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From: kens@ism780c.UUCP (Ken Sarno)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: The WHOLE scoop on UNIX 5.3 for the 80386
Message-ID: <7375@ism780c.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Sep-87 22:53:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: ism780c.7375
Posted: Wed Sep 23 22:53:52 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Sep-87 17:10:05 EDT
References: <411@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <845@vsedev.VSE.COM>
Reply-To: kens@ism780c.UUCP (Ken Sarno)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica CA
Lines: 36
Keywords: UNIX,5.3,INTERACTIVE,386/ix,80386,386,VP/ix

>I beg to differ with you here.  Actually Bell's version is 386/ix from
>Interactive with Bell's device drivers for streaming tape, intelligent
>serial card, non-intelligent serial card, etc.  The only thing
>unbundled in the Bell release is the Documenter's WorkBench 2.0, and
>of course vpix (the Interactive Systems DOS executive...).

    This is not quite true.  386/ix is INTERACTIVE's Unix V.3
    packaged product, which has quite a few enhancements and
    additional features.  The BTI release, which is the generic
    386 V.3 system as written by ISC and certified by AT&T, is
    an *ancestor* of the 386/ix kernel.  All 386 Unix V.3 systems
    that we know of are based on some release of the code developed by
    INTERACTIVE.

    While the Bell Technologies product is not 386/ix,
    as far as we know BTI ships only the certified release of
    Unix to its customers, not Beta releases.

    The enhancements over and above the generic 386 Unix which have
    been added to 386/ix by ISC include:

	- faster file system code
	- hot-key virtual consoles
	- the VP/ix DOS-under-Unix subsystem
	- integrated DOS file system support using the V.3 File
	    System Switch facility.  This facility, which is
	    independant of VP/ix, allows you to mount a DOS
	    diskette or hard disk partition so that both Unix
	    and DOS processes can access DOS files as though
	    they were normal Unix files (within reasonable limits,
	    e.g. you can't create a 14-character name in a DOS
	    partition).
	- standard support for the MICOM TCP/IP ethernet controller
	- standard support for ESDI and RLL disks in a new disk driver
	- a host of other standard device drivers
	- Documenter's Work Bench 2.0