Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!excelan!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen
From: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: OS/2 vs. Unix
Message-ID: <380@sixhub.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jan 90 15:46:19 GMT
References: <2590cf5b@ralf> <1022@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de>
Reply-To: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Organization: *IX Public Access UNIX, Schenectady NY
Lines: 60

In article <1022@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> rommel@lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Kai-Uwe Rommel) writes:

|                                     When I tried to load about 1.5M
| sources into the MicroEMACS editor on the same machine running
| Xenix/286 (also having virtual memory) this lead into serious trouble,

  If you have a version of Xenix/286 with virtual memory, you must have
modified it yourself. Xenix/286 uses all physical memory and swapping.
If it doesn't fit in memory it doesn't run.

| What I want to say is, that OS/2 is much more flexible than Unix on
| machines with hardware not supporting demand paging (like the 80286,
| for which both OS/2 and Xenix/286 were designed). And the OS/2-386
| version will support demand paging too. 

  First, IBM claims to support demand paging on the 286 in 64k pages.
The hardware allows this in protected mode, it's just somewhat slow.
Second, unless you have something from Microsoft or IBM stating that
paging (as I think you mean it) will be supported, you should add the
word "probably" to the statement, so people will realize that you have
access to the same rumors as everyoine else.

|                                          Also, take a look on OS/2's
| dynamic linking (ever heard about dynamic linking of Unix versions on
| 286/386 class computers ?). 

  386 UNIX has shared libraries. It's not clear how often dynamic
linking produces a benefit to the user.

| 286/386 class computers ?). And, the separate screen groups for
| concurrently executing processes are fine. Of course, PC versions of
| Unix also have this feature, but did you ever work on a Unix terminal
| (alpha) having two or more processes running on your terminal and all
| of them producing output to you ?

  Of course. What are you trying to imply without actually saying it
here? 

	[  much stuff about limitations of UNIX as it was 8-10
	   years ago, why memory mapped displays are faster than 300
	   baud modems, and the low reliability of the VAXen at his
	   school.  ]

  One of the bugs in Ultrix is that something seems to wrap around if
you don't cold boot every 400 days. The fact that I know about such a
bug should give you an idea of the reliability available with good
system management.


|               We in Germany say "Da werden Aepfel und Birnen
| verglichen". (Do you speak German ? :-)

  I think your translation is incorrect. "Da werden Aepfel und Birnen
verglichen" does not mean "do you speak German" in English ;-)

-- 
	bill davidsen - sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
davidsen@sixhub.uucp		...!uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen

"Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon