[TUHS] Re: UNIX on (not quite bare) System/370

["Charles H Sauer (he/him)" <sauer@technologists.com>]

Locus Computing Corporation had a substantial Unix on 370 effort in the 
1980s.

My impression/understanding was that the LCC kernel was derived from 
4.1BSD and close to the metal when running on the 370.

The LCC work became AIX/370 & AIX PS/2 with the Locus distributed system 
technology named TCF (transparent computing facility).

As far as I know, the LCC work that became AIX/370 was the only version 
of Unix for the 370 officially supported by IBM.

On 12/19/2022 3:36 PM, Marc Donner wrote:
> There was a track of USENIX 1986 called "UNIX on Big Iron."  Peter Capek 
> of IBM was the chair and Gene Miya and Jim Lipkis rounded out the 
> program committee.  The proceedings are available.
> 
> Program included:
> 
>   * User Requirements for Future-nix - Gene Miya
>   * Experience with Large Applications on UNIX - Bob Bilyeu
>   * UNIX Scheduling for Large Systems - Jeffrey Straathof, Ashok
>     Thareja, Ashok Agrawal
>   * A Straightforward Implementation of a 4.2BSD on a High Performance
>     Multiprocessor - Dave Probert
>   * Porting UNIX to the System/370 Extended Architecture - Joseph R Eykholt
>   * Full Duplex Support for Mainframes - Don Sterk
>   * Concentrix -- A UNIX for the Alliant Multiprocessor - Jack Test
>   * A User-Tunable Multiprocessor Schedule - Herb Jacobs
>   * Considerations for Massively Parallel UNIX Systems on the NYU
>     Ultracomputer and the IBM RP3 - Jan Edler, Alan Jottlieb, Jim Lipkis
>   * UNIX of CTSS for the Cray-1, Cray X-MP, and Cray-2 Supercomputers -
>     Karl Auerbach, Robin O'Neill
>   * Experience Porting System V to the Cray 2 - Tim Hoel
> 
> =====
> nygeek.net <http://nygeek.net>
> mindthegapdialogs.com/home <https://www.mindthegapdialogs.com/home>
> 
> 
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 12:38 PM Phil Budne <phil@ultimate.com 
> <mailto:phil@ultimate.com>> wrote:
> 
>     The October 1984 BSTJ article by Felton, Miller and Milner
>     https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/otherports/ibm.pdf
>     <https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/otherports/ibm.pdf>
> 
>     Describes an AT&T port of UNIX to System/370 using TSS/370
>     underpinnings as the "Resident System Supervisor" and used as the 5ESS
>     switching system development environment.
> 
>     I also found mention at http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x09
>     <http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x09>
>     chapter 9 of http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/
>     <http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/> with footnote 96:
> 
>            Ian Johnstone, who had been the tutor at University of New
>            South Wales working with Professor John Lions, was one of the
>            researchers invited to Bell Labs. He managed the completion at
>            AT&T Bell Labs of the port of Unix to the IBM 370 computer. See
>            "Unix on Big Iron" by Ian Johnstone and Steve Rosenthal, UNIX
>            Review, October, 1984, p. 26. Johnstone also led the group
>     that did
>            the port to the AT&T 2B20A multiprocessor system.
> 
>     I found
>     https://ia902801.us.archive.org/3/items/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf <https://ia902801.us.archive.org/3/items/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf>
>     "BIG UNIX: The Whys and Wherefores" (pdf p.24), which only offers
>     rationale.
> 
>     Also:
> 
>              "IBM's own involvement in Unix can be dated to 1979, when it
>              assisted Bell Labs in doing its own Unix port to the 370 (to
>              be used as a build host for the 5ESS switch's software). In
>              the process, IBM made modifications to the TSS/370 hypervisor
>              to better support Unix.[12]"
>     at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_AIX#cite_ref-att-s370-unix_12-0
>     <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_AIX#cite_ref-att-s370-unix_12-0>
> 
>     Is there any other surviving documentation about the system?
>     Any recall of what branch of AT&T UNIX it was based on?
> 
>     Thanks!
>     Phil
> 

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