From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: usotsuki@buric.co (Steve Nickolas) Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2017 18:33:11 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [TUHS] Zilog Z80 Unix In-Reply-To: <20170420215955.GJ3285@mcvoy.com> References: <19663.1492652562@cesium.clock.org> <20170420215955.GJ3285@mcvoy.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 20 Apr 2017, Larry McVoy wrote: > On Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 07:32:50AM +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote: >> On Wed, 19 Apr 2017, Erik E. Fair wrote: >> >>> I have a memory of having seen a Zilog Z-80 (not Z8002 like the Onyx) >>> based Unix, possibly v6, at a vendor show or conference - perhaps the >>> West Coast Computer Faire (WCCF) in the late 1970s or early 1980s. >> >> I'd kill to have Unix running on a Z-80; it combines two of my passions... > > I get the sentiment, I too have a fond spot for the Z-80, it's perhaps the > chip where I've done the most assembly (did assembler versions of ls, cp, > rm, etc for CP/M). > > That said, would I _want_ a stripped down Unix on a floppy disk based Z-80 > machine? Hmm, well once I thought I wanted that old porsche coupe like > the one Richard Pryor & Gene Wilder drove in one of their movies. I found > one, $13,000 in the late 1990's and drove it. Curied me of ever wanting > a car that old. Uncomfortable seats, everything rattled, the windows didn't > want to roll up, etc, etc. > > I suspect that living on a Z-80 with floppies after the stuff we are used > to would not be pleasant. At least not for me. Fun but frustrating, where > is the network? Where's my SSD? 64K? Really? Retro is cool but not that > retro :) > I'm a 6502 person myself. Though I'm not sure I'd want to run a *x on my actual 6502 machine (a "Platinum" Apple //e), I wonder if something a bit unixier than GNO (Gno's Not Orca, runs on top of GS/OS) could be pulled off on my pet 6502-class machine, the 65816-based Apple IIgs, with 512K base in the common version and 1 MB base in the final... -uso.