[TUHS] Tektronix Unix Variants

[TUHS] Tektronix Unix Variants

[William von Hagen]

Tektronix had a Unix variant called uTek that ran on a number of
workstations that they produced in the 1980s - perhaps that's what
you're thinking of? These started out with Nat Semi processors, but
later production systems were 68Ks IIRC. Most of them ran uTek,. but
some also ran a SmallTalk-based system and were sold as AI boxes. As
you'd expect from Tektronix products, the graphics were superb for their
day. The uTek boxes ran the X Window system and had Tektronix' own
window manager. 

   Bill

> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 08:23:19 +0100
> From: Tim Bradshaw <tfb at tfeb.org>
> Subject: [TUHS] On the subject of old Unix variants: Tenix?
> To: tuhs at minnie.tuhs.org
> Message-ID: <109A4122-F4EE-4430-B7CC-7EB2A0FC35E9 at tfeb.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> 
> Does anyone know anything about this? What I *think* it was was  
> something that ran on a logic analyser (?) made by Tektronix, which  
> had some kind of PDP-11 inside them.  I suspect it was actually 7th  
> edition or something similar in rather light disguise.  I came across  
> one of these in the early 80s but never used it, hence the vagueness  
> of my memory.

[TUHS] Tektronix Unix Variants

[Tim Bradshaw]

On 29 Apr 2006, at 05:11, William von Hagen wrote:

> Tektronix had a Unix variant called uTek that ran on a number of
> workstations that they produced in the 1980s - perhaps that's what
> you're thinking of? These started out with Nat Semi processors, but
> later production systems were 68Ks IIRC. Most of them ran uTek,. but
> some also ran a SmallTalk-based system and were sold as AI boxes. As
> you'd expect from Tektronix products, the graphics were superb for  
> their
> day. The uTek boxes ran the X Window system and had Tektronix' own
> window manager.

I don't *think* that was it - I remember seeing those boxes at some  
trade show later, but this was a different animal - it was really a  
piece of test equipment for embedded processors (actually it might  
have been a socket-level simulator, that you used to replace an 1802  
or something so you could see what it was doing) I think.  It almost  
certainly had a serial console (which would have been a Tek graphics  
terminal of course _ I think it had a pair of them), and I am  
reasonably sure the thing that ran it all was a PDP-11 of some kind  
(poresumably a small one, because the whole system was not enormous).

--tim

[TUHS] Tektronix Unix Variants

[Roger Ivie]

On Sat, 29 Apr 2006, Tim Bradshaw wrote:
> I don't *think* that was it - I remember seeing those boxes at some
> trade show later, but this was a different animal - it was really a
> piece of test equipment for embedded processors (actually it might
> have been a socket-level simulator, that you used to replace an 1802
> or something so you could see what it was doing) I think.  It almost
> certainly had a serial console (which would have been a Tek graphics
> terminal of course _ I think it had a pair of them), and I am
> reasonably sure the thing that ran it all was a PDP-11 of some kind
> (poresumably a small one, because the whole system was not enormous).

I can confirm your memory. I was involved in a demo of one round about
1983. It was an ICE, but I forget which processors it supported. TEK4105
terminal (first time I saw one of those). It did, indeed, run Unix on a
PDP-11, but I forget the details. Only saw it once, and I quit working 
for that company within six months of the demo; don't know whether they 
wound up buying any.
-- 
roger ivie
rivie at ridgenet.net

[TUHS] Tektronix Unix Variants

[Jochen Kunz]

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On Sat, 29 Apr 2006 20:01:40 -0700
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:

> It was the Tek 8560 multi-user development system.
> Different models had either an 11/23 or 11/73 processor
> with their own peripheral interfaces.
I own one of the 11/23 based models together with a 6800 and 68000 in
circuit emulator. It is complete, I have manuals, it runs some sort of
UNIX V7 caled TENIX. I have a spare 11/73 CPU board that I can plug into
it in exchange to the 11/23 CPU.

I need the instalation media or at least the stand alone tools for this
machine. It needs a fsck(8) but fsck(8) is a stand alone tool...
It would be really great if someone could help with this.

Hmmm. That machine would be a great exhibition at the next the Vintage
Computing Festival Europa.
-- 


tschüß,
       Jochen

Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/