From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 2156 invoked from network); 7 Apr 2021 08:52:28 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 7 Apr 2021 08:52:28 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 589089C733; Wed, 7 Apr 2021 18:52:27 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4CD279C723; Wed, 7 Apr 2021 18:51:58 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=fail reason="signature verification failed" (1024-bit key; unprotected) header.d=planet.nl header.i=@planet.nl header.b="qdTf5buK"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id AC8E69C723; Wed, 7 Apr 2021 18:51:55 +1000 (AEST) Received: from cpsmtpb-ews03.kpnxchange.com (cpsmtpb-ews03.kpnxchange.com [213.75.39.6]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 566AF9C722 for ; Wed, 7 Apr 2021 18:51:51 +1000 (AEST) Received: from cpsps-ews05.kpnxchange.com ([10.94.84.172]) by cpsmtpb-ews03.kpnxchange.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(8.5.9600.16384); Wed, 7 Apr 2021 10:51:42 +0200 X-Brand: 7abm2Q== X-KPN-SpamVerdict: e1=0;e2=0;e3=0;e4=;e6=(e1=10;e3=10;e2=11;e4=10;e6=1 0);EVW:White;BM:NotScanned;FinalVerdict:Clean X-CMAE-Analysis: v=2.4 cv=Mv4xV0We c=1 sm=1 tr=0 ts=606d729e cx=a_idp_e a=YnLMpE5S06+Zisl5ga1zfg==:117 a=soxbC+bCkqwFbqeW/W/r+Q==:17 a=x1i13A_MHe4A:10 a=IkcTkHD0fZMA:10 a=3YhXtTcJ-WEA:10 a=xvyRCBwCAAAA:8 a=PVLVtGIBAAAA:8 a=To0rxfzB620-WXNm7NAA:9 a=QEXdDO2ut3YA:10 a=VFoOojeJKjoA:10 a=qnkhZQSPXViSn6LCnL6H:22 a=ekBSY-x3UJhatJUanSQz:22 X-CM-AcctID: kpn@feedback.cloudmark.com Received: from smtp.kpnmail.nl ([195.121.84.46]) by cpsps-ews05.kpnxchange.com over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(8.5.9600.16384); Wed, 7 Apr 2021 10:51:42 +0200 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=planet.nl; s=planet01; h=to:date:message-id:subject:mime-version:content-type:from; bh=fDhP0P/IBlm5gDRqdNLGLqWLwx/BAo7sOoX3VzciB3o=; b=qdTf5buKT09AFIyzoXlB+HpLRoXFg0OYkeEi07zyQYq7qQTpq2rknUcztyj6Sd1TthU/Qa971mvAz gdINjsm689ThvqFQ2TAvOeXJDSKFs7KeIzvpfqDE6LMUeQM5a00qsvfwNodJvZPYwQ7yKPBYCuINjo Isi7HjLlcHcAlz3c= X-KPN-VerifiedSender: Yes X-CMASSUN: 33|wv82htP1M7IxOsyFpaRPkZJLKz8zjjIQQ4DvgES7Y1VrRGkNCTqZanFiSs77UzY J3Az4mCiEOx/jv9yC6HrC1g== X-Originating-IP: 80.101.112.122 Received: from mba2.fritz.box (sqlite.xs4all.nl [80.101.112.122]) by smtp.kpnmail.nl (Halon) with ESMTPSA id 7921a123-977e-11eb-93be-005056ab7584; Wed, 07 Apr 2021 10:51:42 +0200 (CEST) From: Paul Ruizendaal Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 13.4 \(3608.120.23.2.4\)) Message-Id: <2397CD77-F9BD-45F7-A9D6-63401BC5F650@planet.nl> Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2021 10:51:41 +0200 To: TUHS main list X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3608.120.23.2.4) X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Apr 2021 08:51:42.0235 (UTC) FILETIME=[3B143EB0:01D72B8B] X-RcptDomain: minnie.tuhs.org Subject: [TUHS] PC Unix / early Xenix 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: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > There is some information and demos of the early 8086/80286 Xenix, > including the IBM rebranded PC Xenix 1.0 on pcjs.org >=20 > https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/sys/unix/ibm/xenix/1.0/ >=20 > And if you have a modern enough browser you can run them from the = browser as > well! >=20 > It's amazing that CPU's are fast enough to run interpreted emulation = that is > faster than the old machines of the day. That is a cool link. At the bottom of the page are two images of floppy = disks. These show an ISC copyright notice. Maybe this is because the = floppies contained =E2=80=9Cextensions=E2=80=9D rather than Xenix = itself. =3D=3D=3D Note that "IBM Xenix 1.0" is actually the same as MS Xenix 3.0, and = arrived after MS Xenix had been available for 4 years (initially for the = PDP-11 and shortly after for other CPU's): http://seefigure1.com/2014/04/15/xenixtime.html Rob Ferguson writes: "=46rom 1986 to 1989, I worked in the Xenix group at Microsoft. It was = my first job out of school, and I was the most junior person on the = team. I was hopelessly naive, inexperienced, generally clueless, and = borderline incompetent, but my coworkers were kind, supportive and = enormously forgiving =E2=80=93 just a lovely bunch of folks. Microsoft decided to exit the Xenix business in 1989, but before the = group was dispersed to the winds, we held a wake. Many of the old hands = at MS had worked on Xenix at some point, so the party was filled with = much of the senior development staff from across the company. There was = cake, beer, and nostalgia; stories were told, most of which I can=E2=80=99= t repeat. Some of the longer-serving folks dug through their files to = find particularly amusing Xenix-related documents, and they were copied = and distributed to the attendees. If memory serves, it was a co-operative effort between a number of the = senior developers to produce this timeline detailing all the major = releases of Xenix. I have no personal knowledge of the OEM relationships before 1986, and I = do know that there were additional minor ports and OEMs that aren=E2=80=99= t listed on the timeline (e.g. NS32016, IBM PS/2 MCA-bus, Onyx, = Spectrix), but to the best of my understanding this hits the major = points. Since we=E2=80=99re on the topic, I should say that I=E2=80=99ve = encountered a surprising amount of confusion about the history of Xenix. = So, here are some things I know: Xenix was a version of AT&T UNIX, ported and packaged by Microsoft. It = was first offered for sale to the public in the August 25, 1980 issue of = Computerworld. It was originally priced between $2000 and $9000 per copy, depending on = the number of users. MS owned the Xenix trademark and had a master UNIX license with AT&T, = which allowed them to sub-licence Xenix to other vendors.=20 Xenix was licensed by a variety of OEMs, and then either bundled with = their hardware or sold as an optional extra. Ports were available for a = variety of different architectures, including the Z-8000, Motorola = 68000, NS16032, and various Intel processors. In 1983, IBM contracted with Microsoft to port Xenix to their = forthcoming 80286-based machines (codenamed =E2=80=9CSalmon=E2=80=9D); = the result was =E2=80=9CIBM Personal Computer XENIX=E2=80=9D for the = PC/AT. By this time, there was growing retail demand for Xenix on = IBM-compatible personal computer hardware, but Microsoft made the = strategic decision not to sell Xenix in the consumer market; instead, = they entered into an agreement with a company called the Santa Cruz = Operation to package, sell and support Xenix for those customers. Even with outsourcing retail development to SCO, Microsoft was still = putting significant effort into Xenix:=20 =E2=80=A2 Ports to new architectures, the large majority of the = core kernel and driver work, and extensive custom tool development were = all done by Microsoft. By the time of the Intel releases, there was = significant kernel divergence from the original AT&T code. =E2=80=A2 The main Microsoft development products (C compiler, = assembler, linker, debugger) were included with the Intel-based releases = of Xenix, and there were custom internally-developed toolchains for = other architectures. Often, the latest version of the tools appeared on = Xenix well before they were available on DOS. =E2=80=A2 The character-oriented versions of Microsoft Word and = Multiplan were both ported to Xenix. =E2=80=A2 MS had a dedicated Xenix documentation team, which = produced custom manuals and tutorials. As late as the beginning of 1985, there was some debate inside of = Microsoft whether Xenix should be the 16-bit =E2=80=9Csuccessor=E2=80=9D = to DOS; for a variety of reasons =E2=80=93 mostly having to do with = licensing, royalties, and ownership of the code, but also involving a = certain amount of ego and politics =E2=80=93 MS and IBM decided to = pursue OS/2 instead. That marked the end of any further Xenix investment = at Microsoft, and the group was left to slowly atrophy. The final Xenix work at Microsoft was an effort with AT&T to integrate = Xenix support into the main System V.3 source code, producing what we = unimaginatively called the =E2=80=9CMerged Product=E2=80=9D (noted by = the official name of =E2=80=9CUNIX System V, r3.2=E2=80=9D in the = timeline above).=20 Once that effort was completed, all Intel-based releases of UNIX from = AT&T incorporated Xenix support; in return, Microsoft received royalties = for every copy of Intel UNIX that AT&T subsequently licensed.=20 It will suffice, perhaps, to simply note that this was a good deal for = Microsoft.=E2=80=9D It would be so cool if these early (1980-1984) Xenix versions were = available for historical examination and study.