Around 1985 the computer division of Philips Electronics had a Moterola
68010 based server running MPX (Multi Processor Unix) based on System 5.3
with modification. The 'Multi' part was related to the intelligent LAN and
WAN controllers each with their own 68010 processor and memory. A separate
system image would be downloaded at server boot-time. Truly Multi-Processor
:-)
Here an announcement of the latest (probably last) model, from 1988.
https://techmonitor.ai/technology/philips_ready_with_68030_models_for_its_p…
--
The more I learn the better I understand I know nothing.
> Has anyone roughly calculated “man years” spent developing Unix to 1973 or 1974?
> Under 25 "man-years”? (person years now)
I cannot find the message at the moment (TUHS mail archive search is not working anymore?), but I recall that Doug McIlroy mentioned on this list that 1973 was a miracle year, where Ken & Dennis wrote and debugged over 100,000 lines of code between them. In software, “man year” is an elastic yardstick...
There is also this anecdote by Andy Herzfeld:
===
Quickdraw, the amazing graphics package written entirely by Bill Atkinson, was at the heart of both Lisa and Macintosh. "How many man-years did it take to write QuickDraw?", the Byte magazine reporter asked Steve [Jobs].
Steve turned to look at Bill. "Bill, how long did you spend writing Quickdraw?"
"Well, I worked on it on and off for four years", Bill replied.
Steve paused for a beat and then turned back to the Byte reporter. "Twenty-four man-years. We invested twenty-four man-years in QuickDraw."
Obviously, Steve figured that one Atkinson year equaled six man years, which may have been a modest estimate.
===
There is also another anecdote involving Atkinson. At some point all Apple programmers had to file a weekly report with how many lines of code they wrote that week. After a productive week of refactoring and optimising, he filed a report saying “minus 2,000 lines”.
On DEC's TRU64 UNIX it was /mdec
Making a system image with mkisofs I'd follow with
disklabel -rw -f ${UTMP}/${NAME_ISO} /mdec/rzboot.cdfs /mdec/bootrz.cdfs
Cheers,
uncle rubl
--
The more I learn the better I understand I know nothing.
> From: Dave Horsfall
> MAINDEC was certainly on all of their standalone diagnostic media
Actually, it was the name for all their diagnostics (usually stand-alone),
dating back to the paper tape days - when that was the only form they were
distributed in. So it makes sense that it's a short form of 'MAINDEC'.
Noel
I'm curious about the origin of the directory name /usr/mdec.
(I am reminded of it because I've noticed that it lives on in
at least one of the BSDs.)
I had a vague notion that it meant `DEC maintenance' but that
seems a bit clumsy to describe a place holding boot blocks.
A random web board suggests it meant `magnetic DECtape.'
That's certainly not true by the time I came along, when it
contained the master copy of the disk boot block(s).
But I suppose it could have meant that early on and
the name just carried forward.
A quick skim of the V1-V7 manuals doesn't explain the name.
Anyone have any clearer memories than I do? Doug or Ken or
anyone who was there when it was coined, do you still recall?
Norman Wilson
Toronto ON
> Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2022 17:56:24 -0800
> From: Larry McVoy <lm(a)mcvoy.com>
> Subject: [TUHS] Re: DG UNIX History
>
> It sounds like they could have supported mmap() easily. I'd love to see
> this kernel, it sounds to me like it was SunOS with nicely done SMP
> support. The guy that said he'd never seen anything like it before or
> since, just makes me want to see it more.
> I know someone who was friends with one of the kernel guys, haven't talked
> to her in years but I'll see if I can find anything.
Following on from the exchange on TUHS about DG-UX, it would seem to me that the (Unix) unified cache was invented at least three times for Unix:
- John Reiser at AT&T
- At Sun
- At DG
As to the latter I could find two leads that might help you finding out more. It would seem that this unique Unix is specifically DG-UX version 4:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070930212358/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/c…
and
Michael H. Kelly and Andrew R. Huber, "Engineering a (Multiprocessor) Unix Kernel", Proceedings of the Autumn 1989 EUUG Conference, European Unix Systems User Group, Vienna, Austria, 1989, pp. 7- 19.
The unified cache isn’t mentioned, but it would seem that the multiprocessor redesign might have included it. Maybe the author names are helpful. I could not find the paper online, but there was a web page suggesting that a paper copy still exists in a (university?) library in Sweden.
=====
Publication: DG Review
Publication Date: 01-NOV-88
Author: Huber, Andrew R.
DG-UX 4.00: DG's redesigned kernel lays the foundation for future UNIX systems. (includes related article on DG-UX 4.00's file system and an excerpt from Judith S. Hurwitz's 'Data General's UNIX strategy: an evaluation' report)
COPYRIGHT 1988 New Media Publications
DG/UX 4.00
Revision 4.00 of Data General's native UNIX operating system siginificantly enhances the product and adds unique capabilities not found in other UNIX implementations. This article reviews the goals of DG/UX 4.00 and discusses some of its features.
When DG released DG/UX 1.00 in March, 1985, it was based on AT&T's System V Release 2 and incorporated the Berkeley UNIX file system and networking.
As DG/UX grew, it continued to incorporate functions of the major standard UNIX systems, as illustrated in the following timeline:
* DG/UX 1.00 March, 1985 Based on System V Release 2 and Berkely 4.1.
Included Berkely 4.2 file system and TCP/IP (LAN).
* DG/UX 2.00, September, 1985 Added Berkeley 4.2 system calls.
* DG/UX 3.00, April 1986 Added support for new DG hardware.
* DG/UX 3.10 March, 1987 Added Sun Microsystem's Network File System.sup.(R) Added X Windows.
* DG/UX 4.00, August, 1988 Re-designed and re-implemented kernel and file system.
