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From: rich@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Richard Pettit)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: The WHOLE scoop on UNIX 5.3 for the 80386
Message-ID: <411@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: Fri, 18-Sep-87 11:27:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: devvax.411
Posted: Fri Sep 18 11:27:52 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 03:06:05 EDT
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
Lines: 96
Keywords: UNIX,5.3,Microport,80386,386


[grrrr]

Ok, I'm sick of all this massive confusion about who, what, where, and why
UNIX 5.3 for the 80386 is, isn't and should be. Since I have the scoop, I
think I'll pass it all on to the world.


In the beginning, there was AT&T.

(You knew it would start that way didn't you ?)

AT&T developed UNIX 5.3 in their labs getting it to run on their line of
3B computers. At this point, they figured that it would be a great idea
to put the system on a 80386 chip. Why not ? They were going to end up
selling 80386 machines some day soon anyway. So, where is the best place
to go to get your OS ported to a chip ? How about the people who made
the chip. Well, that's what they did. Intel was contracted to port the
5.3 code to the 80386. Intel, not wanting this massive responsibility
for themselves decided to subcontract the work. They chose the best
company that they could to do the port because they (Intel) were
responsible for delivering back to AT&T a running version of 5.3.
This company is Interactive Systems, Inc. in Santa Monica, CA.

Interactive (call them IS for short) went quickly to work porting the code,
and in no time at all they had a working version. Not ready to release yet,
but working.  The way it works is like this: IS would complete a release of
the code, be it beta or whatever, and they would release the code back to
Intel. Intel would in turn release the code back to AT&T. AT&T would then
release the code to those companies which had contracts with them to supply
the source to 5.3 as it became available.

So, IS is not just a code porting shop. They also sell UNIX 5.3, but they
only sell it to companies. They know very well what kind of crap Microport
goes through trying to support their systems. (Lets face it, a great deal of
people out there are buying UNIX for their AT and they don't know crap about
crap when it comes to crap. I wouldn't be a customer support person for
anything. People calling asking questions like "I put the floppy in the
drive without taking the cover off the disk and it won't read it. What should
I do ?".) Anyway, since IS sells this system too, they take the code, make some
changes to it and market it as two different products. The first is called
386/ix. This is just the stock 5.3 kernel and associated utilities, such
as compilers, uucp, sys adm, and so forth. The second is called VP/ix. This
is 386/ix with extensions to support the "virtual PC" mechanism. This is
the MS-DOG under UNIX option. It utilizes the virtual-86 mode of the
80386.

Now, obviously, since IS is the company doing the port, they are going
to be the people who offer the product first right ? Wrong. IS will only
sell the system if it is absolutely AT&T SVID certified. And they were,
in fact, the first company to have such a product. And to give you a
little clue, they only started shipping their 386/ix product about the
end of August. What does that mean to those of you who got a similar
product from Bell or Microport before then ? That's right. Beta release.
Surprised ?

"So, whose product is it that I got when I bought my Bell Tech. machine ?"
you're asking yourself. Microport. They are one of the companies that
buys the source from AT&T when it becomes available. They want to be the
first company in the marketplace to offer a 5.3 for the 80386. So they
release code that isn't SVID certified. And if you don't believe it,
call them and ask. Call AT&T and ask them what companies currently have
a SVID certified 5.3 available. Don't worry, it's a short list.

Bell gives you a UNIX port when you buy their hardware because it's a
great marketing ploy. What a lot of people don't know is that all you
get is the base system without documentation. Thanks guys.

None of this is to say that any of THESE companies are shifty. As far
as I'm concerned, every successful company on the face of the earth is
shifty. Caveat emptor. Microport doesn't sell any product called
"SVID Certified SystemV/386". It's up to the buyer to find that out.
I'm positive that eventually the Microport product will be SVID certified
and that just like their SystemV/AT product, it will eventually become
a mature, well running, well liked, popular product. The problem is
that buyers simply don't beware before they buy something. You've got
to watch your butt. How do you think the owners of 1984 Corvettes feel ?
That was a new product too.

As for the MS-DOG under UNIX option, Locus Computing of Santa Monica, CA
does the DOSMerge stuff for Microport, and Interactive works in conjunction
with Phoenix Technologies to do the VP/ix stuff. I have used both. I
like VP/ix infinitely better. That is just my opinion. Take it or leave it.

And as an added note, another company that buys the 5.3 source from AT&T
is a little garage shop called Microsoft. Didn't forget about them did
you ? This is comp.unix.xenix isn't it ? MS is taking the code, and working
with Interactive Systems (they are everywhere, aren't they ?) are producing
a 5.3 that will run COFF, Xenix, and DOS executables. Pretty slick, huh ?
This product will be called Microsoft UNIX 5.3. Pretty original. Give them
marketing people a raise.

Does that clear up anything ? I hope so. If you have any more questions,
drop me e-mail. I'm going to regret making that statement. Bye.

Rich (rich@devvax.jpl.nasa.gov)