[TUHS] TCP/IP implementations

[Jose R. Valverde]

Sorry, but I couldn't resist. this has been bothering me for days since my
previous post.

I knew it happened but was writing from memory. I looked to my ancient mails,
looked into the net.. (this started to look like the hunting of the snark) and
then remembered it had been discussed in Usenet. Here is the reference now for
the record. I know the message is long, but I think it is worth reading.

On Wed Oct 6 17:19:53 EST 2004 Jochen Kunz jkunz at unixag-kl.fh-kl.de wrote:
>On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 09:26:21 +0000
>"Jose R. Valverde" <jr at cnb.uam.es> wrote:
>
>> But I understood the orioginal post to refer to other Ultrix sources.
>> Ultrix had a long -and interesting- life after 32V. It was ported to
>> MIPS machines, and was -AFAIK- the first ever port of UNIX to a 64 bit
>> machine as the initial Unix for DEC alpha machines.
>I doubt that Ultrix was ported to Alpha. DEC was working on OSF/1 before
>Alpha machines where available. Initial OSF/1 Versions where MIPS for
>DECstations.

There certainly was an Ultrix for Alphas. As I remembered, the first Unix
port for alphas was that of Ultrix, and it was the first OS to run on Alpha
but it was an internal, research development in DEC that never saw the light
of sun. The full thread discussing it can still be found on deja-news: 
search for ultrix and alpha butnot FAQ.

The URL:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&threadm=3daega%24fld%40lead.zk3.dec.com&rnum=7&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dultrix%2Balpha%2B-FAQ%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26selm%3D3daega%2524fld%2540lead.zk3.dec.com%26rnum%3D7

the significant text:

> From: Allan E Johannesen (aej at mikasa.WPI.EDU)
> Subject: Re: Ultrix for Alpha (?)
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
> Date: 1994-12-21 03:28:52 PST
> 
> I heard, from what appeared at the time to be a reliable source, that ULTRIX
> was the first OS to actually run on an Alpha.  That aside, the only OS
> controversy was whether OSF/1 would be ported to MIPS.  That project was
> on-and-off depending on the most recent rumor.  The resolution was a firm _NO_.
> 
> I recall no hint that ULTRIX would ever be ported to Alpha.  It seems clear
> enough that ULTRIX is in a maintenance-only mode on the older platforms.
 
> From: kaiser at acm.org (kaiser at acm.org)
> Subject: Re: Ultrix for Alpha (?)
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
> Date: 1994-12-21 00:15:56 PST
> 
> In article <AEJ.94Dec20120833 at mikasa.WPI.EDU>, aej at mikasa.WPI.EDU (Allan E
> Johannesen) writes:
> 
> >I heard, from what appeared at the time to be a reliable source, that ULTRIX
> >was the first OS to actually run on an Alpha.
> 
> True.  ULTRIX was ported to Alpha as a research project, and it was the
> first OS to run on Alpha.  It's not widely known, but not a secret, that
> the original big Alpha AD units (they weren't even prototypes, since they
> were never intended for sale but only for software development) required
> MIPS ULTRIX systems as consoles and boot devices, even when they ran VMS.
> None of this, of course, has anything to do with the merits or popularity
> of the OSes themselves.
> 
> ___Pete
> 
> kaiser at acm.org
> +33 92.95.62.97, FAX +33 92.95.50.50

> From: Farrell Woods (ftw at zk3.dec.com)
> Subject: Re: Ultrix for Alpha (?)
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec
> Date: 1994-12-22 05:39:30 PST
> 
> In article <3d8kqb$dfb at mrnews.mro.dec.com>, kaiser at acm.org writes:
> |> True.  ULTRIX was ported to Alpha as a research project...
> 
> This is correct.  The machines were called ADU's, or Alpha Development Units.
> They were washing-machine sized boxes with DECstation 5000's sitting atop
> as a host/IO processor and front-end.  The ADU was in a way a Turbochannel
> option on the DECstation; that's how they talked.
> 
> Ultrix ran on the ADU's initially, then OSF.  Development of OSF for Alpha
> proceeded on the ADU for quite a while as the first examples of what would be
> known as the DEC 3000 model 500 started trickling in (this was known internally
> as the Flamingo.)  Support for the ADU was dropped before the first release
> of DEC OSF/1 for Alpha shipped, but some intrepid souls within the company
> managed to keep them going for themselves through the first two releases
> of the OS.
> 
> I don't recall talk of officially supporting Ultrix on the Alpha.  It only
> ever ran on the ADU and was never carried to the production machines.
> Alpha/Ultrix was an AD effort.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Farrell T. Woods, Jr.    Voice:  (603) 881-2948
> Digital Equipment Corporation   Domain: ftw at zk3.dec.com
> 110 Spit Brook Rd.    uucp:  ...!decvax!ftw
> Nashua, NH 03061
> 
>   Rule of Acqusition Number 112: Never have sex with the boss' sister.
> 

				j
--
	These opinions are mine and only mine. Hey man, I saw them first!

			    José R. Valverde

	De nada sirve la Inteligencia Artificial cuando falta la Natural
-- 
	These opinions are mine and only mine. Hey man, I saw them first!

			    José R. Valverde

	De nada sirve la Inteligencia Artificial cuando falta la Natural