BillW%sri-kl@sri-unix.UUCP (06/20/83)
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BillW@sri-kl>
Here is an excerpt from my Spring DECUS trip report....
9am (double ugh) "Hardware Support with the UNIX Environment"
DEC talked about how they plan to go about supporting people who are
running UNIX on DEC machines. I got to fill out a questionnaire where I
told them we have all kinds of machines and all kinds of people, and that
it was important to us that they not be confused to the point of
uselessness by the fact that we have TCP/IP Network code and funny hardware
devices on our systems. What they said otherwise is that the DEC version
of UNIX will include useful diagnostic tools such as error logging and a
system excersizer, and is currently working on 11s, and field service is
largely trained on 11 unix. Vax unix will be based on either 4.1bsd or
4.2bsd, depending on how DEC sees the relative reliability/stability of
the systems. The TCP/IP Network code will probably NOT be part of DEC
UNIX. They expect to be able to support Vax UNIX by SEP-83 via DDC and
TSC. They also claim they are committed to supporting other (non-DEC) UNIX
software on a "best efforts" basis.
DEC UNIX is binary only. They haven't figured out whether you can get
sources to the DEC UNIX if you already have a source license from Bell.
Bill Westfielducbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP (06/22/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-232600:ucbesvax:5600002:000:559 ucbesvax!turner Jun 22 02:43:00 1983 OK, OK--so it's starting to look like UNIX 4.19999...bsd. I wish you people would give the implementers a break. After all, how often have you been proud of code written with somebody breathing down your neck? Better late than never, to my mind. (Of course, I don't have $n million riding on it, so I'm not sweating.) Software is always late. Show me a counter-example, if you like, but only after you've gone through the trash-baskets looking for the previous schedule. Flaming Off, Over and Out, Michael Turner ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner
goldfarb.ucf-cs%rand-relay@sri-unix.UUCP (06/26/83)
If DEC is going to support 4.2bsd on the Vax, some people at a large, western university will have to do an awful lot of fancy footwork in a hurry -- so far 4.2 only exists on the Sun workstation. Ben