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From: rab@rabtrs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Unix/Xenix on the 386 - (nf)
Message-ID: <155@rabtrs>
Date: Sun, 7-Jun-87 23:10:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: rabtrs.155
Posted: Sun Jun  7 23:10:57 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jun-87 02:07:11 EDT
References: <1987@gpu.UUCP> <1700004@altger.UUCP> <153@rabtrs> <644@vsedev.VSE.COM>
Organization: CG&S, Littleton, CO
Lines: 56

> In article <153@rabtrs> rab@rabtrs (Rich Bilancia) writes:
> >> altos is shipping xenix-V on their machines 'model 2000'.
> >> it uses an intel 80386 ( 16.7Mhz, 32kb cache mem )
> >> 
> >> questions? details? feel free to mail me!
> >> 
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> Hans Korneder     UUCP:      somwhere!mcvax!unido!altger!korn
> >
> >Yes, but if Altos XENIX 386 is not binary code campatible with all other
> >versions of XENIX 386 (just as Altos XENIX 286 IS NOT binary code compatible
> >with all other XENIX 286 products, including Tandy, IBM, and SCO which are
> >binary code compatible with each other) why would you want to by it?
> 
> Actually Rich you are quite wrong here, Altos Xenix 286 *is* binary code
> compatible with SCO, Tandy, and IBM Xenix.  At one time I had an Altos
> 2086 (Xenix 80286 box) in my shop, along with an AT running SCO Xenix V
> and there where many programs, including The USENET News distribution,
> that simply would not compile properly under SCO's version of the
> compiler.  However, I was able to port the code to the 2086 and then
> move the binaries to the AT and they ran just fine!
> 
> I did this with many programs, in fact I even went as far as to take
> Altos distributed software and move it over to the AT just for the
> hell of it, and guess what?  Yep it worked too.
> 
> I have also had occasion to use IBM and Tandy Xenix as well, and they
> use the same, non-industry-standard-intel, x.out format executables as
> SCO.

Unfortunately it doesn't work the other way!

I have been unable to get any binary that runs on IBM, SCO, or TANDY versions
of XENIX to run on either a 2086 or a 3086.

Since most of the XENIX software available today was ported to either IBM or
SCO XENIX, Altos purchasers lose a great deal (as far as software availability
is concerned) because the compatibility only goes one way.

An interesting side-light is that while Tandy XENIX will run code compiled on
SCO and IBM XENIX, not all code compiled on a Tandy will run on SCO or IBM.

I guess this all means we still live in an imperfect world!

Rich
---
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