Am I right in assuming that 2.xBSD was the state of the play on PDP
while 4.xBSD was the source tree compatible state of play on the
VAXes? That if you had a VAX you got the 4.xBSD tapes, whereas if you
had a PDP you got the 2.xBSD tapes?
Broadly yes. 2BSD was for the PDP-11, and while it could probably have been ported to another 16-bit box, I don't think that was ever done by anyone. The VAX was the target machine for 3BSD to 4.3BSD. 4.3-Tahoe ran on the Vax and the Power 6/32, though the latter platform died fairly soon (but it was worth it because that release separated out portable and non-portable stuff), and 4.3-Reno on at least HP machines. Then came the Great Legal Mess followed by the BSD Explosion.
John Cowan
http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.orgIt was dreary and wearisome. Cold clammy winter still held sway in this
forsaken country. The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark
greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed
up in the mists like ragged shadows of long-forgotten summers.
--LOTR, "The Passage of the Marshes"