scott@spectra.com (Tim Scott) (01/05/91)
The original post was inspired by a mailing I got from them (I must be on a list somewhere...) I returned a card for more info before Xmas but have not heard the response yet. Addresses, phone numbers and prices below. There seems to be enough interest in this thing for me to collect some replies I received and post them. I have not received the information I requested from Tenon before Xmas, but other people have so (presumably with their permission) I am going to summarize what I have received. "[Tenon] are implementing Mach as a Mac application running on top of MacOS. They released a beta copy for testing and it got very poor reviews." [Anybody know where these reviews were published?] "If you want a real Unix or Mach Mac you won't be getting it anytime soon from these guys. CMU has ported Mach to the Macs, but will not be distributing it. Mt Xinu and Apple are negotiating for the distribution rights. Hopefully, we will see something soon. " ------------------------- "I got the literature from the company on it.... Looked pretty good...I'm a big fan of Mach (I went to CMU)... The only 2 things I didn't really like about it were: -- that it runs as a Mac application UNDER the MacOS...it does not replace the operating system in the formal sense...so things like VM and the like are a pseudo-hack -- that it only saves files as MacOS files....does not save anything as UNIX files locally (although I imagine if you're writing to an nfs volume, it would :) Hope this helps..." ------------------------- One correspondent asked some penetrating questions. I don't have all the answers, but I am quoting him anyway: "- Is that a "pure" BSD Reno, or did they use the Mach x.y stuff? If so, which values for x and y (2.5, 2.6, 3.0)?" [According to a chart on the flyer, the base is Mach 2.5.] - File systems available for Unix applications? (MacOS, A/UX-compatible BSD and SysV partitions) - Access to Communications Toolbox? (Fake ttys, whatever) - Does it run on regular background time, or via a scheduler? (Time Manager?) I.e. do Unix tasks continue to run when you run Hypercard bseides it, under MultiFinder, and you press the mouse button in the menu bar or a window title bar? - What will they do about System 7.0? - Voice and Fax phone numbers? (Please keep in mind that 800 numbers aren't reachable from outside the US.) Address?" [This I can help with. Tenon Intersystems, 1123 Chapala St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Tel (805)963-6983 FAX (805)962-8202. Pricing ranges from $495 (2-user kernel system software, before 1/15/91 ($595 afterwards) to $1130 for an unlimited user license, including online reference manual and programming manual in HyperCard,printed copy of the Development System Installation Guide, User's Guide, Release Notes. ($1230 after 1/15/91) Thanks to everyone who sent me mail. I hope you don't mind me quoting you since I didn't attribute. I'm sorry that this post doesn't shed much more light on this mysterious product, but I'm going to risk the flames of cross-posting to comp.unix.aux to see if the A/UX gurus know anything about this or have any comments. Regards, -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tim P Scott . . sending from: Spectragraphics Corp. 9707 Waples St., San Diego CA 92121 [USA]+619-587-6834 Try: scott@spectra.com or ...{ucsd!}nosc!spectra!scott
vd09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Vincent M. Del Vecchio) (01/05/91)
If this is the same thing as "MachTen", there was a decent discussion of the product a couple of months ago on, I believe, comp.os.mach. If it's different... well, there sure are a lot of people doing Mac Unixes! -Vince Del Vecchio vd09@andrew.cmu.edu