From: arnold@skeeve.com
To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org, imp@bsdimp.com
Subject: Re: [TUHS] System IV
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 01:58:40 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <202106100758.15A7weqm013326@freefriends.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CANCZdfq_eVv9XeECNY8KOsKFVdLGVFhgnQN4AQYND0_DadkPcw@mail.gmail.com>
Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:
> So I've seen a number of places that talk about Unix TS 3.0 -> 4.0 -> 5.0
> progression and how System III was released and System V was released and
> System IV was internal only.
>
> What I've not seen is the "why" part of this. Why was it internal only?
>
> Warner
I did some contract programming at Southern Bell (one of the operating
companies) for a while, starting in the summer of 1982. We used
USG Unix 4.0 on a PDP-11/70. There were also vaxen.
It was no longer being called PWB by then. In fact, I think that PWB
was V6 based and an ancestor of System III.
System III had been released to the world. When I asked why AT&T
hadn't released Unix 4.0, I was told that the policy was to release
one version behind what was being run internally.
After the Bell System break up (1/1/1984), AT&T decided to just
release what was current, thus the jump to System V, with "System IV"
never having gotten outside the Bell System.
When I was doing the contract work, although we were on Unix 4.0,
we used documentation from Unix 3.0; they didn't bother reprinting /
updating the manuals since the primary changes were apparently
performance improvements in the kernel. (For example, they moved
to hash tables for many things instead of simple linked lists.)
I still have the reference manual and the photocopies I made of all
the other documentation. :-)
There was also a screen editor, named 'se' (NOT related to the Georgia
Tech 'se' editor) which they'd managed to shoehorn onto the '11.
It was kinda cool. I used both it and 'ed'. vi was also available but
I found the modal stuff weird and didn't end up learning it until a year
or two later. :-)
Hope this is of interest.
Arnold
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-06-10 7:59 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-06-09 19:37 Warner Losh
2021-06-09 20:03 ` Clem Cole
2021-06-10 7:58 ` arnold [this message]
2021-06-10 8:04 ` arnold
2021-06-10 16:05 ` Clem Cole
2021-06-10 16:08 ` Andrew Hume
2021-06-10 17:36 ` arnold
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