[pups] Interesting PDP/Xenix History

asmodai at unixware.org.uk asmodai at unixware.org.uk
Wed Apr 3 08:38:36 AEST 2002


I wrote to SCO/Caldera a while back about this one...   Here's a quote 
from the mail I got in reply:

"XENIX will never be released under any license, as it is too full of 
Microsoft copyrights, and "sanitizing" the source to remove such code 
would render the product useless, and would be a MASSIVE undertaking."

Looks like we wont get Xenix in source format unless Microsoft want us to 
have it.

Regards,
Paul.
"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that 
cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go 
wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or 
repair" - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy





Robert Tillyard <rob at vetsystems.com>
Sent by: pups-admin at minnie.tuhs.org
03/25/2002 10:38

 
        To:     pups at minnie.tuhs.org
        cc: 
        Subject:        Re: [pups] Interesting PDP/Xenix History


Frank Wortner wrote:
> 
> on 3/23/02 11:26 PM, Warren Toomey at wkt at minnie.tuhs.org wrote:
> 
> > In article by Martin Crehan:
> >>  From a thread on Slashdot about Microsoft's Ancient History w/Unix
> >> http://slashdot.org/articles/02/03/23/1422243.shtml?tid=130
> >>
> >>   First Unix/Xenix (Score:1)
> >> by presearch on Saturday March 23, @01:58PM (#3213453)
> >> (User #214913 Info)
> >
> > I've left a comment in the thread asking if they would
> > donate a copy of the tape's contents to our Archive.
> 
> I also remember running PDP/11 Xenix.  The article is basically correct,
> although Microsoft (or HCR) did add a working paging system that enabled
> simulation of split I&D on small PDP/11s like the 11/23, 11/34, and 
11/40.
> I also remember that my copy of the installation document had been 
printed
> by Microsoft's PDP/10 (referred to as the "Microsoft Heating Plant" :-) 
in
> the printout).   I wish I still had the tape and that printout.  Sigh 
...
> 
> --
> Frank

Would SCO->Caldera have copies of this? SCO did the Intel port of Xenix
so they would probably have started with the PDP source. Would tapes be
copyright to Microsoft?

I doubt that they would release the source for the Intel version as it
is still in use today although I don't think that SCO/Caldera will sell
it anymore.

Rob.
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