THJ@PSUVM.BITNET (William J. Sproule Jr.) (02/10/88)
Just pulled this off of AppleLink (seconds ago......) DALLAS, Texas. February 9, 1988. Apple Computer, Inc. today began shipping A/UX(R), its implementation of the UNIX(R) operating system for the Macintosh(R) II computer that merges strengths from the Macintosh environment, including its intuitive user interface, with the power of UNIX. Apple chairman and chief executive officer John Sculley made the announcement in his keynote speech here at UniForum, the international conference for the UNIX community. UNIX is a powerful computer operating system which is most popular among technical, computer-sophisticated users. A/UX preserves the power of UNIX and adds Macintosh ease-of-use, bringing the benefits of UNIX to more customers. A/UX enhances the Macintosh II's role as a full-function workstation. Users now have access to more than 3,000 Macintosh applications plus new A/UX applications for tasks such as relational database management, all from the same system. A/UX complements the Macintosh operating system, and will be important initially where UNIX is already popular, including the value-added reseller channel, national accounts (especially engineering environments), and government and higher-education markets. Based on the most popular UNIX standards, including a full implementation of AT&T System V.2.2 with Berkeley (BSD) 4.2 and 4.3 extensions, A/UX provides easy portability and networking. "A/UX and the intuitive Macintosh user interface will expand the number of users who can take advantage of the sophisticated UNIX operating system," said John Sculley. "Apple's creation of A/UX has been driven by requests from our customers in government, higher education and other channels. It illustrates our commitment to important standards, and to helping our customers get the most out of their multivendor environments." Developers Ready with A/UX Products Developers can easily port existing applications based on System V.2.2 or Berkeley UNIX to run on A/UX. Today more than 25 developers announced more than 50 A/UX-compatible products, ranging from relational database and office-automation applications to networking tools, languages and compilers, large displays and tape drives. The Macintosh Toolbox features, as defined in Macintosh read-only memory (ROM), can be used to create the Macintosh user interface in A/UX applications. Applications which follow Apple's programming guidelines as published in "Inside Macintosh" will run on the Macintosh operating system and A/UX. Some of the applications have incorporated the Macintosh user interface in first releases, and others are expected to switch to it in future revisions. "Apple made all the correct choices," said Norman Meyrowitz, associate director of the Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship at Brown University. "A/UX provides all the capabilities of UNIX--such as virtual memory, multitasking, interprocess communication, shared network and relational databases--coupled with all the capabilities of the Macintosh toolbox, which includes the most consistent and friendly level of user interface." A/UX Makes UNIX More Accessible Designed for ease-of-use in both its user interface and system administration, A/UX lets new groups of non-technical users reap UNIX's benefits. Apple ships A/UX systems with the operating system already loaded on the hard disk drive of the Macintosh II. System administrators -- the technical experts assigned to make the network and its workstations run smoothly -- therefore do not need to load A/UX from tapes, unlike most versions of UNIX. A/UX is booted up from the Macintosh Finder by double-clicking on its icon. Switching between A/UX and the Macintosh operating system takes about 60 seconds. A/UX also makes system administrators more productive, with its auto-recovery and auto-configuration features which simplify administration and improve the reliability of the system. These tools let system administrators manage a large network of workstations, in many cases remotely. If an A/UX disk is damaged or otherwise not completely readable, an auto-recovery option assures that the system will boot and operate on the network by verifying the integrity of critical files and, if necessary, restoring them. Auto-configuration makes it easy for systems administrators and users to change I/O devices, such as printers, by automatically reconfiguring the A/UX kernel to keep track of network services. Backing up UNIX systems, previously a cumbersome task, is accomplished with an easy-to-use utility for tape back-up of the A/UX disk. A/UX is based on System V with Berkeley extensions A/UX is based on a complete implementation of AT&T System V.2.2. It has passed all tests of the System V Validation Suite (SVVS), and conforms to System V Interface Definition (SVID). It includes extensions from BSD 4.2 and 4.3 for networking and easy porting of Berkeley UNIX applications. The Macintosh toolbox is implemented in A/UX, letting developers integrate their applications with the familiar Macintosh user interface to give their customers UNIX applications with Macintosh ease-of-use. Optionally, A/UX programmers will be able to develop on the X-Window System, an emerging industry standard for network-based windowing, offering portability among hardware platforms. C, Bourne and Korn Shells are also included as are Documentors Workbench (DWB), Programmers Workbench (PWB), and Adobe Systems TranScript to provide PostScript(R) output on Apple's LaserWriter(R) products from UNIX utilities such as DWB. Sophisticated Workgroup Networking A/UX networking capabilities complement the already-strong connectibility of Macintosh, meeting the needs of multivendor workgroups for file transfer, remote log-in, sharing of peripherals and servers, and sophisticated file-sharing via NFS protocols. Apple has included a full implementation of TCP/IP protocols from BSD, and NFS (Network File System) protocols, subnets and domains, networking standards which maximize Macintosh II functionality in multivendor environments. Apple's EtherTalk(TM) Card connects the Macintosh II directly to Ethernet networks. A/UX also includes YellowPages, a licensed Sun Microsystems feature for distributing file resources across a network. Pricing Apple is shipping a variety of A/UX systems, including two bundles for convenient ordering. The entry monochrome A/UX system, priced at $8,597, consists of a Macintosh II with 2 Mbytes of RAM, a 12-inch monochrome monitor, 4-bit video card, 80-megabyte hard disk loaded with A/UX, and PMMU. The entry color A/UX system, at $9,346, differs only in its 13-inch color monitor and 8-bit video card. Apple expects the development system to be its most popular A/UX system. At $8,399, this consists of a Macintosh II with 4 Mbytes of RAM, 80-megabyte hard disk loaded with A/UX and PMMU, and gives the customer freedom to choose an Apple or third-party display. The development system with an Apple 12-inch monochrome monitor, 4-bit video card and EtherTalk card is $9,996; with an Apple 13-inch color monitor, 8-bit video card and EtherTalk card it's $10,745. Current Macintosh II owners can upgrade their systems to run A/UX with the A/UX upgrade bundle. It consists of an internal or external 80-megabyte hard disk with A/UX, PMMU and 4 megabytes of RAM, for $4,879 (with internal drive) or $4,979 (with external drive). Right-to-copy licenses are available in increments of 10, 25, 50, 250 and 1,000, so value-added resellers and national accounts may re-distribute A/UX from a master disk. The A/UX set of reference manuals is available as a separate product for $649. Most customers want one set of manuals per workgroup, and this gives them flexibility to buy their desired number of sets of documentation. Support and Distribution Apple is offering a comprehensive, ongoing support program which includes the A/UX update services, which provide regular software and manual updates. Customers who pay for the update service also can subscribe to the A/UX toll-free hotline, the first end-user hotline from Apple. Subscribing customers can call Apple engineers trained on A/UX. Customer-activity reports give customers a complete history of their calls. The toll-free hotline and tracking report is available for an annual fee of $3,395. A five-day support course and a one-day sales course for resellers are being offered by Apple. A/UX will be distributed through Apple's value-added resellers, national accounts, government and higher-education channels and through authorized A/UX dealers. Apple expects to authorize about 100 dealers initially, based on their ability to support A/UX customers. Apple, the Apple logo, A/UX, Macintosh and LaserWriter are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. EtherTalk is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T Information Systems. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. TranScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated. DISCLAIMER: I do not work for Apple, or sell their products...nor do I speak for PSU, MISC, OMA, or anybody else for that matter. I'm just providing some information. So there.