Unix History Diagram --- AOS quirks

[User Rdkeys Robert D. Keys]

>    "User Rdkeys Robert D. Keys" <rdkeys at seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu> wrote:
> > What specifically would one look for to exactly differentiate
> > a vanilla 4.3, from a Tahoe, from a Reno, from a 4.4, from a 4.4Lite,
> > on non-standard hardware?
>    
>    Telling between pre-Reno and post-Reno is trivial.

.....  Lotsa neat info for us lesser newbie types.

My main reason for asking was to try to place the AOS historically.
It is definitely pre-Reno, and the manpages are in user/man/manX
as to source pages.  I was thinking it had timezones, though.
The compiler was still pcc, and a custom Hi-Tech C thing called hc.

>    The reason exercises like this are pointless is because when some brave
> vendor takes BSD sources and tries to make a vendor release from them, they
> usually have their own mind about what the system should look like,
> different from CSRG's.

Granted, but the AOS system felt very unmodified, subjectively.  So,
I was not thinking it was almost Reno, or somewhere close to that.
Knowing anything of the detailed structure helps me to place it
developmentally.

>    Oh, I forgot to mention that the filesystem format changed slightly and
> disk label support was added between 4.3 and 4.3-Tahoe. Again this is
> certainly meaningless for vendor systems because they always tweak the
> filesystem format themselves and have their own disk label implementations
> that are not compatible with the one in Tahoe and later BSD releases.

OK, the AOS seemed to have a disklabel, but of a different format from
later releases.  fsck has a field day if an update to one of the later
after-AOS builds is installed.

What would one use to differentiate the Lite from earlier systems?
The last build was in the 4xx range, and dated 1996, IFF I am remembering
right.  It is running gcc at the 2.5.8 level.  Are there key file system
dates or revision levels that would help to indicate how late it is?

......

> > but, a VAXStation 3500 just appeared
> > in surplus.... maybe the bidding force will be with me.
>    
>    Good luck. 4.3BSD-Quasijarus1 will run like a charm on it. If the force
> is really with you, you may even be able to run it with the graphical
> console, but if not, it's trivial to pull the QDSS boards out and run the
> machine as a standard VAX.

It is so ugly, noone in their normal PCish minds locally should bid on
it.  So, maybe I will have a chance at it in a reasonable sort of way.
The machine is just the main tower box, and nothing else.  It does have
a TK70 tape, but I was unable to open it up on the pallet and see what
was inside.  There were no other bits and pieces with it.  I was thinking
I could run it with a VT100ish terminal of some sort, as a bare-bones
system in the basement.  How would the front/back cover open up, so
I could do a quick spot check and see what actually was inside?
If it has been gutted, I would probably pass, but if it was mostly
there, it might be worth looking at.

>    Sincerely,
>    Michael Sokolov

Thanks!

Bob Keys


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