Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!umn-d-ub!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: UNIX clone from Mark Williams Co. Message-ID: Date: 29 Mar 90 15:20:22 GMT References: <1990Mar26.143622.18337@pmsmam.uucp> <1847@bdt.UUCP> <9365@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> <3787@tahoe.unr.edu> Lines: 35 [In article <3787@tahoe.unr.edu>, mikew@wheeler.wrcr.unr.edu (Mike Whitbeck) writes ... ] > In article <9365@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> cs161fca@sdcc10.ucsd.edu (Say no to core dump!) writes: > | > |In recent issue of Byte there is an ad of Mark William Co (they > |made the Mark William C for the ST) for their product "Coherent", a > |unix clone for IBM for $99.95 (US). It includes everything you > |expects from a UNIX system, over 200 commands/utilities, lex, yacc, > |uucp, C complier, etc. Does anyone know if that will be ported to > |the ST? > > Sounds like the toolkit that comes with their C compiler for the > ST less the lex, yacc, uucp. They have long made software for > Coherent systems and PC's ... > > Presumably they would port it to the ST if possible. > Coherent is a complete multitasking Unix-like operating system, not a toolkit that runs on top of an existing operating system. It looks to me as if it's being positioned as a more reliable alternative than Minix and a less expensive option than Xenix and the "real Unixes." $99.95 is a darned reasonable price, and a big cut from the $495 they used to charge. If Idris or the complete version of OS/9 had been marketed for the ST at that level, they might actually have sold a few copies. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for an ST port of Coherent. I expect the Mark Williams Co. has better things to do than write oddball early-1980s-style software for an unadvertised, erratically marketed and usually unavailable computer. -- Steve Yelvington at the lake in Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org