7 Dec
2024
7 Dec
'24
9:27 p.m.
On Sat, Dec 07, 2024 at 07:34:07AM -0500, Henry Bent wrote:
Microport sold 'Merge 386' from Locus Computing Corporation.
Also available for AIX on PS/2 Model 80. AIX for PS/2 wasn't available
till 1988.
This is all very enlightening, thank you. Comments
inline...
On Sat, 7 Dec 2024 at 05:39, Jonathan Gray <jsg(a)jsg.id.au> wrote:
ISC had it running well before then. I'm not sure when 386/ix was
commercially available, 1987?
"We keep reading articles that say there is no operating system that
uses the full features of the 386, but we have had such an operating
system functioning since last June."
Betty Niimi, Interactive Systems
Unix to Lead in 80386-Based Operating System Shipments
InfoWorld, December 22, 1986, p 8
https://books.google.com/books?id=UjwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8
The 1986 press release for the Deskpro 386
mentioned 386 Xenix
was planned for 1987.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-10-fi-13177-story.html
I found https://www.tech-insider.org/unix/research/1987/0902.html which
includes the following quote:
"UNIX System V and the 80386 are a perfect technological match," said Bill
Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corporation, in remarks at AT&T's press
conference here. AT&T and Microsoft are developing a new version of UNIX
System V for the 80386 chip that will run XENIX System V as well as UNIX
System V applications.
This is September 1987, so perhaps Microsoft's abandonment of Xenix was not
as early as I had thought. Though this does imply that the Xenix port was
not ready at that point, and perhaps was ultimately abandoned by Microsoft.
Intel and AT&T had ISC do a 386 port for
SVR3.
"The 386/ix is based on Release 3.0, which was developed by Interactive
Systems Corp. Santa Monica, Calif., under contract to Intel and AT&T.
The code was tested through an extensive beta program managed by Intel
(with more than 60 80386 beta sites)."
Mini-Micro Systems, January 1988, p 45
https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_MiniMicroS_59292072/page/44/mode/2up
https://bitsavers.org/magazines/Mini-Micro_Systems/198801.pdf
I'm not familiar with 386/ix so I'll have to let others comment here,
though I do note that we're now slipping into 1988.
AT&T sold rebadged Olivetti machines with SVR3 in 1987:
AT&T had 'Simul-Task 386' which was based on VP/ix from
Phoenix Technologies Limited and Interactive Systems Corporation.
VP/ix also appeared on the Sun 386i in 1988.
"AT&T 6386 WGS is today's only
80386-based system to take full advantage
of its 32-bit architecture"
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/att/6386_wgs/6386_WGS_Brochure.pdf
This is fascinating, as it claims "concurrent running of both MS-DOS and
true 32-bit UNIX System V programs." They were also serious about market
positioning - the larger model could handle up to 64MB of RAM and two 135MB
disks. I'd appreciate any further details on the exact operating system. ISC work was also used by Microport:
"Microport Runtime System V/386 is based on a version of Unix for the
80386 carried out by Interactive Technologies for AT&T and Intel."
Microport to Ship Version of Unix for 386
InfoWorld, Volume 9, Issue 9, 2 Mar 1987, p 3
https://books.google.com/books?id=1TAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3
Also interesting; I wonder if the "capability to run multiple MS-DOS
applications under Unix" was shipped in a functional form, and what
relation it might or might not have had to what was running on the AT&T
hardware.