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* [TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix
@ 2017-04-20  1:42 Erik E. Fair
  2017-04-20  2:54 ` Jason Stevens
                   ` (4 more replies)
  0 siblings, 5 replies; 27+ messages in thread
From: Erik E. Fair @ 2017-04-20  1:42 UTC (permalink / raw)


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


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread
* [TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix
@ 2017-04-20 12:34 Noel Chiappa
  2017-04-20 13:41 ` Mutiny 
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 27+ messages in thread
From: Noel Chiappa @ 2017-04-20 12:34 UTC (permalink / raw)


    > From: "Erik E. Fair"

    > I have a memory of having seen a Zilog Z-80 .... based Unix, possibly v6
    > ... 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

I don't know about the Z80 part, but for the MMU aspect, recall that the first
couple of versions of PDP-11 Unix ran on a model (the -11/20) which didn't
have an MMU (although, as mentioned before here, it apparently did later use a
thing called a KS11, the specifications for which seem to be mostly lost).
Although recall the mention of calling out "a.out!", as to the hazards of
doing so...

And of course there was the 'Unix for an LSI-11' (LSX), although I gather that
was somewhat lobotomized, as the OS and application has to fit into 56KB
total.

So it was possible to 'sorta kind-of' do Unix without an MMU.

   Noel


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 27+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2017-04-24  0:40 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 27+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2017-04-20  1:42 [TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix Erik E. Fair
2017-04-20  2:54 ` Jason Stevens
2017-04-20  3:09 ` Bakul Shah
2017-04-20  3:40   ` Gregg Levine
2017-04-20  4:34     ` Bakul Shah
2017-04-20  4:50       ` Warner Losh
2017-04-20  7:03       ` Wesley Parish
2017-04-20  7:32         ` Wesley Parish
2017-04-20  4:32   ` Rik Schneider
2017-04-20 13:05 ` Clem Cole
2017-04-22 21:07   ` Dave Horsfall
2017-04-22 23:59     ` Clem cole
2017-04-23  0:01     ` Clem cole
2017-04-23  0:13     ` Larry McVoy
2017-04-24  0:04       ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
2017-04-24  0:40         ` Larry McVoy
2017-04-23  5:14   ` Wesley Parish
2017-04-23  5:14   ` Wesley Parish
2017-04-20 21:32 ` Dave Horsfall
2017-04-20 21:59   ` Larry McVoy
2017-04-20 22:33     ` Steve Nickolas
2017-04-20 23:28     ` Pete Turnbull
2017-04-20 23:19   ` Harald Arnesen
2017-04-21  0:03     ` Andy Kosela
2017-04-23 17:58 ` Michael Welle
2017-04-20 12:34 Noel Chiappa
2017-04-20 13:41 ` Mutiny 

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