Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!rutgers!ucsd!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!ultra!dwallach
From: dwallach@ultra.com (Dan Wallach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: What about Unix?
Keywords: Amiga 3000 Unix
Message-ID: <1990Jul13.182040.6614@ultra.com>
Date: 13 Jul 90 18:20:40 GMT
References: <27021@athertn.Atherton.COM>
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies
Lines: 52

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