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 a5d95416 for ; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 02:15:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id B46299C20A; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 12:15:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7311F9C104; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 12:15:15 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 2653B9C104; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 12:15:12 +1000 (AEST) X-Greylist: delayed 402 seconds by postgrey-1.36 at minnie.tuhs.org; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 12:15:11 AEST Received: from cesium.clock.org (cesium.clock.org [157.22.10.65]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A17B69C102 for ; Thu, 23 Jan 2020 12:15:11 +1000 (AEST) Received: from chronos.clock.org (chronos.clock.org [10.0.1.120]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: eef-nbsd) by cesium.clock.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 8A2ADCC063; Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:08:14 -0800 (PST) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 11.5 \(3445.9.1\)) From: Erik Fair In-Reply-To: Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:08:11 -0800 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3445.9.1) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Unix on Zilog Z8000? 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" =E2=80=A6 and after Mary Ann was done with it (sometime 1981?), = Professor Fabry gave the UCB Onyx to a bunch of undergraduates which = they used as the first computer of the Undergraduate Computing Facility = (UCF, predecessor to the UCB XCF which had a pile of Suns to play with) = in room B50 (basement) of Evans Hall. I was one of those undergrads. That machine became the =E2=80=9Cx=E2=80=9D host on the UCB BerkNet, and = it was where B version netnews software was written by Matt Glickman (he = was a high school student at the time and while he had Mary Ann=E2=80=99s = patronage, my memory is that none of the more official computer services = in CS or the Computer Center would give him an account - but we did). At = the time, every other computer had restrictions on who could use =E2=80=98= em, or that you had to pay hefty fees for use (the computer center = PDP-11/70s were in that class) - our policy was: if you have a current = UCB student ID, we=E2=80=99ll give you an account. We didn=E2=80=99t = care whether you were a CS or Engineering student, or not. I remember fixing bugs in various bits of BSD stuff we added to the = userland and kernel - we had full source to play with, which was nice. = Adding job control was a top priority, and one of our hacks was to = change the tty line discipline to restore previous =E2=80=9Ccooked=E2=80=9D= character processing state if the program in foreground which had last = changed it exited non-zero - that way, programs that modified tty state = didn=E2=80=99t need to be recoded for job control too, which, in a = system with PDP-11-like memory restrictions (64k text, 64k data maximum = per process), was useful. We trained an awful lot of students in the ways of Unix, and many of = them became system administrators of the explosion of Unix systems which = came to UCB later: the workstation clusters, other microcomputer based = Unixes, etc. Kernel hackers (systems programmers) too. Mary Ann also allowed me to photocopy a samizdat copy of the Lions Book, = too. I still have that =E2=80=A6 somewhere, though I bought a copy of = the Peter Salus 1996 republication, too. Erik Fair > On Jan 22, 2020, at 09:00, Mary Ann Horton wrote: >=20 > Absolutely. When I was an impoverished grad student at Berkeley, Zilog = hired me as a consultant to port vi and the other Berkeley tools to = their Z8000 UNIX system. It was a treasured paying gig. >=20 > As I recall, it was a 16 bit system (with some addressing enhancements = ala the 11/70). By then, the VAX was popular and everybody wanted 32 bit = systems. People were pinning their micro-UNIX hopes on the Motorola 68K. >=20 > Even before Zilog's ZEUS, Onyx came out with a microwave oven-sized = box based on the Z8000. They loaned one to Berkeley, and it was my first = home computer when I took it home to port the tools. Everything had to = be copied over by serial port. >=20 > Mary Ann >=20 > On 1/21/20 9:52 AM, Jon Forrest wrote: >> There's been a lot of discussion about early Unix on Intel, National >> Semi, Motorola, and Sparc processors. I don't recall if Unix ran on >> the Z8000, and if not, why not. >>=20 >> As I remember the Z8000 was going to be the great white hope that >> would continue Zilog's success with the Z80 into modern times. >> But, it obviously didn't happen. >>=20 >> Why? >>=20 >> Jon