peter@dbaccess.com (Peter A. Castro) (09/19/90)
Hello All,
I just heard a nasty rumor from a "reliable" source. This "reliable" source
is a Tech at the Local Amiga shop and has been pretty good about up comming
Amiga info. I hope this rumor is false. The rumor is this:
AMIX (Unix for the Amiga) is not going to be comming out.
According to the Tech, Commodore is not going to release AMIX for the Amiga,
but will come out with another machine, in about a year from now, that will
run Unix SysVr4. Price? Unknown.
Sure, there've been Beta sights running AMIX, but thats all.
I remember when the A2500 first was announced, and the documentation talked
about being able to select Unix, or AmigaOS on boot up. Commodore was
working on porting SysVr3 at the time. They canned that project and started
working on SysVr4 instead, and promised to deliver a year later. A year
later, no AMIX... Then they announced the A3000. Still no AMIX, even though
the A3000 would be a perfect machine to put it on.
I do hope this is a false rumor, because I was looking forward to upgrading
from my A1000 to an A3000 and AMIX. If someone from Commodore can confirm
or deny this rumor I would greatly appreciate it. I am now looking into
putting MINIX on my A1000, instead.
--
Peter A. Castro INTERNET: peter@dbaccess.com // //|
c/o DB/Access Inc. UUCP: {uunet,mips}!troi!peter // //||
2900 Gordon Avenue, Suite 101 FAX: (408) 735-0328 \\ // //-||-
Santa Clara, CA 95051-0718 TEL: (408) 735-7545 \// // ||vzv@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Lance Jones) (09/19/90)
{}
Of course I don't have any direct association with Commodore, but I can say
with confidence that at least part of that rumor is false. In the past few
days I read a brochure from Commodore which gave "the final word" from
Irving Gould himself.
In the brochure he acknowledged the fact that Unix on the Amiga has been
a very poorly kept secret (surprise! surprise! surprise!) and then went on
to mention the features that we have always taken for granted will be in
there (full SysVr4 w/ABI, multiple windowing interfaces, etc...). Most
importantly though, he stated clearly that the platform that Unix would be
avaible on was the A3000. This should immediately put to rest the part of
the rumor about 'another machine'. The article didn't specifically mention
the 2500/{20|30}.
Two things noticeably missing from the article: any reference to 'Amix'
and any mention of a release date.
Any comments from the Commodore folks on the net are most welcome.
-Lance
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lance Jones Mail forwarded to:
Veterinary Computer Network jonesl@vet.vet.purdue.eduseanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (09/21/90)
In-Reply-To: message from peter@dbaccess.com That's strange...for more than a month now the term "AMIX" has been dropped...it's "Amiga Unix" (I admit AMIX is easier to say) At the store I work at, we've already gotten a *VERY* slick "teaser" on Amiga UNIX, so it appears that Commodore is already committed. Changing course now would be very bad, not to mention expensive. They'd have to redo just about every piece of info on the A3000 (brochures, etc.) since they all state that it will run UNIX. Sean //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc | ARPA: !crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc@nosc.mil | " Fanatics have their INET: seanc@pro-party.cts.com | dreams, wherewith they | weave a paradise for RealWorld: Sean Cunningham | a sect. " Voice: (512) 994-1602 PLINK: ce3k* | -Keats | Call C.B.A.U.G. BBS (512) 883-8351 w/SkyPix | B^) VISION GRAPHICS B^) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (09/21/90)
In-Reply-To: message from vzv@mentor.cc.purdue.edu If you go back and lk at that brochure, you'll notice an A2x00 box on the cover with two A3000s... Sean //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc | ARPA: !crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc@nosc.mil | " Fanatics have their INET: seanc@pro-party.cts.com | dreams, wherewith they | weave a paradise for RealWorld: Sean Cunningham | a sect. " Voice: (512) 994-1602 PLINK: ce3k* | -Keats | Call C.B.A.U.G. BBS (512) 883-8351 w/SkyPix | B^) VISION GRAPHICS B^) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
ericb@athertn.Atherton.COM (Eric Black) (09/21/90)
In article <14126@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> vzv@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Lance Jones) writes: >{} >Any comments from the Commodore folks on the net are most welcome. Was it not stated repeatedly on the net a couple or few months ago by Commodore folks that: 1) The name "AMIX" is gone, because AT&T now allows use of the name "UNIX" (they did not before) 2) It is the same thing, though, whether called "AMIX" or "UNIX": SV.R4 (System V, Release 4) 3) X Window support would be included. The bottom line would appear to be that "AMIX" is dropped in name only; Commodore fully intends to release and support UNIX SysV for the Amiga. The only change is that now it can be called "UNIX". -Eric -- Eric Black "Garbage in, Gospel out" Atherton Technology, 1333 Bordeaux Dr., Sunnyvale, CA, 94089 Email: ericb@Atherton.COM Voice: +1 408 734 9822
peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (09/21/90)
In article <4544@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes: >That's strange...for more than a month now the term "AMIX" has been >dropped...it's "Amiga Unix" (I admit AMIX is easier to say) Well, I'm not involved in the Amiga UNIX project at all, so I can speculate just like any outsider: I think the term "AMIX" was related with the first port of UNIX SVR3.2 with that proprietary windowing system. Now it is switched to SVR4 with X instead of the other windowing system. Perhaps the naming simply differs because of this. Only speculation. -- Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // E-Mail to \\ Only my personal opinions... Commodore Frankfurt, Germany \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk
jer@stbimbo.UUCP (John Ramspott) (09/22/90)
In article <685@troi.dbaccess.com> peter@dbaccess.com (Peter A. Castro) writes: >Hello All, > I just heard a nasty rumor from a "reliable" source. This "reliable" source > is a Tech at the Local Amiga shop and has been pretty good about up comming > Amiga info. I hope this rumor is false. The rumor is this: > AMIX (Unix for the Amiga) is not going to be comming out. > According to the Tech, Commodore is not going to release AMIX for the Amiga, > but will come out with another machine, in about a year from now, that will > run Unix SysVr4. Price? Unknown. This kind of rumor mongoring is contemptible, and is borderline on being slander in that it really can damage a product just at it is coming out. The reason your dealer friend said this is that his shop probably couldn't qualify for a Unix machine dealership because you need to have a sales rep that is competent for UNIX. I am most likely going to be a UNIX rep for my local dealer. I have been a UNIX developer for three years, and an X Windows developer the past year. Commodore has begun the process of determining what dealers will carry the UNIX product, with an emphasis on those dealers who cater to the educatoinal market. A member of my local Amiga User group recently received an evaluation unit of an Amiga 3000 with the UNIX, complete with tape drive and X windows. He will be presenting the results of his study of it at the next meeting. The documentation for the product is a nice, finished-looking manual (no rough Xeroxes). The BEST PART IS (drum roll): At the October meeting of our group here in Atlanta, Commodore themselves will send technical and marketing folks to the meeting to answer technical questions, as well as package and pricing information. In other words, they expect to know this kind of info by the first Tuesday of October. And please, let's not forget that Virginia Tech already has a contract to supply all incoming CS freshmen with A3000 running UNIX. While the product so far seems very impressive, and works with the Lowell 8-bit MEGAPIXEL (1024 x 1024) non-interlaced graphics card, as well as the standard 1950 monitor, it is in a young and fragile (marketing wise) state. Be patient, because results are coming soon. While the Commodore of the past has been known to disgust me, the new crew are working hard and doing well. People like Copperman and Diamond are making great strides, but these kinds of irresponsible postings get on my nerves. Let us all just wait for the official word, OKAY!!!!!! UNIX is a very complicated product. --John E. Ramspott