[TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix

[wes.parish@paradise.net.nz (Wesley Parish)]

This is a timeline of microcomputer Unix:

https://www.landley.net/history/mirror/robotwisdom/nonnix.html

Quoting Wesley Parish <wes.parish at paradise.net.nz>:

> FWIW, it appears to be here:
> http://www.autometer.de/unix4fun/z80pack/ftp/cromemco/
> "cromix1127.tgz	Cromix 11.27
> cromix_work.tgz	Cromix 11.27 with C compiler installed, Cromemco ed
> replaced
> 		with ANSI version, WordMaster installed. Ready to use work"
> 
> Wesley Parish
> 
> Quoting Bakul Shah <bakul at bitblocks.com>:
> 
> > Yes, Cromemco was the company, Cromix their unix like OS.
> > 
> > IIRC, in 1981-83 timeframe someone I worked with had mentioned
> > he used to work at Cromemco and that they had a unix like OS
> > called Cromix. Cromemco were in Mountain View so likely they
> > were at the WCCF.
> > 
> > Even though z80 could only address 64k, their system had a
> > bank select under s/w control & upto 512K of RAM could be
> > added. Z80 didn't have a supervisor mode but still, the bank
> > select must have afforded enouh protection from bad pointers
> > crashing random processes.
> > 
> > On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 23:40:30 EDT Gregg Levine
> <gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > Hello!
> > > That was also a board vendor. FYI: The first GASP [GetAway Special
> > > Program] a Space Shuttle payload made use of such a board.
> > > -----
> > > Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com
> > > "This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 11:09 PM, Bakul Shah <bakul at bitblocks.com>
> > wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 19 Apr 2017 18:42:42 PDT "Erik E. Fair"
> > <fair-tuhs at netbsd.org> wrote:
> > > >> I have a memory of having seen a Zilog Z-80 (not Z8002 like the
> > Onyx) based 
> > > >> Unix, possibly v6, at a vendor show or conference - perhaps the
> > West Coast
> > > >> Computer Faire (WCCF) in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
> > > >>
> > > >> I recall asking the people in the booth how they managed without
> an
> > MMU, and
> > > >> don't recall their answer. I do remember thinking that since
> Unix
> > had "grown
> > > >> up" with MMUs to stomp on obvious pointer mistakes, the software
> > ought to be
> > > >> relatively well-behaved ... you know: not trying to play "core
> war"
> > with 
> > > >> itself?
> > > >>
> > > >> I searched the TUHS archives cursorily with Google to see if
> this
> > has been
> > > >> previously mentioned, but pretty much all Z80 CPU references
> have
> > for its use
> > > >> in "smart" I/O devices back in the day.
> > > >>
> > > >> Does anyone else remember this Z80 Unix and who did it? Or maybe
> > that it was
> > > >> a clone of some kind ... ?
> > > >>
> > > >> looking for a little history,
> > > >>
> > > >> Erik Fair
> > > >
> > > > You may be thinking of Cromemco.
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> "I have supposed that he who buys a Method means to learn it." -
> Ferdinand Sor,
> Method for Guitar
> 
> "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." -- Samuel
> Goldwyn
>  



"I have supposed that he who buys a Method means to learn it." - Ferdinand Sor,
Method for Guitar

"A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." -- Samuel Goldwyn