PUPS and BUPS (burp!) thoughts.....

[User Rdkeys Robert D. Keys]

> Hi all,
> 	Not much has been hapenning in the PDP UNIX Preservation Society.
> Kirk McKusick is still waiting for the CD pressing company to do his run
> of 4BSD CDs. I'm urging him to make a web page describing the project, so
> we can stay informed of the progress.

This will be great when it happens.  Kudos to Kirk.....and all the unsung
heroes along the path to Nirvana.

> A few people in comp.unix.bsd.misc suggested that another preservation
> society needs to be formed, to preserve 32-bit UNIXes and other non PDP-11
> UNIXes. I've set up a mailing list for them to discuss such a project.
> If you are interested, then you can join the mailing list by emailing
> to majordomo at minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au, with a line in the body saying:
> 
> 	subscribe bups
> 
> BUPS stands for BIG UNIX Preservation Society. I'm sure they will come
> up with a better name :-)

PUPS, BUPS, burp!  Sounds fine!

I will jump in the hotseat and own up to the heat.  My idea was very simple.
Mainly, I was thinking that there are beginning to surface from the bilges
of surplus, a fair number of aging old-time unix toys.  Not all of them
are PDP-11ish flavor.  For instance, there are sometimes found some of the
ancient Radio Shack Model 16 things with an odd flavor of Xenix on them.
There are maybe some old vaxen going wanting.  There are odd bilgewater
sloshers like my old IBM RT that once did ply the waters of the great BSD
(of the 4.3 style flavor).  Also, there are older x86 toys that use to
run the very lowendian V7ish, Xenixish, whateverish flavors.  From the
purely hobby and historical perspective, I find it rather wasteful to
let such things just vaporize.  It seems we have the PDP11 world, then
there is a big black hole until the modern SCOish and Freebieish things.
It is obvious that none of the old toys are going to be competing with
the rush to NT and SCOish things.  Thus, there is a need to maybe fill
that hole with something like the PUPS, but for 32bitish toys, and all
the non-PDP-11 toys.

One thing that PUPS has going, is a good working basis with all the
unixy world, the big players, the historical saints, etc.  So, it was
logical to perceive that such a working framework might be expanded
slightly to include not just 32V, but all the odd successors, down to
where SCO claims rightly its territory on the SysV part of the tree.

IF that framework is a BUPS offshoot, so-be-it.  But, I still think that
both PUPS and the new BUPS share much common cammaraderie and playground.

Alas, I am not yet of sufficient rank to be called but a lowly journeyman,
in the unixy world.  I have run it in earnest for some 10 years, played 
some with it on a PDP-11, so long ago, that it is mostly forgotten, and
still keep a set of 8 inch Xenix floppers around, just in case that mystical
Model 16B drops by, again.  Thus, there is not a lot I can do.  But, I do toss
out the idea, would like to see where it goes.  Mebbie some heavyweight
gurus would like to run with it some.....

Let us roll it around a bit, and see where the currents takes us.
The 32BitBiggieUPS should not be forgotten.  I think it can only be good
for all to make it play.....

Sincerely

R.D. Keys
rdkeys at seedlab1.cropsci.ncsu.edu


> Cheers all,
> 	Warren

Cheers all hands aboard PUPS, BUPS, .... burp!, .... whatever.....

RDK


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