Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!rochester!ritcv!ccivax!rb From: rb@ccivax.UUCP (rex ballard) Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga OS (vs Unix) Liscencing? A 'generic OS' needed Message-ID: <408@ccivax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 17-Feb-86 19:35:15 EST Article-I.D.: ccivax.408 Posted: Mon Feb 17 19:35:15 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 19-Feb-86 07:44:13 EST References: <1270@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> Reply-To: rb@ccivax.UUCP (What's in a name ?) Organization: CCI Telephony Systems Group, Rochester NY Lines: 91 Imagine having to gamble on a new car if GM used diesel, Ford used unleaded, Chrysler used gasahol, Honda used alcohol, Toyota used coal gas, ..... and so on for about 20 different cars, and no car could use another's gas. What kind of gas should the gas stations sell? What should the refiners produce? What investments should be made (oil wells or farm land?). This is the delemma faced by the computer industry today. Each "proprietary system" succeds or fails based on this very logic. IBM has set one standard (however obsolete), it is time for another to be set. In article <1270@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> mwm%ucbopal@BERKELEY.EDU@caip.RUTGERS.EDU writes: >From: Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer >>The *last* thing we needed was >>another wheel reinvented. To be excusable, I have to say that >>TriPOS must be shown to be *better* than OS-9. It clearly isn't. >No, but it isn't clear that OS-9 is superior to TRIPOS, either. >>At this time OS-9 has become essentially a standard for small systems based >>on 68K's. > >Can I get OS-9 for Stride? Pinnacle? the Tandy 68K box? Compupro 68K >systems? It is possible to get OS-9 68K for all three of these machines, in fact Level 2 (Segmented with MMU), and Level 3 (Demand Paged Virtual Memory) may also be available and are source code (and object?) code compatibile. >I don't think so (unless it's from second-party vendors), but >TRIPOS runs on both the Stride and the Pinnacle. TRIPOS is a subset of Intuition, I assume it is available or portable to any manufacturer willing to port it, or a third party? (Liscence fees?). But Intuition is not in this class, if it were, the possibility of using TRIPOS as a 68K equivelant of CP/M or MS/DOS might be worth considering. >Anyone know if >carefully-written (i.e., avoiding the windowing/graphics software) >code will run on TRIPOS? Along the same lines, what kind of >windowing/graphics standard exists for OS/9-68K. There is a VDI interface included, windows are part of the whole package. (Material from UW included announcements for full 63485 support) They also support true networking capabilities. >Don't complain about Amiga having chosen a non-US OS for their box. >TRIPOS does have a following (which I was happy to find out; TRIPOS >has always seemed like to nice an OS to die), it's just not as visible >as OS-9, being mostly in Britian. They didn't raise a new >"non-standard", they just chose one you weren't familiar with. TRIPOS may or may not be a true 'standard', but the packages which make it useful and desirable (VDI graphics, Windows, Mice...) are 'Amiga Only'. >>There are times and ways to break new ground--to advance the state of the art. >You're right, and I think this is one of them. Here, I agree, this is the time to advance the state of the art in the form of a practical "Industry Standard OS" equal or better than the "Mac Enviroment" with multi-tasking. Amiga provides these things, but at the cost of data and program market incompatibility. Personally, I wouldn't care whether it was TRIPOS, OS-9, VRTX, XINU, or Concurrent CP/M 68K, but if one of these systems becomes available, it should be adopted as quickly as possible, or ALL of the 68K machines really will be just "Toy Computers" to many businesses. Apple, Atari, and Commodore had more capabilities on their machines individually than CP/M or MS-DOS put together, but those were the "REAL COMPUTERS", while the 6502 machines were "TOYS". The big 3 can compete with graphics processors, faster CPU's, floating point co-processors, and other competitive edges all they want, and they'll get good support. Right now, you have to give these machines a frontal lobotomy to make them IBM compatible, (This makes it a "serious machine") and even then Apple has not really done that well against "Big Blue's Box" even after two years. Many companies bought VAX and other non-IBM mini-computers because UNIX made them source code compatible. Even UNIX micro's have succesfully cut into the Series 1 market, because they run UNIX. The consumer will only tolerate about 3 standards. In Audio, it's 45's LP's, and Cassettes, with 45's giving way to CD-Roms. In Video, there are really only two standards, VHS and BETA. Now imagine the market situation if Sony, JVC, Magnavox, Panasonic, and Zenith all used their own "proprietary" standards. Perhaps Commodore will see the benefits of providing this industry standard system, perhaps Micro-Ware or some as yet unknown "wizard" will perform this great service. When it happens, I hope that we are all willing to accept the "trade-offs" and adopt it. If it does not happen, I hope the "industry wide crash" won't be too severe.