Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!peregrine!sceard!mrm
From: mrm@sceard.Sceard.COM (M.R.Murphy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.misc
Subject: Re: questions on coherent
Message-ID: <1990Aug31.135948.17329@sceard.Sceard.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 90 13:59:48 GMT
References: <1990Aug30.130037.14@acad2.anc.alaska.edu>
Reply-To: mrm@Sceard.COM (M.R.Murphy)
Organization: Sceard Systems, Inc.  San Marcos, CA  92069
Lines: 59

In article <1990Aug30.130037.14@acad2.anc.alaska.edu> asgad@acad2.anc.alaska.edu writes:
>From: asgad@alaska (george dowding)
>Subject: Coherent
>
>I am thinking of purchasing the coherent operating system.  It claims to be an
>independently created UNIX clone.  Its supposed to be just like unix (minus
>the cost).  Furthermore it will work under minimal conditions (IBM AT w/640k)
>
>Has anyone tried this system?  If so, is it all that it is cracked up to be?

Coherent is more than it is cracked up to be :-)

  1) The manual is really quite good. Worth the price by itself. The lexicon
     section is quite good.
  2) Coherent is very close to V7 Unix(tm) on a PDP-11(tm). Better in that
     it will generally be running on a machine with more memory than a PDP-11
     was likely to have(248Kb). 640K is fine on an AT. 1MB is better. Also,
     the AT (maybe tm, who knows for sure?) is probably going to be faster
     as a CPU (certainly faster than an 11/23 :-).
  3) Coherent has lots of space available with a 40MB disk partitioned as
     10MB for root, 30MB for a user filesystem. A 20MB disk would be ok. Really
     big disks, they haven't thought about so much, it seems. I'll run out
     of space on the 40MB when Cnews works.
  4) The C compiler is good.
  5) The object libraries are good, with the caveat that there are always
     routines in some other Unix that are used in a program that aren't in
     whatever Unix you happen to be using. You know, Coherent doesn't have
     wait3 or sigsetblock or sysgetfarknargle... Porting is about the same
     trouble as BSD(tm) to SysV(tm).
  6) It has online man pages. Enough said.
  7) The mail reader is marginal.
  8) UUCP is ok, but not real spiffy. Works, but minor warts are annoying.
  9) The distribiution is probably the best I've seen. Careful attention to
     permissions, that sort of thing. Considering that it is supposed to run
     on lots of manufacturers little tan boxes, that's amazing. It's certainly
     easier to install than V7 :-) Only 4 diskettes to feed into the machine.
 10) No f77.
 11) No DWB (nroff,troff,...)
 12) No WWB (style,dict,...)
 13) Good FPU simulation if you don't have an '87 equivalent
 14) Currently limited to 32MB disk partitions.
 15) A really good device driver installation kit.
 16) Small model only. Same as a PDP-11. No 16MB programs here. But microEmacs
     is supplied, and works. Fast.
 17) Elvis (vi clone) works. Fast.
 18) Disk I/O is about 4 times faster than 1.3 Minix(tm, maybe?) On the same
     platform.
 19) What do I know about the myriad of VGA, EGA, PGA, CGA, EVGA, HMG, ...
     if it doesn't work, send it back and get your money back. They have
     some sort of a guarantee.

I think it's well worth $100 or so.

A satisfied tinkerer, thinking of using Coherent in a product, not affiliated
in any way with MWC, and all of the above is opinion. Disclaimed enough?
BTW, all this (tm) stuff is a pain in the tail. Who gives a tinker's dam.
-- 
Mike Murphy  Sceard Systems, Inc.  544 South Pacific St. San Marcos, CA  92069
mrm@Sceard.COM        {hp-sdd,nosc,ucsd,uunet}!sceard!mrm      +1 619 471 0655