Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!ucsd!ucbvax!APOLLO.COM!rwilkie From: rwilkie@APOLLO.COM (Richard Wilkie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Re: ADUS conference news Message-ID: <9010191929.AA11689@xuucp.ch.apollo.com> Date: 19 Oct 90 19:09:32 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 126 Hello, I wanted to address some of the issues that have been raised on this news group over the past few weeks. I hope to clear up some of the confusion that has come about as a result of the ADUS conference and other recent events. I also encourage people to continue to press HP on their favorite issues - your words really are being heard and we are VERY interested in meeting your needs. 1) Domain/OS Releases: ---------------------- Support Policy: Currently we support SR9.7, SR10.2 and SR10.3. The general rule is 'the current release (10.3) plus one release back (10.2)'. However, we are aware of the number of user's who are still at SR9.7 and so we will continue to support SR9.7 until May 1991. Overall Release Plans: We are currently planning SR11.0 and SR11.1. It is our intention to release a new revision of Domain/OS every 9 to 12 months. This puts SR11 sometime next summer/fall with SR11.1 coming out in the middle of 1992. SR11 and FUTURE revisions of Domain/OS WILL be supported on ALL SAU7,8,9,10,11 & 12 nodes (DN3000 and later). We have NO PLANS TO STOP SUPPORTING DOMAIN/OS on the DN series equipment - including the DN10000 and the upcoming DN10000 upgrade. We will continue to have Domain/OS relesaes (11.2...) 9-12 months apart. SR10.2 Specifics: This release is currently supported on ALL DN series machines that run the SR10 line - DN300 and later. It is also supported (via PSK7) on the Series 9000 machines. It will continue to be supported until SR11.0 is released. SR10.3 Specifics: The current release of Domain/OS is SR10.3. It contains a large number of fixes to problems in SR10.2 and a significant amount of new functionality. It runs on ALL DN series machines supported by previous SR10 based releases - DN300 and later. It also runs on the new Series 9000 (400DL, 400S, 400T) workstations. HOWEVER, the newer machines do not support the additional processes (still at 64) like the other node types. The increase in the number of processes WILL be available when PSK8 is released around Q2'91. SR10.3 will be supported until SR11.1 is released. SR11.0 Specifics: As stated above, SR11.0 will be released next year for all node types in the SAU7-12 families. It is mainly a 'standards' release. It will contain support for POSIX 1003.1 & 1003.2, X/Open XPG3, X11R4, ANSI C, Motif... It will be the basis for migration to HPs OSF offering. Programs written to the standards supported by SR11 will be source code compatible with HP OSF. Our goal is to release as much of the OSF DCE as possible with SR11.0. What cannot be delivered as part of SR11.0 will be part of SR11.1. SR11.1 Specifics: SR11.1 will include all PSKs released on the SR11.0 line. Including complete support for the OSF DCE and the OSF UE. 2) X11 Support: SR10.2 and SR10.3 contain a version of X11 with 'share mode' support for the DM. This support will continue with the SR11 set of releases. There is a recent PSK (PSK5) to help with the performance of X11 on SR1of X11 on SR10.2. Those performance enhancements have been included in SR10.3. There will be a PSK available in Q2 for SR10.3 support of X11R4. The R4 version of X11 will NOT be share mode. There will, instead, be a 'hot key' that will enable users to go between X11 and the Apollo Display Manager. This version will be available on future OS revisions beginning with SR11.0. The decision to NOT support X11R4 on the DVS has been changed. X11R4 WILL be available on the DN4500 DVS. We are still re-evaluating the DN10000 X11R4 support decision. I hope to give you more information in the near future. 3) OSF: Kernel: HP has announced that it's strategic Operating System Kernel is OSF. We have committed that it will run on the Series 9000 (400DL,S,T) nodes as well as the future PA-RISC platforms. The first release of OSF will be available in late 1991. We have heard the interest in support of the OSF kernel on the current DN series nodes. There have been statements that it is already running on the DN4500 and has been at various shows in the past and should not require much more work to make it a product. While it is true that we have demonstrated the feasibility on OSF on the DN4500 it should come as no suprise to people in operating system product development that a port of the kernel is just the tip of the iceberg. Support of the OSF kernel on the DN series would require large efforts for device drivers for all the peripherals available. Also, the support requirements in marketing, service, technical publications, ... add to the effort. I don't mention this to justify the decision, only to inform you of the rational behind it. DCE: The OSF DCE will be ported and supported on ALL platforms running the SR11 family. This is the best method of operating a heterogenius network - and we are committed to making it available on ALL our operating systems. 4) Use of the Internet: We are investigating what support will be given to the use of Internet for sending/receiving information to/from HP. I expect decisions and implementations of those decisions shortly (couple of weeks). 5) mkapr going away As I said above, we are interested in providing our customers with the hardware and software they want - so - mkapr will be supported in all future Domain/OS releases. I am sure I have not answered all issues nor have I answered these in sufficient depth for many of you. Please ask and I will answer your questions as soon as possible. thanx for your time, Rich Wilkie Manager, Software Release Engineering Hewlett-Packard, Apollo Systems Division