Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!uhccux!munnari.oz.au!yoyo.aarnet.edu.au!sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au!fang!itd1!agq From: agq@itd1.dsto.oz (Ashley Quick) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo Subject: Questions about OSF/1 and DOMAIN/OS and the future and all that stuff Summary: Questions about the future of DOMAIN/OS and OSF/1 functionality Keywords: OSF/1 DOMAIN/OS operating system UNIX Message-ID: <1365@fang.dsto.oz> Date: 8 Jan 91 00:33:29 GMT Sender: news@fang.dsto.oz Distribution: comp Lines: 149 Here are some questions about Apollo and OSF/1. These questions are directed at HP and also Mentor Graphics. I would appreciate it if representatives from both organisations could either post responses or mail me, so I can post a summary. OSF/1 - Mentor Application Support ---------------------------------- The organisation I work for has about 60 (and always increasing) Apollo nodes. About 30-40 of these are DN3000's / 3010's. Some of these are being upgraded under the recent discount upgrade plan, but not all. In fact, we do not anticipate upgrading ALL of the nodes. We would like to continue to run Mentor Applications, such as Neted, QuickSim, etc and also the Context tools DOC, PicEd, etc. Will Mentor continue to support their products on the old platforms under DOMAIN/OS for the forseeable future? Will Mentor permit interoperability / data exchange between platforms which run DOMAIN/OS and those which run OSF/1? DOMAIN/OS and the OSF/1 DCE --------------------------- All sorts of stories abound about which Apollo platforms will or will not be able to run OSF/1. There is also a supposed commitment by HP/Apollo to continue the support and development of DOMAIN/OS, through a release SR11 and beyond. I have heard that SR11 will be the last ever release of DOMAIN/OS. I have also heard that an SR12 will follow, etc. Just which platforms will be supported for running OSF/1? What is HPs future direction for DOMAIN/OS ? Will it continue to be supported and developed? I have heard that SR11 will bring compatibility with the OSF/1 DCE (Distributed Computing Environment). Will this mean that DOMAIN/OS nodes and OSF nodes can: - exchange files (ie file system compatibility) - create processes (similar to "crp") - interchange information using NCS What level of compatibility will be provided between the DOMAIN/OS user environment and OSF/1? Will it be OSF/Motif/HP-VUE and goodbye to the Display Manager? Will OSF/1 on an HP/Apollo series 900 support the token ring adaptor? Just what will be LOST from DOMAIN/OS facilities now available when the OSF DCE bits are added under SR11? At present under DOMAIN/OS, we can do things like "pst -n //fred" and the interrogation is handled by magic in the kernel of the other node. No special process or configuration is needed. Is this kind of facility available in OSF/1 also? OSF/1 system software and programming ------------------------------------- As some people are aware, DOMAIN/OS provides a rich set of system services to programmers. It provides BSD 4.3 and SYS5.3, as well as the DOMAIN/OS calls. The DOMAIN/OS calls are divided up into "managed" parts, such as the event count manager, the mailbox manager, the process manager, etc. Does the kernel of OSF/1 have the same sort of concept? Are the calls available? Is the system divided into a set of logical groupings rather than the cryptic mess of UNIX? (or as well as?) I know that OSF/1 is based on the "Mach" kernel. This does not help me at all, as I do not know what kind of services are available from Mach. Can these be described? Can you recommend a good reference book? Does the OSF/1 operating system support some of the more elegant DOMAIN/OS concepts such as: - event counts (does UNIX support these?) - multiple threads in a single process - mailboxes for single server, multiple client data transfer - user space loadable device drivers (rather than in UNIX where devices must be added by changing the kernel) - the system library concept (where librarys can be added and then become "known" through the Known Global Table) If OSF/1 provides services not available under BSD4.3 or SYS5.3, will those services be available as part of the DOMAIN/OS DCE in SR11? The OSF/1 File System --------------------- There has been the odd word or two that OSF/1 will use "The Andrew File System". What is this and what is the implication???? I believe that AFS does not use the Apollo type concept of the network root (//), but that nodes are referred to through some kind of black box magic directory (/AFS on each node). Is this so? If so WHY????? [What about all of the things like the IBM PC network, all of the other microsoft stuff which refers to \\machine_name or similar - seems a sensible convention to me and it implies the hierarchy]. By that way, the // convention IS posix compliant - 'cos somebody posted the posix rules to the net about 6-8 months ago. Is the OSF/1 file system typed? Can new type managers be added, as in DOMAIN/OS? If not, why was the decision made not to use the typed file system. [After all - DOMAIN/OS is pretty close to a genuine object oriented operating system - which things like HP Open Whatchermacallit on the PC is supposed to be just getting close to!] All of these questions may take a bit of answering - but they will help to set my mind at rest, as well as many other people. Remember: customers are VERY IMPORTANT! Without them, you would not be in business - we need information to be able to make informed purchase decisions in future. Futhermore, we are not all smiles and happy when we buy equipment and are then told that our very expensive investment is WORTHLESS because it will not be supported as from Thursday lunch-time. Thanks in advance Ashleigh Quick AGQ@dstos3.dsto.oz.au Ashleigh Quick | ACSnet: AGQ@dstos3.dsto.oz Defence Science and Technology Organisation| Internet: AGQ@dstos3.dsto.oz.au PO Box 1600 | Phone: (Intl) (+61 8) 259 6975 Salisbury 5108 AUSTRALIA | (Local) (08) 259 6975