[TUHS] Do you have any historical UNIX computers?

[Warner Losh]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2025 at 8:14 AM Henry Bent <henry.r.bent at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Sorry, I sent a response only to Warner by accident.  SunOS 4 runs just fine on MP machines, I have a dual processor HyperSPARC SS10 running right now.  The MP support isn't ideal by modern standards but for the time period it's fine, and it definitely works well.

Hmmm, I thought OS/MP was the only SunOS 4 that ran on MP machines. I
worked at Solbourne at the time. It went through the normal
progression: ASMP in OS/MP 4.0C with SMP in OS/MP 4.1A (corresponding
to 4.0.3 and 4.1.1 respectively). When I left, the only Sun OS that
ran on MP was Solaris 2.x. SunOS 4.0 and 4.1 definitely needed a lot
of love to get up and running on Solbourne's machines. We were happy
when we had 16 CPU systems that scaled to about 12x the single CPU
performance. At the time, all our contacts at Sun said that Solaris
was the only MP OS they'd ever produce. There were like 3-5 man years
of effort in the project by the time it was fully SMP. I did leave the
Solbourne sphere in 1994 though.

When / how did it happen? Or is it another third party port?

Warner

> -Henry
>
> On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 at 08:09, Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 11:41 PM Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:
>> > They are also UP, so SunOS 4 will run on them...
>>
>> As I recall, SunOS 4 would run on MP machines, though with some
>> restrictions.  Perhaps only one CPU could be in the kernel at any
>> given time?
>>
>>         - Dan C.
>>
>> > On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 11:37 PM Henry Bent <henry.r.bent at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >
>> > > Yet another reason why I suggested a SPARCstation 2 or 5; of all of the machines from that time period those are ones that will at least be reasonable with power consumption.
>> > >
>> > > -Henry
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, 10 Jun 2025 at 23:20, Dan Cross <crossd at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 1:44 PM Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> wrote:
>> > >> > Can I suggest you start with OpenSIMH - https://OpenSimH.org and try running any a simulated system.   It's a lot cheaper and while quite the same has having the the actual hardware, a lot easier to manage and most everything you could do from the old days can be done on you personal computer.   If you want BlinkenLights, get one on of Occar's wonderful PiDP11 kits - https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp-11  (which run OpenSIMH behind his lights and switches). Again a lot small and will meet you budget constraints.
>> > >>
>> > >> Another side of that is power consumption. The older machines will
>> > >> absolutely drink energy; OpenSIMH on a modern SBC is so much more
>> > >> efficient in that regard.
>> > >>
>> > >>         - Dan C.
>> > >>
>> > >> > On Mon, Jun 9, 2025 at 2:08 PM Vicente Collares via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> Hello Milo,
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> On Mon, 9 Jun 2025 13:38:54 -0400
>> > >> >> Milo Velimirović <milovelimirovic at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> > What’s your budget and what’s your level of hardware technical skill? If budget is no concern, there are occasional complete pdp11 or vaxen on eBay. Or, you could get CPU cards and interfaces to piece together a system. If you go that route a Unibone or Qbone is highly recommended for both debugging and filling in hardwar gaps via emulation. Alternatively, there are several FPGA projects to emulate -11s.
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> Buying a complete PDP-11 or VAX is the dream, but it's not what I'm
>> > >> >> aiming for to start. I was thinking of something like a UNIX
>> > >> >> workstation. I haven't thought about the possibility of piecing together
>> > >> >> a system using various cards. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll have to
>> > >> >> look into it.
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> Budget is a concern for me. So ideally I would like to spend around $500
>> > >> >> USD on the actual computer. Is that realistic for the type of computer I
>> > >> >> mentioned above?
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> I'm not hardware savvy, so I would have a limited ability to do repairs
>> > >> >> on the electronics. I do know someone who is though, so I might be able
>> > >> >> to get some help on this project.
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> I wish you an excellent week,
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> Vicente
>> > >> >> vicente at collares.ca