Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!jade!eris!mwm From: mwm@eris.UUCP Newsgroups: misc.wanted,comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: Cheap wonderful UNIX boxes (summary) Message-ID: <2955@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Sun, 29-Mar-87 12:47:33 EST Article-I.D.: jade.2955 Posted: Sun Mar 29 12:47:33 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 2-Apr-87 01:00:40 EST References: <873@maynard.BSW.COM> <885@maynard.BSW.COM> <499@vsedev.VSE.COM> Sender: usenet@jade.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 54 Xref: utgpu misc.wanted:710 comp.unix.questions:1565 In article <499@vsedev.VSE.COM> ron@vsedev.UUCP (Ron Flax) writes: >Isn't this just great! :-( It seems that there really is an >astounding gap in the UNIX micro market.... What a shame! > >I was in the same situation but finally decided to bite the bullet and >buy an AT clone on which I originally ran Xenix V, am now running >Microport UNIX V/AT, but would *really* like to run 4.xBSD UNIX. Of course, if you're willing to run something that resembles Unix, instead of _being_ Unix, there are a couple of 68K boxes around that sell for < $5K, and have a workstation-like environment. If you want them to use some specific Unix tool, you may need to spend time investigating what's out there for them. Many Unix-like tools are in the PD for these boxes; major packages that aren't tied to Unix (TeX, for instance) may well exist on them already. If you want to do code development, porting code to/from them will have the same set of problems as porting code to/from different Eunices: include files in the wrong places, non-v7 io primitives aren't quite right, and terminal handling is broken. In addition, anything that does multitasking will either have to be rewritten, or won't be possible at all (which systems I wouldn't consider). The Amiga is the box with the most visibility. It's also got the least Unix-like of the OS's around. Beyond the stuff mentioned in the last paragraph, it's also got a different file name structure. But it's a hackers toy, and you can get _lots_ of PD software for it (yacc/lex, assemblers, a smalltalk, a logo, xlisp, etc.). Various boxes running OS/9 are possibilities. The cheapest is the RS Color Computer, which doesn't beat the problems of the 6809 address space, but does have a real windowing environment. Various vendors 68K boards and systems (Hazelwood, Gimix, SSB, FHL, and probably others) are probably worth investigating. The base systems start for a grand or so (price varying depending on whether you've got a 68000, or aa grand or(price varying depending on whether you've g 68020); I'm not sure how much a "workstation-like" box would cost. I know that MicroWare (the people who produce & market OS/9) did an X port, and are working on TCP/IP. There are probably others out there that are worth looking into; most of them would probably be much better programming environments than a cheap AT clone with SysV (hey, windows is a _BIG_ win, even if you have to give up csh!). Unless you've already decided that anything not running Unix is a lossage (does the word "prejudiced" come to mind?), it's probably worth you're time to look into the 68K micro market.