From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: wes.parish@paradise.net.nz (Wesley Parish) Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2017 17:14:55 +1200 (NZST) Subject: [TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix In-Reply-To: References: <19663.1492652562@cesium.clock.org> Message-ID: <1492924495.58fc384fad4f9@www.paradise.net.nz> FWIW, I've got a copy of "A Book on C" by RE Berry, BAE Meekings and MD Soren, which presents an extension of Small C called RatC, and with example translations from RatC to 8080 and VAX. Did anyone use RatC for any major project? Wesley Parish Quoting Clem Cole : > Leor Zolman had a little firm her in NE called Brain Damaged Software > (BDS) > and he wrote and marketed a full C compiler called BDS C - > http://www.bdsoft.com/resources/bdsc.html [ which is now freely > available - > including the sources]. For years Leor's compiler was the de facto > standard K&R style C compiler for the 8080/z80 systems for CP/M and > such > systems. [What was important, is that until Leor, the CP/M community > was > using something called "Small C" which was a sub-set of the language. > Leor > managed to get V7/K&R into a 8080]. > > A couple of other folks (which I thought included Leor) had a UNIX-like > system running on/with it that we showed to Dennis at first Boston > USENIX > in late the 1970s/early 1980s - that IIRC could take CP/M programs - > [although they may have to been relinked]. My memory is that the system > got sold/licensed to a firm on the west coast and marketed independently > of > BDS C, [you might ask Leor or maybe some like Phil Karn - i.e. any one > that > was doing both UNIX and CP/M in those days]. > > If forgotten the details, I do remember Dennis saying that it reminded > him > very much of early UNIX and was very impressed with job that had been > done. The basic tools were there: sh, ed, grep, ls and it was quite > usable > modulo floppy disk speeds. > > Clem > > > > On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 9:42 PM, Erik E. Fair > 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 > > > "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