Path: utzoo!utgpu!mnetor!frank
From: frank@mnetor.UUCP (Frank Kolnick)
Newsgroups: comp.os.misc
Subject: Re: The value of QNX
Keywords: IBMPC/AT/386, Distributed.
Message-ID: <5205@mnetor.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 90 05:47:37 GMT
References: <3528@zorba.Tynan.COM- <2525@softway.oz-
Reply-To: frank@mnetor.UUCP (Frank Kolnick)
Organization: Basis Computer Systems Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lines: 60

In article <2525@softway.oz- gary@softway.oz (Gary Corby) writes:
-ant@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) writes:
-
--There is a disagreement as to whether it is *NIX compatible.  From what
--I can work out, there is a fair amount of compatability, but because it
--is developed with the idea of distributed processing on IBM PC's and
--because of some legal probs they had at one stage with AT&T, there are
--a few differences.
-
-I am very far from being a QNX expert, but then again there doesn't 
-seem to be a lot of experienced QNX users out there so I'll throw in
-what little I know.  QNX is not *NIX compatible, though there tends to
-be enough similarity that porting is relatively easy.  For example, 
-UNIX signals become QNX exceptions.  Exception values do not necessarily
-carry the same meaning as the equivalent UNIX signals, but they behave
-in pretty much the same way.
-
...
-There are lots and lots of little differences such as the above.

By and large, QNX is not *NIX. There are as many incongruities as there
are similarities. Personally, I didn't get into QNX to use a you-know-what
clone, but for QNX' unique capabilities (small, distributed, fast, etc.).
On the other hand, the next release will be POSIX-compatible, which may make
such arguments moot. (see the january issue of MIPS magazine for an
assessment of QNX and benchmarks of the new file system)
(We -- Basis Computer Systems -- have been using QNX exclusively for
almost two years now.)

-What I find most annoying about QNX though is that there isn't really
-such a thing as a shell, and the editor supplied with the system could be
-better.  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has one of the UNIX shells
-ported to QNX.  I may be involved in a project to do just this in the 
-near future.

Sure there's a shell, it's just not all that powerful.
There are third-party shells, but again, POSIX mandates the UI and the
utilities, so you can expect to feel at home in the new version.
(TNT Computing, I believe, markets a shell if you can't wait. They advertise
in MIPS and Dr Dobbs.)

--I plan to contact Quantum in the near future, to ask for more information,
--especially details like distributors in OZ.  If anyone else has done this,
--then please post your findings to the net, as I will when I get further
--details.
-
-There is indeed a distributor in Australia, the name of which I do not
-know.  However a friend who is a QNX enthusiast tells me it is considerably
-cheaper to order the system from Quantum and import it than to go through
-the Australian distributor.  He has imported copies for his own use and
-has two QNX systems running.

Off the top of my head, look for Computer Network Systems and Grey Matter
in Australia, and Micro Utilities in NZ (we ship QNX books to such
people, but I don't have my data-base handy).

-- 
Frank Kolnick,
consulting for, and therefore expressing opinions independent of, Computer X
UUCP: {allegra, linus}!utzoo!mnetor!frank