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From: dyer@spdcc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: SCO Xenix 386...
Message-ID: <201@spdcc.COM>
Date: Tue, 21-Jul-87 11:50:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: spdcc.201
Posted: Tue Jul 21 11:50:35 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jul-87 01:42:40 EDT
References: <1666@cadovax.UUCP>
Reply-To: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Distribution: world
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 35

>I just recieved an SCO newsletter and in it they talk about the release
>of Xenix 386.  They state that Xenix 386 (X386) "is a fully AT&T-System-
>V.3-licened version of UNIX System V".  I presume that that means
>that X386 is an implementation/port of AT&T System V version 3 (SVR3).
>Is it? Does it have STREAMS support? Does it have RFS support?
>Does it have the Transport Interface and Listener service support?

I have a beta-test copy of XENIX 386, so it's possible that the final
release might differ, though it's hard to imagine how much.  From this
keyboard, XENIX 386 2.2.1-beta looks like XENIX 286 2.2.1 with demand
paged virtual memory and 386 development support, with many (not all)
utilities recompiled in 386 mode.  It does not support streams, RFS,
or any fancy networking, or, at least, the interfaces aren't documented
and the kernel doesn't have any symbols which would lead you to believe
that they are there.

I suspect that the comment above is mild hype, referring to the ultimate
migration of SCO XENIX 386 into the Microsoft/ISC/AT&T 386 common OS base,
meaning that if it ain't completely V.3 now, it will be upgraded to that
over the next year or so.  This is all speculation on my part.

I don't see the lack of streams, etc., as a big loss for now, though I
suppose they are eventually desirable.  I will say that anyone running
XENIX 286 on a 386 machine is crazy not to be running XENIX 386--the
difference in performance is dramatic.  The C compiler can generate
286 objects as well as 386 objects, so developers for the 286 are covered.
People hacking for their own pleasure will love the 386 environment--all
sorts of things which never could possibly work on the 286 (can you say
GNU Emacs?) now compile and run.  The MH mail system runs wonderfully--
it used to run out of memory all the time in 286 small model and large
model was impossible because of the amount of initialized data.
-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
dyer@spdcc.COM aka {ihnp4,harvard,linus,ima,bbn,m2c}!spdcc!dyer