Reno (was Re: What *was* the Tahoe?)

That's useful. The Tahoe-specific documentation also mentions the Harris HCX-7, the Unisys 7000/40, and ICL Clan 7 - were these in any way compatible with the Tahoe, or just "other" ports? And where does "Reno" come from, while we're at it? Tim. (shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com) Received: (from major@localhost) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.1/8.9.1) id EAA04103 for pups-liszt; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 04:15:51 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au) X-Authentication-Warning: minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au: major set sender to owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au using -f Received: from seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu (seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu [152.1.88.4]) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id EAA04098 for <pups(a)MINNIE.CS.ADFA.EDU.AU>; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 04:15:43 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from rdkeys(a)seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu) Received: (from rdkeys@localhost) by seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) id MAA09886; Mon, 23 Nov 1998 12:09:28 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from rdkeys) From: "User Rdkeys Robert D. Keys" <rdkeys(a)seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> Message-Id: <199811231709.MAA09886(a)seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> Subject: Re: 4.3/4.4 IBM distributions (need history) In-Reply-To: <199811220509.AAA16197(a)skybridge.scl.cwru.edu> from Michael Sokolov at "Nov 22, 98 00:09:52 am" To: mxs46(a)k2.scl.cwru.edu (Michael Sokolov) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 12:09:28 -0500 (EST) Cc: pups(a)MINNIE.CS.ADFA.EDU.AU X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL38 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au Precedence: bulk Speaking of crusades.....(:+}}.... I sometimes feel like the orphan child running BSD on the old IBM RT (I know, not a biggie vaxen iron, but that is what I have and the cap that I don). It is not too bad running 16M ram and a 20'' megapel color monitor, but the RISC processor is running around 12mhz on an ISA bus which is not very fast. I am curious, though, about the releases of BSD for the old RT. Few on the net know anything about them anymore, and docs are nil. I asked around IBM, and sort of drew dumb quizzled looks, as if it had vaporized long ago. I have uncovered three discrete distributions, one labelled IBM, and two non-labelled, but which were apparently out of IBM or related to IBM in some way, maybe after IBM dropped AOS, but I am not sure. The background of it all is a mystery. The first is a ``build 0'' thing called AOS or AOS/4.3, and it appears to be a somewhat vanilla 4.3BSD, or possibly might be as late as Tahoe. It has pcc and a Metaware C compiler, and is not very strange. Other than the compilers being somewhat broken and the time never correct, it runs well, and feels like 4.3. The second is a ``build 16'' and labelled Reno, but is running gcc and related things. My suspicion is that it is a 4.4, but I am not sure. It seems fairly plain and following the 4.4 docs pretty well. I don't think it is really Reno, but was named that by someone back in time for some developmental reason maybe having been started from a Reno tree, although I am not sure. The third is a ``build 433'' and labelled Lite, and seems to be somewhat straight 4.4 and somethat Lite (has two intermixed source trees), and is gigabyte in size, and rather strangely laid out. It may have been the last build for the RT. Unfortunately, original tapes and documents for these are long gone, and I have only been able to pick up bits and pieces here and there. I don't find mention of these ports anywhere in the usual docs, other than a slight hint that they existed at one time. Supposedly, bits are on a mystical CD that is reputed to exist, and I have heard of two actual CD's that may have survived. I have spent the last 6 months resurrecting the ports, and basically have a reliable 4.3 running, a running but somewhat broken ``Reno'' or whatever it is (of all things vi is only 99% operational because of terminal driver problems), and a broken but somewhat running ``4.4/4.4Lite'' or whatever that really is (it boots and barely stays up, but I have been working on making it stay up). Does anyone on the PUPS list remember what these things actually are, and what level they are actually at? My historical curiosity is getting the better of me, and like Michael, I tend to like the plain model-T spartan simplicity of a 4.3 style machine. There really is a large bloat between the 4.3 and 4.4 levels in my stuff, too. What is responsible for the differences in the bloat? I get binaries about half the size in 4.3 compared to the 4.4whatevers I have. Is that just a function of gcc and how it codes things or libraries? Anyway, it has been a most refreshing learning experience getting these things up and running again. Is there any interest on the list to archive the ports that I have? Warren? Out of curiosity, again, anyone else on the PUPS list running RT iron or am I the last holdout? The few RT folks that I am familiar with are all running AIX still, although they remember the BSDs. So much seems to have been lost, already, or most of the machines have become dumpster fodder. Any insights, history, or horror stories about the old RT BSD ports are most welcome. Thanks Bob Keys Received: (from major@localhost) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.1/8.9.1) id EAA04175 for pups-liszt; Tue, 24 Nov 1998 04:35:28 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au) X-Authentication-Warning: minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au: major set sender to owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au using -f