Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsstat.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!utcsstat!ian
From: ian@utcsstat.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: S100 UNIX
Message-ID: <648@utcsstat.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jun-83 01:18:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsstat.648
Posted: Wed Jun  8 01:18:11 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Jun-83 08:28:00 EDT
Organization: U. of Toronto, Canada
Lines: 42

A recent article (sri-arpa.1748) requested that vendors (DUAL, Godbout,
ERG,...) make an `add UNIX to your S100' kit.  Because UNIX is a real
operating system, with many things happening simultaneously, it's a
little harder to get right than CP/M.  UNIX drivers tend to do rather
more than CP/M BIOS.  They're invariably written in C rather than in
assembler.  So, the problem is less simple with UNIX than with CP/M.
You pretty well have to have a working system to bootstrap from, and
most CP/M users don't already have UNIX. It could be done, but it's not
seen as being economically worthwhile by the vendors.

DUAL has the lead; they will sell you either a complete drop-in kit
(CPU, memory, both disk controllers, IO card, software, manuals), or
just the pieces you need, to get UNIX up & running. Because of support,
however, they insist that you have a working system (of their
manufacture) before they'll sell you either the software kit or the
drop-in kit. This policy might sound like a rip-off, but it's not. They
don't want to sell you something that you'll never get working, and
they can't give out infinite free advice to those who byte off more
than they can chew.

Whitesmiths has an IDRIS for the 68000, apparently available for the
ERG CPU. (IDRIS is a very-UNIX-like system). You might be able do get
something similar, either from Whitesmiths or ERG.

Best advice: contact DUAL, make friends with a local system owner, buy
the DUAL drop-in kit, and go with it.

Next-best advice:  Get a job at a University computer centre, and spend
a year hacking UNIX while you work for them.  Learn all you can about
writing device drivers.  Then find somebody with a DUAL system, get a
DUAL CPU and software.  Their UNIX contract (with UniSoft) makes them
charge extra for the `reconfiguration kit' (roughly equal to the BIOS
sources only in that it allows you to reconfigure).  Get the friend to
compile a new system for your configuration.  Try it out. Repeat until
you get the drivers all correct. Be warned that this is not a trivial
undertaking.

I wish it were easier. It isn't. Good luck with whatever approach you
take.


Ian Darwin, Toronto, Canada.