[TUHS] Do you have any historical UNIX computers?

[Henry Bent]

Maybe Larry can chime in here?  I don't know any of the intricacies of
Sun's MP support, I only run the hardware.  It's SunOS 4.1.4 patched all
the way up.

-Henry

On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 at 08:50, Warner Losh <imp at bsdimp.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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