Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!sirius!gmd
From: gmd@sirius.UUCP (George MacDonald)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga Unix
Summary: More info requests about Commodores UNIX
Keywords: job control? ksh? psuedo tty's? Sockets?
Message-ID: <437@sirius.UUCP>
Date: 17 Dec 88 16:22:51 GMT
References: <312@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> <5495@cbmvax.UUCP>
Organization: Northern Telecom, NSSD, Concord, NH.
Lines: 61

> 
> Graphics support is very simple at this point, partially because Unix
> doesn't do a whole lot of graphics.  The windowing system can display
> Unix plot format files (like everybody has lots of those, eh?).
> 
	Could the amiga's graphics be made available via a device driver?
This would at least give UNIX some of the amigas power graphics! 

On a similar vein, why choose a yet another proprietary windowing system(YAPWS),
why not X, or NeWS or display postscript? Of course with some reasonable
graphic primitives these could be added later!


> > 2) VERY IMPORTANT. Does it support job control? Ie can I throw a job
> >    into the background and then recall it later with 'fg'? Can I
> >    suspend a job (ala '^Z') and then push it to the background?
> 
	[Comment on the awkwardness of using shell layers and promise of
	better things to come. - removed ]

There is a terrific program called 'screen' which allows "multi-sessions"
to be done using terminals. This program relies on the BSD psuedo-tty's.
Are psuedo tty's going to be in CA-UNIX? Maybe these could be emulated
using streams?

Most people who use system V at AT&T use the ksh(Korn shell) this has
all the facilities of the csh, including job control, history, aliases
built in functions etc. It is also fully upwards compatible with the bourne 
shell.  Ksh incorporates two styles of command line editing, 'vi' style of 
'emacs' style. This makes it a lot easier to edit commands than the 
csh ^this^forthat^ mechanism. The ksh is avaiable as a product from the AT&T 
toolchest and from other vendors. I have used the ksh on uVAX II's, convergent
mini-frames, GOULD powernodes and SUN's each of which was running  a different
combinations of system V and/or Berkley UNIX's. I heard a roomer that ksh
was going to be in System Vr4 but don't know for sure. All I can say to
that is it's ABOUT TIME!!! Ksh has been arround since V.2 days!  

Anyhow Commodore could you perhaps bundle the ksh to your version of UNIX? It
would reduce the need to add a csh and you may be getting a jump on the
future. If not could you find someone to port it and sell it(I volunteer)?

> 
> > 3) Has any 4.3 BSD enhancements found it's way into it?
> 
> Not really, although it is likely that some BSD command-level
> utilities will be included eventually.  (Like csh, for example).
> From a programming perspective, the only BSDisms likely to be
> included would be a "sockets" library (and that isn't certain).

Sockets would be nice, but how useful would they be without an ethernet
board? I guess it would be another way to do IPC, instead of using System
V message queues. B.T.W. Will Shared memory, message queues, semaphore's
be supported?

Do any of the beta testers reside on the net? If so it would be interesting
to here your *positive* comments. 

Any further word on release dates?
-- 

George MacDonald	@ Northern Telecom	..!dartvax!sirius!gmd