paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) (07/13/90)
I'm in the market for a new computer, and have been considering buying an
Amiga 3000. I hear rumors that there will be a version of Unix available
for it, but I'm curious to know what folks on the net know about it. (I
haven't seen any mention of it in the last 600 or so postings received at
my site, nor in any previous spot checks.)
The rumors I hear are:
- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore
has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only)
- Available in September
- Not available this year, and will require a new machine
- Has been in beta test for a long time
- Some people talk about it in the present tense
Does anyone know what it offers? Any (concrete) information would be greatly
appreciated.
Many thanks in advance,
Paul
--
Paul Sander (408) 734-9822 | "Passwords are like underwear," she said,
paul@Atherton.COM | "Both should be changed often."
{decwrl,pyramid,sun}!athertn!paul | -- Bennett Falk in "Mom Meets Unix"dwallach@ultra.com (Dan Wallach) (07/14/90)
In <27021@athertn.Atherton.COM> paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) writes: >I'm in the market for a new computer, and have been considering buying an >Amiga 3000. I hear rumors that there will be a version of Unix available >for it, but I'm curious to know what folks on the net know about it. (I >haven't seen any mention of it in the last 600 or so postings received at >my site, nor in any previous spot checks.) At Usenix in Anaheim, AT&T had an A3000 running SysV.4. Upon booting, the Amiga came up to a blue on orange (yech) text with typical Unix boot messages. No windows/no nothing on the 1950 monitor, BUT... The Amiga was hooked up to a 19" monitor (Mitsubishi, I believe) and when it booted, the message on the monitor said "T.I.G.A., Copyright ... Texas Instruments" X windows and some OpenLook-ish thing were running on the monitor. Response time was ungodly slow. The Amiga's hard disk light was on most all the time, implying the Amiga was swapping to death. I believe the Amiga supports multiple consoles windows with page flipping (much the same way IBM RS/6000's do). I didn't catch what keys he was hitting to do it. >The rumors I hear are: >- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore > has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only) Probably true. >- Available in September The marketroid didn't have a clue, but I signed up for more info to get sent to me. >- Not available this year, and will require a new machine It was running on a (supposedly) stock A3000. >- Has been in beta test for a long time When I walked up, it was in the middle of rebooting. Is it stable? Enquiring minds want to know... >- Some people talk about it in the present tense It definitely exists. >Paul Dan Wallach dwallach@ultra.com ...!{ames,apple}!ultra!dwallach
david@twg.com (David S. Herron) (07/17/90)
In article <27021@athertn.Atherton.COM> paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) writes: >- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore > has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only) Yes, just like any Unix vendor the only thing they sell is the binaries. >- Available in September er.. possibly. A lot depends on AT&T's schedule as well, since nobody is allowed to deliver SysVr4 until AT&T says so. >- Not available this year, and will require a new machine Nope on both. Assumably AT&T will give the go this year. In any case the hardware required is a 68030 based system (includes an MMU already..) >- Has been in beta test for a long time Yes, SysVr4 has been in beta for a looong time. It's floating around parts of this company (imagine that ;-)) but since I don't know how much I can say about that I'll stop here. Commodore has been demonstrating it at trade shows for a long time, last fall at Unix Expo in New York they had A2000's with SysVr3.2 & Open Look on 'em for instance. What the people said back then was they had a well-running r3.2 system but that they wanted to wait for r4.0, since it was "so close". My understanding now is that C= will be one of the very first shippers of r4.0 as soon as the `go' is given. >- Some people talk about it in the present tense It's not present tense enough that they're selling it. RSN, RSN :-). -- <- David Herron, an MMDF weenie, <david@twg.com> <- Formerly: David Herron -- NonResident E-Mail Hack <david@ms.uky.edu> <- <- Sign me up for one "I survived Jaka's Story" T-shirt!
david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (07/17/90)
>In article <7612@gollum.twg.com> david@twg.com (David S. Herron) writes: >In article <27021@athertn.Atherton.COM> paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) writes: >>- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore >> has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only) > >Yes, just like any Unix vendor the only thing they sell is the binaries. Not true. We (Amdahl Corp) offer source to our Unix (UTS). However, you must purchase a Unix System V source license from AT&T. Those cost around $50,000. Our CPUs cost in the millions of dollars, so $50,000 for the license isn't that expensive, compared to the cost of the machine. However, I doubt that many Amiga owners will be willing to fork out the money for a license! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | In Texas: {uhnix1,moray}!starsoft!david Starbound Software Group | The World: dwl10@uts.amdahl.com (amdahl!dwl10) Houston, TX |
mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) (07/18/90)
In article <david.5412@starsoft.UUCP> david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) writes: >In article <7612@gollum.twg.com> david@twg.com (David S. Herron) writes: >In article <27021@athertn.Atherton.COM> paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) writes: >>- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore >> has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only) > >Yes, just like any Unix vendor the only thing they sell is the binaries. Not true. We (Amdahl Corp) offer source to our Unix (UTS). However, you must purchase a Unix System V source license from AT&T. The same is true for every Unix vendor I've ever dealt with. They normally sell binaries, but you can buy the source if you want it. However, you've got to have all the appropriate licenses for that source, which usually means a System V source license. If I recall correctly, UniCOS comes with the source, no binary-only allowed, but that was very early in the life of UniCOS. <mike -- Look at my hopes, Mike Meyer Look at my dreams. mwm@relay.pa.dec.com The currency we've spent, decwrl!mwm I love you. You pay my rent.
BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz (07/18/90)
> > The marketroid didn't have a clue, but I signed up for more info to get sent > to me. > >>- Not available this year, and will require a new machine I don't think so. Our government has already bought their A3000's to run it one, so they would be rather pissed off... Note also that YOUR government has bought Amigas and is running Unix on them, so I assume they bought machines which exist. > > It was running on a (supposedly) stock A3000. > >>- Has been in beta test for a long time > > When I walked up, it was in the middle of rebooting. Is it stable? > Enquiring minds want to know... > >>- Some people talk about it in the present tense > > It definitely exists. > >>Paul > > Dan Wallach > dwallach@ultra.com ...!{ames,apple}!ultra!dwallach Regards Alan
paul@athertn.Atherton.COM (Paul Sander) (07/22/90)
A while back I posted a request for information regarding the forthcoming
Unix port to the Amiga, along with any confirmations/denials of various
rumors. I've gotten some requests to post a summary to the net, so here
goes.
To refresh everyone's memory, here are the rumors I'd been hearing:
- Source licensed from AT&T port of System V Release 4 (that is, Commodore
has a source license and is doing right, but customers get binaries only)
- Available in September
- Not available this year, and will require a new machine
- Has been in beta test for a long time
- Some people talk about it in the present tense
Based on response (i.e. the number of responses that were consistent), I
consider the following to be reliable:
- Amiga Unix is System V Release 4, binaries only
- It was demoed at the last two USENIX
- It will run on an A2000 with 68020 or 68030 installed
- It will run on an A3000
Response was less for these, but confirmed, so I consider these marginally
reliable:
- X Windows runs on it
- Delays are due to AT&T's slowness to bless any System V Release 4
implementation on the 680X0
- Includes TCP/IP and NFS
Additional new rumors follow. Take these with a grain of salt:
- Motif runs on it
- ABI complience
- Unix will also be able to run on the other Amigas, provided that they have at
least 50MB HD, and 2-4+ MB RAM.
- Runs ArcNet and DECNet
- A new machine will be shipped with Unix bundled
- X Windows will support monochrome only
- Open Look runs on it
There are still no hints on its release date. Guesstimates range from
September until "sometime early next year."
Thanks to the following people for their help:
Dan Bachmann (danb20@pro-graphics.cts.com)
Stefan Buchholz (stefan@concour.cs.concordia.ca)
Dan Hankins (dan-hankins@cup.portal.com)
David S. Herron (david@twg.com)
Kurt J. Lidl (lidl@eng.umd.edu)
Udo K Schuermann (walrus@wam.umd.edu)
--
Paul Sander (408) 734-9822 | "Passwords are like underwear," she said,
paul@Atherton.COM | "Both should be changed often."
{decwrl,pyramid,sun}!athertn!paul | -- Bennett Falk in "Mom Meets Unix"d87-khd@sm.luth.se (Karl-Gunnar Hultland) (07/22/90)
In article <david.5412@starsoft.UUCP> david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) writes: >>Yes, just like any Unix vendor the only thing they sell is the binaries. > >Not true. We (Amdahl Corp) offer source to our Unix (UTS). However, you must >purchase a Unix System V source license from AT&T. Those cost around $50,000. >Our CPUs cost in the millions of dollars, so $50,000 for the license isn't >that expensive, compared to the cost of the machine. However, I doubt >that many Amiga owners will be willing to fork out the money for >a license! does that mean i wont get any source to any utility that is considered a part of unix when i buy it????? one of the great advantages with unix (on our school) is that i can look at the sourcecodes on i.e. grep, sort etc. and if i own an own unix system i'd like to modify some commands, to suit my own special purpose. karl --- Karl Hultland,(d87-khd@sm.luth.se) University of Lulea,Sweden Revolution: in politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. - A. Bierce