire a couple of UNIX smoking dope gurus to do the port themselves. -Ron
markm@orca.UUCP (Mark Mehall) (12/13/85)
> Who better to ask for the following information than my friends on the > 'net', who know more about Unix and Unix Systems than anyone I know. > > It has been many months since I decided that I was going to purchase a > Unix System (preferably a micro)--a choice over the IBM-PC/PC-DOS and > PC-compatible/MS-DOS computers. But unfortunately information on Unix > Systems is available but hard to find. > > : Question #1: > : Is 'Unix World' the only magazine available for the Unix > : Operating System? In addition to 'UNIX/WORLD' there are 'UNIX Review', 'Communixations' a publication of /usr/group, and 'UNIQUE' from infopro systems. You might also want to look at the conference proceedings from the UNIFORUM conferences and the 'UNIX System Encyclopedia' from Yates Ventures. > > : Question #2: > : What microcomputers have 4.2BSD Unix available on them? > : How much do they cost (range)? Where are they available? The Tektronix Model 6130 is a 4.2BSD based workstation that has a 32-bit processor, 1 megabyte of parity memory (with 16 MB virtual addressability), 20 megabyte winchester (expandable to 40 or 80 MB), dual RS-232-C interfaces, Local Area Network (LAN) interface and ethernet TCP/IP and Distributed File System (DFS) software and a General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB) all standard for $9,500. The system can be expanded with additional disk, interfaces, streamer tape drives and software products. A typical system will cost between $10,000 and $15,000. The system can be purchased through any Tektronix Sales Office (if you need a list let me know.) > > : Question #3: > : What kind of networking capabilities do these computers have? > : I need a computer that can handle five or six users simulta- > : neously. We use the ethernet standard (IEEE 803.2) with Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) which handles the communications between a users program and other processes executing on the same workstation, at a different workstation on the LAN, or on a different network. We support the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the Virtual Terminal (Telnet). We also have implemented a Distributed File System that allows a workstation to access files on other workstations as though they were resident locally. The 6130 can support up to 14 RS-232 terminal although we recommend 2 or 3 users per system. > > : Question #4: > : Is the Operating System usually packaged with the comp- > : uter or does it have to be purchased separately from > : other sources? We package the Operating System (which we call UTek) with the 6130 and have additional software packages for programming support, miscellaneous utilities, and compilers (FORTRAN 77, C, and PASCAL.) Other software is available from other vendors. > > : Question #5: > : What does the Unix 4.2BSD Operating System come with as > : standard software (i.e. such things as 'vi', 'troff', > : 'ingres'?)? Our UTek comes with approximately 150 4.2BSD and SYS V routines like assign, awk, basename, batch, cal, cat, chfn, chmod, cp, cpio, date, dd, echo, kill, ll, login, lpr, ls, mail, make, mkdir, more, mv, nice, nohup, od, page, passwd, pathof, pr, printenv, ps, pwd, rcp, red, repl, reset, rlogin, rm, rsh, scan, sed, sessions, sh, show, sleep, sort, strings, su, tail, talk, tar, tee, time, tip, touch, tr, tset, uniq, uptime, users, vi, wc, who, and others. (If you want a complete list, drop me a note.) > > : Question #6: > : What kind of software is commercially available for Unix > : 4.2BSD (i.e. word processing (not 'troff' or 'nroff'), > : database, spreadsheet, etc.)? The number of UNIX software packages is growing every day. I suggest you look at the 'UNIX Encyclopedia' for a list of some of the available packages. Tektronix offers a spreadsheet package (20/20), a wordprocessor (XED), a Casual User's Interface (CUI), a statistics package (Minitab) and a relational database manager (DaTek). I hope this helps to answer some of your questions. If you would like additional information on our systems, please contact our local office or drop me a note. Mark Mehall uucp: {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}! Tektronix Inc. tektronix!orca!markm P.O. Box 1000 60-770 CSnet: orca!markm@tek Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 ARPAnet: orca!markm.tek@csnet-relay WU Telex: 151754 TWX: 910-467-8707 ITT Telex: 4742109 Phone (503) 685-2275 FAX: (503) 682-3408 GRP III, II Auto