psc@lznv.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (07/29/87)
< "I'm *not* expendable, I'm *not* stupid, and I'm *NOT* going!" > I've collected a list of UNIX(R)-like tools that run under MS-DOS(TM). A lot of this information is from Harry Avant's article, "UNIX Shells and Utilities for DOS PCs" in the June 1987 issue of UNIX/World; the rest is from various advertisements. I'd be interested in others that any of you know, or experience you've had with them. A collection of UNIX-like public domain and shareware tools was just posted to comp.binaries.ibm.pc, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. I'm primarily interested in supported commercial tools. Please send mail to Internet psc@lznv.att.com, AT&T Mail !psrchisholm, or Usenet lznv!psc via mtune, allegra, cbosgd, ihnp4, or any other Action Central site. -Paul S. R. Chisholm MKS Toolkit, $140US: Mortice Kern Systems, 43 Bridgeport Road East, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2J4, 519-884-2251. Includes awk, banner, basename, c, cal, cat, cd, chmod, cmp, comm, cp, cpio, crypt, ctags, cut, date, dd, deroff, dev, df, diff, dirname, du, echo, ed, egrep, env, expand, expr, fg, fgrep, file, find, fmt, fold, getopt, grep, head, help, init, join, kill, lc, line, login, ls, mkdir, more, mv, nm, od, pack, passwd, paste, pcat, pr, prof, ps, pwd, rev, rm, rmdir, sed, sh (really ksh), size, sleep, sort, split, strings, strip, sum, switch, tail, tee, test, time, touch, tr, uname, unexpand, uniq, unpack, unstrip, vi (included, but also available separately), wc, which, who. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Comments: A friend of mine just ordered from them. He said they sounded like sterotypical, "Great White North" Canadians. He also said version 2.2 was shipping (registered users can upgrade for $45US; new disks, all new manuals.). They have site licenses available (and some AT&T sites have them). I've heard *very* good things about these people. MKS vi still supports, but no longer requires, an ANSI device driver. They're on Usenet somewhere, and provide support via phone, paper mail, and email! Final note: how come we Americans can't sell those nasty furriners *any* encryption software, but these Canadians can sell us crypt(1)? (Flames to /dev/null, *please*!) PC/VI, $149; PC/TOOLS, $49; PC/SPELL, $49: Custom Software Systems, PO Box 678, Natick, MA 01760, 617-653-2555. Includes banner, bfs, cal, chmod, cut, diff, diffh, diff3, grep, head, make, od, paste, pr, rm, sed, see, sort, spell (separate package), split, strings, tail, touch, tr, vi (separate package), wc. American Express, MasterCard, and Visa accepted. Comments: They had the first good PC implementation of vi; I've heard good things about it. Don't know anything about PC/TOOLS. PC/SPELL does prefix and suffix stripping, but from the ad, it looks like just a spelling *checker*, not a spelling *corrector*. PCNX, $49: Wendin, PO Box 3888, Spokane, WA 99220-3888, 509-624-8088. Includes at, cat, cmp, cp, cron, date, df, echo, false, file, find, finger, getty, grep, group, grppswd, head, kill, line, logname, lpd, lpr, ls, mail, mkdir, mkgroup, mkuser, more, mv, news, nice, nohup, od, passwd, pr, ps, rev, rm, rmdir, rmgroup, rmuser, sh, sleep, strings, stty, tail, tee, test, time, touch, true, tty, uniq, wc, who, whodo, write. American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted. Comments: PCNX is a UNIX-like environment; not just UNIX-like tools, but multi-processing under MS-DOS. I don't know if you can use these utilities from vanilla MS-DOS, or only while running PCNX. Wendin is now pushing "Wendin-DOS", a $99 "multitasking, multiuser MS-DOS replacement". Anyone know what's up in Spokane these days? PercentShell, $95: Thompson Automation, PO Box 5163, Beaverton OR 97006, 503-645-9434. Includes cat, chmod, cmp, cp, cu, cut, df, diff, du, egrep, fgrep, grep, head, login, ls, mf, mkdir, more, mv, paste, pr, printenv, pwd, rm, rmdir, sed, sh (some csh/ksh functions), split, tail, tee, touch, tr, uudecode, uuencode, wc, whereis. Micro C-Shell, $50; Micro C-Tools, $25; Micro Make, $25; Beckemeyer Development Tools, 478 Santa Clara Ave., Suite 300, Oakland CA 94610, 415-452-1129. Includes banner, cal, chmod, cmp, csh (separately), date, dc, detab, diff, entab, fgrep, file, find, head, lpr, make, num, od, pick, pr, rpl, sed, show, sort, split, strings, tail, tee, touch, uniq, wc. Comments: also available for Atari ST. Utility Pack, $75: Peak InfoSystems, 727 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829, 303-685-1137. Includes calendar, calpath, cat, cb, chgvol, chmod, cl, col, crypt, d, df, e, ed, extract, grep, latest, list, pg, prep, ptx1, ptx2, ptxpath, red, renum, sort, split, table, tail, tee, tolower, touch, tr, uniq, update, uptime. Comments: cat (at least) knows about WordStar files (eighth bit on). Also includes disk twiddler, Epson printer utilities, and a loan amortization program (oh, gee!) DOS Helper, $50: MetaWare, 903 Pacific Ave., Suite 201, Santa Cruz CA 95060-4429, 408-429-6382. Includes cat, find, fgrep, ls, mv, tail, uniq, wc. Comments: find knows how to create (UNIX-compatible??) "tar" archives. Aztek C86-d Developer System, $299: Manx Software Systems, 1 Industrial Way, Eatontown NJ 07724, 800-221-0440, 205-542-2121. American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted. Includes cc, diff, grep, make, vi. Comments: This is really a C compiler with some UNIX-like utilities. Anyone know if the utilities are available separately? Also available for Apple II, TRS-80, CP/M-80, Macintosh, Amiga. Text Management Utilities, $120: Lattice, PO Box 3072, Glen Ellyn IL 60138, 312-858-7950. Includes diff, ed, grep, wc, and non-UNIX utilities (build, extract, files, splat). Personal PVCS, $149; PVCS, $395: Polytron, 1815 NW 169th Pl., Beaverton OR 97006, 800-547-4000, 503-684-3000. Comments: A "Version Control System". They also sell a $150 make. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft. I'm not speaking for my employer, I'm just speaking my mind.
peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) (07/30/87)
In article <1112@lznv.ATT.COM>, psc@lznv.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) says: > > [stuff about unix tools] > > Comments: A friend of mine just ordered from them. He said they > sounded like sterotypical, "Great White North" Canadians. He also said That comment sounds like something from a stereotypical American. I've been to the States and when I tell someone I'm from Canada, I get some quite amazing replies. For example: "Is dog-sledding popular up there?" I said only up in Alaska "Do you guys have any summer up there?" Despite the rumors, we do... "Where's Canada?" Its hard to believe, but he didn't know... > paper mail, and email! Final note: how come we Americans can't sell > those nasty furriners *any* encryption software, but these Canadians > can sell us crypt(1)? (Flames to /dev/null, *please*!) That's because the Americans are so paranoid about the Russians stealing technology from them that they won't sell encyption software to any "furriners". Canadians aren't that paranoid I guess... I think in the future, racial slurs about your good neigbours to the north (even in jest), should be avoided. Let's face it, if you do, you're bound to get flamed. BTW, we use computers up here, although its hard to keep them warm in our igloos :-) ! 'Nuff said
richardh@killer.UUCP (09/19/87)
In article <698@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM>, jgray@toad.pilchuck.Data-IO.COM (Jerry Late Nite Gray) writes: > a software/hardware developer could appriciate. For example could someone > explain what they mean by a Unix file system being more vulnerable than DOS? > --------------- > Jerrold L. Gray > In order to improve file i/o performance, Unix buffers all file i/o in the kernel. The buffers=xx found in CONFIG.SYS under DOS is an analogous, but much simpler implementation of the same idea. Except in special cases, when you write to a file under Unix, you have no control over when the physical write takes place. Needless to say, in a multiple-process, multiple-user environment there can be a lot of open files and buffered writes in the kernel. If the system crashes, not only are all the buffered writes lost, all the open files may have been left in unknown states. The analog under DOS is crashing and finding a zero length file in the directory because the directory entry was not updated. A word about file systems under Unix: the user interface to the disk drives supports an abstraction of a single hierarchical directory system. There is no need to specify a physical device as there is under DOS (A:, B:, etc.). All are accessible under /, the meta-file system's root directory.I call it a meta-file system to differentiate it from the multiple file systems of which it is composed. Each physical device is divided into one or more file systems, each of which has the resources allocated to it to be self supporting (analogous to formatting a disk under DOS which allocates a boot sector, copies of the FAT, and the root directory, only you can divide a physical disk into multiple "logical" "disks"). Then, you make a file system visible by mounting it; that is, "connecting" it to the root file system and allowing the kernel code to set up its own internal resources required to support accessing the file system. Since you can have multiple file systems under Unix, and all are being managed in the kernel (at least all the mounted ones), the file systems themselves may be left in an indeterminate state when the system is brought to an abrupt halt. Unix must be brought down in an orderly fashion in order to let it leave the files and filesystems in a known state. However, my experience has been that Unix systems do not crash as readily as DOS; they trap the offending branch (or whatever) and dump core instead of crashing. Actually my Unix system (uPort SYS V/AT 2.2.2, on a 12 mhz Wells American) has never crashed. I hit the big red switch once and watched as fsck (file system check) complained when I powered it back up, but other than that, I've had no problems. Of course I'm careful to bring the system down when I'm ready to quit (or switch over to DOS). Ongoing system administration under DOS is very simple. The worst sys admin problem I've encountered under DOS can be stated as "What am I going to do with all these damn floppies?" Under Unix, sys admin is a job that can't be ignored. But then, I suspect it will be under OS/2 also. I'll have to admit that operating a Unix system is more complex than operating a DOS system. However, I'm not convinced that the complexity is a function of the os and not of the supported functionality. There are classical os problems associated with multiple tasks and multiple users (deadlock, race conditions, resource security, resource sharing) that DOS doesn't have to deal with. Until I see it, I won't take on faith that OS/2's solutions are any more robust or elegant than Unix's. However, I will believe that the solutions are more hardware dependent. It has taken Unix a long time to achieve its high degree of hardware independence and I can't believe that uSoft/IBM will do so in the relatively short period of time that OS/2 has been under development. regards, richard hargrove ...!ihnp4!killer!richardh -------------------------
richardh@killer.UUCP (09/24/87)
In article <1822@watcgl.waterloo.edu>, smvorkoetter@watmum.waterloo.edu (Stefan M. Vorkoetter) writes: > > MS-DOS uses write through buffers. When you read a sector, it will check > if the sector is in a buffer, and read it from there if it is. When you > write a sector, it writes straight to the disk (AND the buffer). The file > will only be trashed if a crash occurs during the write. > > Stefan Vorkoetter > University of Waterloo The file will be trashed if the write puts data past the current end of file and the file is not closed. It is only on close that the directory entry for the file is updated. This doesn't require a system crash. A ^C abort or a crtical DOS error (those famous words "Abort, Retry, Ignore ?") can cause a file being written-to to lose some of its data. regards, richard hargrove ...!ihnp4!killer!richardh -------------------------
aja@i.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (09/30/87)
What unix ports have csh with them?? and does anyone know of any 4.x bsd ports for the 80x86? thanks, mike
randy@gtuplab.UUCP (Randal Abler) (10/05/87)
Microport's System V/AT, IBM Xenix 2.0, and SCO Xenix all come with a csh. I haven't heard of a BSD port for the 80x86 family.
dan@rna.UUCP (Dan Ts'o) (12/10/88)
Our department wants to buy a FAX in the $1000-$3000, any recommendations ? A feature that I thought would be very useful is the ability to submit a transmission via computer instead of just scanning pieces of paper in. Apparently some PC-based FAX setups will do this and other standalone FAX's like the Canon's have some facility for this feature but the options aren't clear (which was surprising to me). It seems that in most presently available machines, one would have to do the ASCII text to FAX encoding and compression. Is this true ? Does someone have the necessary programs ? Basically, you should be able to type in a FAX memo or doc on your UNIX terminal (or SUN workstation) and send it off like Internet/USENET mail. Please email me responses/suggestions. Thanks. Cheers, Dan Ts'o 212-570-7671 Dept. Neurobiology dan@rna.rockefeller.edu Rockefeller Univ. ...cmcl2!rna!dan 1230 York Ave. rna!dan@nyu.arpa NY, NY 10021 tso@rockefeller.arpa tso@rockvax.bitnet
avr@mtgzz.att.com (a.v.reed) (12/12/88)
In article <318@rna.UUCP>, dan@rna.UUCP (Dan Ts'o) writes: > Basically, you should be able to type in a FAX memo or doc on your UNIX > terminal (or SUN workstation) and send it off like Internet/USENET mail. This service is available from AT&T Mail (just like sending to any other kind of mail endpoint: PC packages, TELEX, paper via US mail or messenger, voice (telephone) delivery etc. etc.). You register your UNIX(R) gateway machine with AT&T Mail (1-800-MAIL672) and enter the AT&T Mail gateway in your uucp tables as "attmail". This is a commercial service, and the 1-800-MAIL672 number will also tell you their current prices. Once your gateway is known to attmail, you will be able to send UNIX mail to attmail for any kind of delivery. For example, I use the following script/function to send a letter formatted with -mm via FAX: NUMBER=$1;ATTENTION=$2;shift;shift (echo "To: attmail!fax!$NUMBER(/$ATTENTION)";\ nroff -mm -rL60 -rW65 $@ | col -bx)|\ /bin/mail attmail!dispatcher where $1 is the destination FAX number (in international format, such as 1-201-957-5159, since AT&T Mail will deliver anywhere in the world) and $2 is a string describing, to the destination's FAX operator, the recipient of your letter - for example, "Adam_V._Reed,_Room_3F-441". Adam Reed (avr@mtgzz.ATT.COM)
kay@warwick.UUCP (Kay Dekker) (07/25/89)
A friend of mine's company is contemplating moving to a UNIX (or UNIX-like) system on a network of PC-class machines. They would like to know of 1) good suppliers of 386 machines 2) UNIX (or UNIX-like) systems for those machines 3) networking software that runs on UNIX (or UNIX-like) sytems for 386s. Please mail me (I don't read this group) any useful information, horror stories, and the like. Many thanks in advance. Kay the Crisco Kid: nasty pinko faggot agnostic pervert punk. csx043@uk.ac.cov.cck
Kay.Dekker@mamab.FIDONET.ORG (Kay Dekker) (08/05/89)
-- Fidonet: Kay Dekker via 1:363/9 Internet: Kay.Dekker@mamab.FIDONET.ORG Usenet: ...!peora!rtmvax!libcmp!mamab!Kay.Dekker
belch@wpi.wpi.edu (Daniel J Basken) (09/03/89)
I am looking for a good version of UNIX for the 386. So far the only one I have know of is xenix, which is derived from system V. Does any one know: 1) Is BSD unix is available. 2) Are there any ANSI C compilers available for xenix or other UNIX's (I have 10's of thousands of lines of ANSI C to port and would prefer not to use prehistoric C.) . 3) Can GCC be used on a 80386.
heiser@world.std.com (Bill Heiser) (06/29/90)
In article <1990Jun18.201344.24312@kth.se> palm@kth.se (Christer Palm) writes: >In article <28631@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> acsoyuw@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >> >> People, is there a Unix that runs on IBM-PCs? >> >Yes i think it's named Xenix can someone confirm?. There is one at least but >it eat's 20 meg disc or so. > There's also Coherent, which uses under 10MB. ...but it depends on what you want to do with your "Unix" system ... -- Bill Heiser | heiser@sud509.ed.ray.com _____________| heiser@world.std.com | bill.heiser@f322.n240.z1.fidonet.org (Think_Tank BBS 508-655-3848) | 75106.2332@compuserv.com