Dirt-Cheap UNIX ($389.95) for the IBM PC/AT (and clones)
jim at hoptoad.UUCP
jim at hoptoad.UUCP
Mon Apr 21 06:30:26 AEST 1986
Low-cost UNIX has at last arrived! It is Microport's
System V.2 for the IBM PC/AT. I have had my hands on a ver-
sion of the system and it IS UNIX, though Berkeley
desiderata such as C-shell, script, more (etc) are not there
yet. The only thing I found broken was shell layering,
which I think is vastly inferior to BSD job control anyway.
Even so, there are up to four windows that can be selected,
tasks started, and left to run. Microport advertises up to
eight users, and I believe it if the PC clone has a fast
disk and several meg of memory. The clone I tried gave me
results from a "ps -ef" command almost as soon as I pressed
RETURN. What is exciting about the Microport UNIX is its
pricing schedule:
Runtime System $159.95
Software Development System $139.95
Text Preparation System $159.95
Complete System Package $389.95
Berkeley Enhancements $99.95
Complete System, 3-8 users $454.95
These prices require a little decoding. "Runtime System"
means the System V.2 shell (with functions), the utilities,
but no compilers or n/troff.
"Software Development System" includes C, F77, SCCS, make,
and other goodies.
"Text Preparation System" includes complete System V Release
2 DWB, though the drivers for ditroff are only the standard
ones from Bell.
Real UNIX comes in two flavors, the 1-2 user version
for $389.95 and the 1-8 user version for $454.95. Rich
Morin and I walked around the booths at the recent West
Coast Computer Faire and calculated that a complete UNIX
system with 40MB disk and 1MB RAM would have cost $2,600.
That's putting UNIX within reach of a credit card purchase.
I'm excited enough about Microport's UNIX that I am
considering carrying the product in my Bookstore. The only
really negative thing about the package is that the manuals
are in the small format, and the type is really too small to
read comfortably-- or is that a statement about my being 44?
I believe that dirt-cheap UNIX is here, and that this
is only the beginning. Unfortunately, the ad in last
Sunday's "San Jose Mercury" for UNIX and C tech writers at
Commodore-Amiga did not mean that they have wised up and
ported UNIX to the Amiga, according to the manager I chatted
up on the phone. Too bad.
AT&T: (415) 626-7581
Snail: c/o Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore, 47 Potomac St, SF 94117
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