[TUHS] UNIX on (not quite bare) System/370
Charles H Sauer (he/him)
sauer at technologists.com
Tue Dec 20 08:52:12 AEST 2022
Locus Computing Corporation had a substantial Unix on 370 effort in the
1980s.
My impression/understanding was that the LCC kernel was derived from
4.1BSD and close to the metal when running on the 370.
The LCC work became AIX/370 & AIX PS/2 with the Locus distributed system
technology named TCF (transparent computing facility).
As far as I know, the LCC work that became AIX/370 was the only version
of Unix for the 370 officially supported by IBM.
On 12/19/2022 3:36 PM, Marc Donner wrote:
> There was a track of USENIX 1986 called "UNIX on Big Iron." Peter Capek
> of IBM was the chair and Gene Miya and Jim Lipkis rounded out the
> program committee. The proceedings are available.
>
> Program included:
>
> * User Requirements for Future-nix - Gene Miya
> * Experience with Large Applications on UNIX - Bob Bilyeu
> * UNIX Scheduling for Large Systems - Jeffrey Straathof, Ashok
> Thareja, Ashok Agrawal
> * A Straightforward Implementation of a 4.2BSD on a High Performance
> Multiprocessor - Dave Probert
> * Porting UNIX to the System/370 Extended Architecture - Joseph R Eykholt
> * Full Duplex Support for Mainframes - Don Sterk
> * Concentrix -- A UNIX for the Alliant Multiprocessor - Jack Test
> * A User-Tunable Multiprocessor Schedule - Herb Jacobs
> * Considerations for Massively Parallel UNIX Systems on the NYU
> Ultracomputer and the IBM RP3 - Jan Edler, Alan Jottlieb, Jim Lipkis
> * UNIX of CTSS for the Cray-1, Cray X-MP, and Cray-2 Supercomputers -
> Karl Auerbach, Robin O'Neill
> * Experience Porting System V to the Cray 2 - Tim Hoel
>
> =====
> nygeek.net <http://nygeek.net>
> mindthegapdialogs.com/home <https://www.mindthegapdialogs.com/home>
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2022 at 12:38 PM Phil Budne <phil at ultimate.com
> <mailto:phil at ultimate.com>> wrote:
>
> The October 1984 BSTJ article by Felton, Miller and Milner
> https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/otherports/ibm.pdf
> <https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/otherports/ibm.pdf>
>
> Describes an AT&T port of UNIX to System/370 using TSS/370
> underpinnings as the "Resident System Supervisor" and used as the 5ESS
> switching system development environment.
>
> I also found mention at http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x09
> <http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/ch106.x09>
> chapter 9 of http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/
> <http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/> with footnote 96:
>
> Ian Johnstone, who had been the tutor at University of New
> South Wales working with Professor John Lions, was one of the
> researchers invited to Bell Labs. He managed the completion at
> AT&T Bell Labs of the port of Unix to the IBM 370 computer. See
> "Unix on Big Iron" by Ian Johnstone and Steve Rosenthal, UNIX
> Review, October, 1984, p. 26. Johnstone also led the group
> that did
> the port to the AT&T 2B20A multiprocessor system.
>
> I found
> https://ia902801.us.archive.org/3/items/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf <https://ia902801.us.archive.org/3/items/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf/Unix_Review_1984_Oct.pdf>
> "BIG UNIX: The Whys and Wherefores" (pdf p.24), which only offers
> rationale.
>
> Also:
>
> "IBM's own involvement in Unix can be dated to 1979, when it
> assisted Bell Labs in doing its own Unix port to the 370 (to
> be used as a build host for the 5ESS switch's software). In
> the process, IBM made modifications to the TSS/370 hypervisor
> to better support Unix.[12]"
> at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_AIX#cite_ref-att-s370-unix_12-0
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_AIX#cite_ref-att-s370-unix_12-0>
>
> Is there any other surviving documentation about the system?
> Any recall of what branch of AT&T UNIX it was based on?
>
> Thanks!
> Phil
>
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