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From: jejones@ea.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.68k
Subject: Four-Phase Systems?
Message-ID: <7400010@ea.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 20-Feb-85 17:09:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ea.7400010
Posted: Wed Feb 20 17:09:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 24-Feb-85 03:07:22 EST
Lines: 47
Nf-ID: #N:ea:7400010:000:2009
Nf-From: ea!jejones    Feb 20 16:09:00 1985


[Up against the net, redneck mother...]

Gee. I went to UniForum for a day (BIG mistake, Brasilia--it takes all
week, believe me) and while I was there, I saw the folks from Motorola
Four-Phase Systems. I talked to the fellow there, and said we were
interested in a 68010 or 68020 box that ran OS-9 and could run 4.2 if
need be. He tells me a bit about their machines and says, "Well, ISOS
II is an extended OS-9."

"Hmm," says I, "should I ask him if his product has ventricles in
the frammistan?" My combined courtesy and timidity got the best of
me, though, and I just mentally wrote him off. That is, until today...

Today the Four-Phase folks paid me a visit. They left a nice thick stack
of stuff. Among this were a couple of sheets that revised my opinion of
the guy in Dallas, to wit:

One says "Series 2000 Extended BASIC," and it is a nice summary of
BASIC09, with the name of the product changed for some reason.

The other says "ISOS II Operating System," and while it's not so
blatantly a description of what I think it is as the other, it has
all the right moves:

	"HIGHLIGHTS...A Unix(tm)-type OS for desktop computers...
		file and record lock facilities with deadlock
		detection..."
	"ISOS II optimizes main memory utilization by supporting
	re-entrant and shareable programs. Re-entrant programs
	allow users to share the same copy of an application
	program."

So--here's the $64*10**n question: just how much of OS-9 is there in
ISOS II, how much of the vice is versa, and how compatible are they
at, say, the system call level, if the latter makes any sense? The
Four-Phase Series 2000 looks like a respectable machine--68010-based,
with 6809s on the I/O processor boards, some reasonable-looking
software. Maybe a bit limited in terms of RAM (1 Mbyte), but
otherwise very respectable.

(Added as an afterthought--could it be that ISOS II is OS-9 running
on one of the I/O processors, heaven forbid?)

Whoever you were in Dallas, I may very well owe you an apology...

					James Jones