Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!aurora!eos!ames!hao!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ut-sally!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry
From: terry@wsccs.UUCP (terry)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: UNIX on the Amiga
Message-ID: <183@wsccs.UUCP>
Date: 23 Feb 88 08:27:27 GMT
Lines: 39
Summary: Amiga UNIX

In article <2836@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, langz@athena.mit.edu (Lang Zerner) writes:
> In article <1869@leo.UUCP> harald@leo.UUCP ( Harald Milne) writes:
> >
> >	Or you could have a UNIX that is compatable! You know, run everything
> >you have now! What a challenge! I would love to grapple with that one, just
> >to see it done right. You know, the ultimate form of compatabitilty, run a
> >game with realtime graphics, sound, controller response! Screw the reboot.
> >
> >	Or am I flashed off. Am I the ONLY person on the face of this planet
> >that feels this way?

	You are flashed off.  A 68000 can not run protected memory.  This
would limit you to SysIII and it's derivatives (Tandy 6000 style Xenix, etc).
Just because the only place you have to worry is a stack grow doesn't mean
that you don't want an mmu.  There is a lot of code for the NCR/Sperry/Unisys
boxes that I'd like to run.  Of course you could always replace the 68000 with
a 68010 ($20 or so with shipping), but that would mean you are no longer safe
with some games doing a MPSW.

> I think it would be a shame to force people to choose, and I also think that
> someone who wants Unix is mainly interested in the already existing power of
> Unix.  I may be wrong, but it seems to me that since so much of the current
> Amiga environment is in ROM (i.e. system calls), it shouldn't be too difficult
> to have that environment running as a task under Unix, softwarily speaking.
> Stuff like disk formats, etc., are another story.

	Mostly already existing software, actually.  It would also make it a
business (gasp!) machine.  As far as getting a UNIX up on top of the ROM bios,
good luck.  I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it would be a bugger.  You
would probably have more success at VMS-- the programmer interface is very
similar (unfortunately.  Lot of overhead for a small machine).


| Terry Lambert           UUCP: ...!decvax!utah-cs!century!terry              |
| @ Century Software       or : ...utah-cs!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry    |
| SLC, Utah                                                                   |
|                   These opinions are not my companies, but if you find them |
|                   useful, send a $20.00 donation to Brisbane Australia...   |
| 'There are monkey boys in the facility.  Do not be alarmed; you are secure' |