Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!masnet!canremote!mark.levy
From: mark.levy@canremote.uucp (MARK LEVY)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: Unix on my XT
Message-ID: <90020407120043@masnet.uucp>
Date: 4 Feb 90 10:23:00 GMT
Organization: Canada Remote Systems Limited, Mississauga, ON, Canada
Lines: 47

wu>     I am thinking about running a unix operating system on my IBM PC
wu>XT clone (8 mhz.) and I was told xenix was a good operating system.
wu>Could anyone please tell me some things about xenix?

wu>     1)  How close is xenix to true unix?
   XENIX is Microsoft's licenced version of UNIX, based on Unix version 
6.  It has since been heavily modified by Santa Cruz Operation (SCO).
It is a fully functional version of UNIX, even in the PC-XT version,
although it will be far more limited and slow than the 386 or even
286 versions.   to the best of my knowledge, SCO is the only company 
that ever sold a PC version, with the exception of XINU and MINIX, i.e
I believe that it is the only commercial version.  I don't believe that
SCO has updated it for some time, so although it should be available
from somewhere, it probably won't be UNIX SYS V compatable.

wu>     2)  Does it have uucp with the ability to send mail and read
wu>news?
   It does have the standard mail and UUCP functions.  I don't know if 
the news (USENET) software has been ported to it by SCO.  SCO does 
offer binaries, but I don't know what processor they are compiled
for.

wu>     3)  Is it multi-user/multi-processing?
   YES

wu>     4)  How many terminals can you attach and what type (i.e.
wu>         VT100, ADM3A, etc.) ?
   Unknown, but realisticly, don't expect to get more than 3-5 users
on a 10MHz XT.  It would use the standard termcap, so most terminals
should be covered, and you would have the ability to add terminals
to the database.  The key is to get as much memory as you can possibly
afford.  You want to avoid swapping processes at all costs, since you
will get old waiting on an 8 bit controller to swap a big file.  I don't
mean to scare you, but I'd recomend 2MB for starters, and then at least
an additional 1MB per user.  Realizing that you'll probably be using 
41256-120s, that won't be too expensive, at about $76.00 MB.

wu>     5)  What is the price range??
   Unknown, but I'd be suprised if it were more than about $350.00

wu>P.S.    6)  Does it have its own C compiler????
   Unknown, but I doubt it.   Well, maybe...

Mark
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