[TUHS] Un-released/internal/special UNIX versions/ports duringthe years?

[jsteve@superglobalmegacorp.com (jsteve@superglobalmegacorp.com)]

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I had never hear of an i860 board from IBM, but a little searching, and it almost looks like it was going to be a thing.

NUMBER     290-817
DATE       901218
TYPE       Programming
TITLE      INTEL OS/2 AND AIX I860 SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR C AND FORTRAN
ABSTRACT  Today, IBM announces C and FORTRAN compiler support for the
   PS/2 (R) Wizard Adapter running under both AIX (R) PS/2 and OS/2 (R)
   operating systems.
<           hundreds of lines of information deleted          >
TECHINFO   TECHNICAL INFORMATION
   SPECIFIED OPERATING ENVIRONMENT
v  MACHINE REQUIREMENTS:
|  o   The Intel OS/2 and AIX i860 Software Development Tools for C and
|      FORTRAN require one of the following PS/2 system units:
|      -   PS/2 Model 70
|      -   PS/2 Model P75*
|      -   PS/2 Model 80
|      -   PS/2 Model 90 XP*
|      -   PS/2 Model 95 XP*
|             The Model P70 is not supported.
====>  *  These models are not currently supported by AIX PS/2.
          Therefore, the PS/2 Wizard Adapter will operate only with IBM
          OS/2 on these models.


Or later something like this:

IBM architecture - RT
IBM architecture - RS/6000
IBM architecture - S/370
Intel architecture - i386

(rumors of)
Intel architecture - i860	(Wizard PS/2 cardset with 4xi860)
whatever comes out of Steve Chen's supercomputer work

Of course, with IBM not licensing AIX source to anyone, these are only
IBM machines, but that is not the same as AIX being a non-portable OS.

Rumors are that IBM's customers are pressing very hard for source
licenses and that someday such licenses will be available.  Whether
that would lead to ports to other machines, I can't predict.


Very interesting!

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Ronald Natalie
Sent: Wednesday, 1 March 2017 3:45 PM
To: Gregg Levine
Cc: Tuhs
Subject: Re: [TUHS] Un-released/internal/special UNIX versions/ports duringthe years?


> On Feb 28, 2017, at 10:15 PM, Gregg Levine <gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello!
> We (well most of us) all of us know about AIX. Well what about AIX/370?
> ——

AIX/370 was a real product.     One of the ones that I don’t ever think saw the light of day was the i860 AIX port.   IBM made two i860 add-in cards for the PS/2.   The single processor version was called the Wizard and there was a 4 processor version with an integral frame buffer called the W4.     We ported AIX to both.    The i860 version actually had more in common with the 370 version than it did with the 386.     All of these AIX versions came from the same source code and used the IBM TCF to allow you to transparently run executables across nodes in the cluster.     The only AIX that didn’t play was the completely independent (and in my opinion somewhat brain damaged) IBM/RT UNIX.    If there was a TCF-based RT kernel, I never saw it, even inside the IBM labs.

Speaking of odd job control mechanisms.   The 386 side had a device that multiplexed the PS/2 console into multiple streams called the “High Function Terminal.”   When we wrote the virtual console for the Wizard/W4 add in card, we called it the “Low Function Terminal."

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