waynec@hpsrli.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon) (02/27/88)
Has anyone heard anything about the future of OS/2 running under
UNIX/XENIX? My concern is the long term viability of a strategy based
on VP/ix or DOS Merge as OS/2 becomes more prevalent.
Wayne Cannon
{hpccc|hpcea}!hpnmd!waynec
waynec@hpnmd.HP.COM
(telco) (707)-577-3631madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost) (02/29/88)
In article <340004@hpsrli.HP.COM> waynec@hpsrli.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon) writes: >Has anyone heard anything about the future of OS/2 running under >UNIX/XENIX? My concern is the long term viability of a strategy based >on VP/ix or DOS Merge as OS/2 becomes more prevalent. The way it's designed (emulation box, etc), I would doubt very much that OS/2 would ever run under UNIX except on an emulated machine. The reverse may not be true, however. OS/2 makes a lot of assumptions about the hardware of your system; most UNIX's do not. I don't believe it would be that hard to patch a UNIX kernel to use OS/2 calls instead of its own. Of course you'd loose performance with the in-between steps, but you'd get the double OS that you're looking for. I would imagine that the UNIX system call interface would need redefining, so you'd have to recompile everything with new libraries. jim frost madd@bu-it.bu.edu
brunke@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Jim Brunke) (02/29/88)
ATT is working on such at project now to run on their new 386 machines. That is about all I have heard. (Obviously something that is OS/2 compatible will also be DOS compatible) Jim Brunke -- ARPA: brunke@vax1.acs.udel.edu
dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) (03/02/88)
In article <20246@bu-cs.BU.EDU>, madd@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Jim Frost) writes: > In article <340004@hpsrli.HP.COM> waynec@hpsrli.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon) writes: > >Has anyone heard anything about the future of OS/2 running under > >UNIX/XENIX? My concern is the long term viability of a strategy based > >on VP/ix or DOS Merge as OS/2 becomes more prevalent. > > The way it's designed (emulation box, etc), I would doubt very much > that OS/2 would ever run under UNIX except on an emulated machine. > jim frost : madd@bu-it.bu.edu Problem is that (unlike DOS) OS/2 and UNIX SV require protected mode execution. VP/ix and DOSMerge run on 80386 in a virtual machine mode known as VM86 to emulate exactly DOS. Corresponding 80286 mode switches are undocumented and un-protected! (That is, an ill behaved DOS program can/will crash UNIX or OS/2 compatibility box and other DOS-under-protected mode programs.) The big catch to OS/2 under UNIX is that current Intel processors do not have a 80286 virtual machine. If a hypothetical future chip (80486?) supported this, there is no reason that OS/2 for 80286 would not be able to be run as a VM just as DOS is today. -- David F. Carlson, Micropen, Inc. ...!{ames|harvard|rutgers|topaz|...}!rochester!ur-valhalla!micropen!dave "The faster I go, the behinder I get." --Lewis Carroll
murillo@sigi.Colorado.EDU (Rodrigo Murillo) (03/02/88)
In <739@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> brunke@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Jim Brunke) writes: >ATT is working on such at project now to run on their new 386 machines. >That is about all I have heard. (Obviously something that is OS/2 compatible >will also be DOS compatible) OS/2 and DOS applications are NOT generally compatible. And you can bet that any OS/2 implementation of UNIX will have to use OS/2 specific calls, making it totally incompatible with DOS! -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Rodrigo Murillo, University of Colorado - Boulder (303) 761-0410 murillo@boulder.colorado.edu | ..{hao|nbires}!boulder!murillo ( Machines have less problems. I'd like to be a machine. -- Andy Worhol )
brunke@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Jim Brunke) (03/03/88)
> >ATT is working on such at project now to run on their new 386 machines. > >That is about all I have heard. (Obviously something that is OS/2 compatible > >will also be DOS compatible) > > OS/2 and DOS applications are NOT generally compatible. And you can bet that > any OS/2 implementation of UNIX will have to use OS/2 specific calls, making it > totally incompatible with DOS! Well, when I said compatible, I meant compatible though OS/2 compatiblility window. Thats all. Jim Brunke -- ARPA: brunke@vax1.acs.udel.edu