Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucbvax.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!ucbvax!info-vax From: info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA Newsgroups: fa.info-vax Subject: Re: How big is VMS? Message-ID: <4199@ucbvax.ARPA> Date: Tue, 15-Jan-85 11:04:51 EST Article-I.D.: ucbvax.4199 Posted: Tue Jan 15 11:04:51 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jan-85 05:38:09 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.ARPA Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 44 From: fortune!redwood!rpw3@UCB-VAX +--------------- | A recent posting to net.unix-wizards mentions UNIX's smallness as one of | its virtues. For comparison, I know of a functioning MicroVMS system that | occupies a total of 2878 blocks on an RD disk and can be stored as a backup | save set on 4 RX50 floppies. The person responsible for this calls it | "NanoVMS", and points out that "since it can MOUNT disks, and perform COPY | and BACKUP operations from them, it can grow into a full VMS system without | any omissions." | ---Pete +--------------- I'll see you a VMS and raise you back a UNIX... The Fortune Systems 32:16 operating system (a UNIX v.7/4.1bsd/Sys-III derivative), including a fancy menu-driven shell and "user-friendly" software installation package, comes with the system on THREE (3) 5-1/4" floppies (less than 2370 1K blocks). Since it can format disks (floppies and hard disks of various sizes), "mkfs" them, mount/umount, copy, install, backup, and delete software (both protected and un-), it could "grow into a full UNIX", except that it already is pretty much of one. (The compilers, major development tools, and applications are unbundled.) This so-called "cold boot set" includes an editor (ed), multi-queue print spooler (with "printcap"), shells (menu and Bourne), system management tools (ps, pstat, df, fsck, etc.), terminal support (termcap, page, more), run-time auto-configuration of hardware, etc. (It's over 270 files.) Actually, the UNIX stuff is really on the first two disks; the third one is completely full of the "user-friendly" shell (mostly the screens and the error messages.) So let's trim it down to what a UNIX person would consider a basic execution environment -- the first two disks. That's less than 1.6 megabytes. "I'll see your four floppies and raise (oops! lower) you to two..." Rob Warnock Systems Architecture Consultant UUCP: {ihnp4,ucbvax!dual}!fortune!redwood!rpw3 DDD: (415)572-2607 USPS: 510 Trinidad Lane, Foster City, CA 94404