From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 92c96c6a for ; Mon, 20 Jan 2020 18:05:59 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 5A4789C146; Tue, 21 Jan 2020 04:05:58 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5E7C39C0FD; Tue, 21 Jan 2020 04:04:41 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C7CCF9C0FD; Tue, 21 Jan 2020 04:04:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mcvoy.com (mcvoy.com [192.169.23.250]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id AC9729BFE6 for ; Tue, 21 Jan 2020 04:04:33 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mcvoy.com (Postfix, from userid 3546) id 0571F35E0B8; Mon, 20 Jan 2020 10:04:32 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2020 10:04:32 -0800 From: Larry McVoy To: Clem Cole Message-ID: <20200120180432.GJ28686@mcvoy.com> References: <20200117195908.GF15253@ancienthardware.org> <20200118035051.GC481935@mit.edu> <20200118041913.GB67053@eureka.lemis.com> <20200119024900.GA15860@mit.edu> <20200119031225.GI67053@eureka.lemis.com> <20200119035808.GK67053@eureka.lemis.com> <20200119132551.GC15860@mit.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.24 (2015-08-30) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Early Linux and BSD (was: On the origins of Linux - "an academic question") X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" On Mon, Jan 20, 2020 at 12:19:25PM -0500, Clem Cole wrote: > On Sun, Jan 19, 2020 at 10:52 PM George Michaelson wrote: > > > It does me no credit, that I initially reacted very badly to 386BSD, > > and the initial {Net,Free,Open} situation. > > > First, be careful. What we sometimes call 386BSD as a 'release' started > just as a port of NET2 to the 386 based 'commodity' hardware platform. The > history is that in the late 1970s/early 80s Bill Jolitz was working for Nat > Semi and ported BSD 4.1, to a multibus based NS16032 board that NS had > built, which was similar to the Stanford University Network (SUN) terminal > what had a 68000. He eventually built a 'luggable' using that and updated > to the port to 4.2++. He (and Lynn I believe) started a company to sell > that hardware/software solution and for whatever reason, it did not really > take off. I know those Nat Semi chips very well, or did at the time. I so wanted to love those chips, the instruction set felt like whoever did the PDP-11 did the 320xx chips. But they couldn't produce chips without bugs and that killed them. It's a crying shame, I liked the instruction set WAY better than the VAX. The VAX seemed really messing compared to the PDP-11, the 320xx chips seemed clean. Might be rose colored glasses but that's my memory.