Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!spool.mu.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!axion!delluk!holly!tim From: tim@dell.co.uk (Tim Wright) Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,fido.unix Subject: Re: wanted: UNIX or clone Message-ID: Date: 30 Apr 91 08:17:04 GMT References: <1991Apr28.212531.14727@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Apr28.225644.10469@nstar.rn.com> <1991Apr29.031654.17360@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Apr29.212706.17365@unixland.uucp> Sender: usenet@delluk.uucp (Usenet posting login) Organization: Dell Computer Corp., Bracknell, UK Lines: 36 In <1991Apr29.212706.17365@unixland.uucp> bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) writes: >In article <1991Apr29.031654.17360@agate.berkeley.edu> ilan343@violet.berkeley.edu (Geraldo Veiga) writes: >>In article <1991Apr28.225644.10469@nstar.rn.com> larry@nstar.rn.com (Larry Snyder) writes: >>>ilan343@violet.berkeley.edu (Geraldo Veiga) writes: >>> >>>>By the way, are there any mainstream commercial applications >>>>(WordPerferct, 123, Dbase, etc) that won't run under some 386 Unix >>>>variants? >>> >>>Sure - look at Norton - they are specifically for Interactive. >> >>Is this for real or is just Interactive's marketing? They distribute >>Norton, right? Does the software use any ISC specific feature (file >>system, drivers) ? >> >Well, I for one wouldn't even consider trying to run something like >Norton Utilities on a system which was not specifically supported by >Norton. It does such specific things (such as dealing with disk sectors) >that it could make a real mess of things in a hurry. Indeed, the norton utilities for UNIX have their own device driver(s) and are intimately linked to the ISC fast file system. Hence it will not run on non-ISC (derived) versions of UNIX. The biggest problem I have seen is with packages for SCO UNIX. They usually work *IF* you can persuade them to install. Not always easy since they sometimes check for such things as "The SCO internationalisation supplement" - hard to find on ISC !! It would be nice if software developers could use the generic sysv/386 stuff unless it really is vital to stray outside. Tim -- Tim Wright, Dell Computer Corp., Bracknell | Domain: tim@dell.co.uk Berkshire, UK, RG12 1RW. Tel: +44-344-860456 | Uucp: ...!ukc!delluk!tim Smoke me a Kipper, I'll be back for breakfast - Red Dwarf