[TUHS] PC Unix (had been How to Kill a Technical Conference

[Charles H Sauer]

To try to answer Josh's questions:
- I used the machine from console, certainly pre-VGA, probably CGA
- I don't recall anyone else using it directly
- The primary purpose was uucp for mail and news, dialing into machines 
at UT-Austin
- I can't imagine having anything on it besides what was needed for mail 
and news
- my primary focus was AIX at the time, but hardware for AIX was scarce 
(https://notes.technologists.com/notes/2017/03/08/lets-start-at-the-very-beginning-801-romp-rtpc-aix-versions/) 
-- after I got an RT in my office, and, eventually, at home, the Xenix 
machine persisted for uucp, IIRC
- my memory was that the AT & Xenix were ok for the intended purpose
- I remember a friend questioning whether the AT was really adequate for 
9600 baud uucp, but I don't recall having problems with that
- it looks like someone kept it in place after I left IBM in 1989, since 
http://web.mit.edu/kolya/sipb/afs/root.afs/athena.mit.edu/reference/net-directory/maps/uucp.bak/u.usa.tx.4 
lists it in 1991

Charlie

On 4/6/2021 3:26 PM, Jim Capp wrote:
> Josh,
> 
> At the time (1982-83), Xenix was the only Unix available to me.  By 
> 1984, we upgraded to a full-fledged NCR 1632 system, with Unix SVR4.
> 
> Installation was through a VGA console and after it was up and running, 
> you could add serial terminals to your heart's content.
> 
> We mostly wrote our own software, but had productivity packages for word 
> processing, spreadsheets, and databases (non-SQL).
> 
> Xenix was my first experience with *nix.  I "caught the bug" and have 
> been working with *nix ever since.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *"Josh Good" <pepe at naleco.com>
> *To: *tuhs at minnie.tuhs.org
> *Sent: *Tuesday, April 6, 2021 4:11:19 PM
> *Subject: *Re: [TUHS] PC Unix (had been How to Kill a Technical Conference
> 
> On 2021 Apr  6, 12:32, Charles H Sauer wrote:
>  > For much of my last few years at IBM, my uucp machine, ibmchs, was an AT
>  > running Xenix, probably that version of Xenix.
> 
> Hi. I'm curious about that Xenix vintage. How did you use that machine:
> headless from a serial terminal?, or at the VGA console? Was it "single
> user" or shared among several people? Did you run Xenix and only SCO
> provided software, or did you had third party software in it? Were you
> using it by choice as your favourite Unix, or merely because it was the
> only Unix you could have? Did you like living with Xenix? Did it have
> problems, o was it "setup and forget"?
> 
> If you feel like sharing that experience, thank you very much.
> 
> -- 
> Josh Good
> 

-- 
voice: +1.512.784.7526       e-mail: sauer at technologists.com
fax: +1.512.346.5240         Web: https://technologists.com/sauer/
Facebook/Google/Skype/Twitter: CharlesHSauer