68k UNIX workstation recovery

[Tavis Ormandy]

I enjoyed this video series about getting an old 68k UNIX workstation
working:

I thought some regulars here might enjoy (or recognize it??).

Things were starting to look bleak until the most recent chapter, where
they discovered some unpartitioned space on the disk contained
original schematics from the factory (!?).

Tavis.

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

Post by Tavis Ormandy
I enjoyed this video series about getting an old 68k UNIX workstation

Ah, Unix for “business” use.

Anybody else remember the Pick-versus-Unix wars?

[Charlie Gibbs]

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro

Post by Tavis Ormandy
I enjoyed this video series about getting an old 68k UNIX

Ah, Unix for “business” use.
Anybody else remember the Pick-versus-Unix wars?

My first Unix experience was on a 68k box from Sperry->Unisys.
They carried two lines: the 5000 series was 68k-powered,
while the 6000 series was x86-powered.

[Scott Lurndal]

Post by Charlie Gibbs
My first Unix experience was on a 68k box from Sperry->Unisys.

Aside from a couple Convergent boxes, Unisys was OEMing
the 68k boxes from NCR.

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On Mon, 17 Jun 2024 03:37:52 GMT

Post by Charlie Gibbs
My first Unix experience was on a 68k box from Sperry->Unisys.

Mine was an Altos 80286 based XENIX system which also had two 8086
processors one running the serial ports the other running the disk and QIC
tape subsystem, it kept up well with two developers writing and compiling C
code as well as three users running a database application. I thought it a
good upgrade from MP/M.

One of our MP/M customers had wanted to switch to the newish IBM-AT
and didn't believe us when we said that it was a single user system (IBM
wouldn't take such a big step backwards) - so we told him to check with the
supplier and ask them about suitable terminals for multiple users.

He went with an Altos.

[Kurt Weiske]

To: Ahem A Rivet's Shot
-=> Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

Post by Charlie Gibbs
My first Unix experience was on a 68k box from Sperry->Unisys.

AAS> Mine was an Altos 80286 based XENIX system which also had two
AAS> 8086 processors one running the serial ports the other running the disk
AAS> and QIC tape subsystem, it kept up well with two developers writing and
AAS> compiling C code as well as three users running a database application.
AAS> I thought it a good upgrade from MP/M.

I had an account on a dialup system called wetware diversions, running
on 386 SYSV v3, got my first (bang!) email address.

In college, we had a PRIME midrange computer, with some strange
environment called Primix that was essentially csh and shell utilities
on top of the OS.

It wasn't until I started working at a large home retailer that ran IBM
S/36, S/38 and AS/400s that I got my start in *nix, ironically.
Lawson's reportwriter software ran on a SCO XENIX system which
offloaded the data and performed the reporting offline.

We used an IBM PS/2 model 80 with a MCA 16 port serial digiboard. IBM
3151 terminals, and Lotus 1-2-3 for Xenix.

They sent me to Santa Cruz Operation to a week-long training class.
Stayed in a hotel on the beach, next to the boardwalk. Spent the week
banging on Xenix boxes, hearing the instructor's band after class at a
local bar, laying in the sun during lunch breaks, and coming back
tanned - which annoyed the VP to no end.

I'd missed by a couple of years the heyday at SCO, when they had a
company hot-tub and had to remind employees not to be naked in the hot
tub. Or the office!

Still had a great time - and I ended up living, 25 years later on the
coast a couple of miles from where I got my start in *nix.


kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
| http://realitycheckbbs.org
| 1:218/***@fidonet








AAS> One of our MP/M customers had wanted to switch to the newish
AAS> IBM-AT and didn't believe us when we said that it was a single user
AAS> system (IBM wouldn't take such a big step backwards) - so we told him
AAS> to check with the supplier and ask them about suitable terminals for
AAS> multiple users.

AAS> He went with an Altos.
AAS> --
AAS> Steve O'Hara-Smith
AAS> Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
AAS> For forms of government let fools contest
AAS> Whate're is best administered is best - Alexander Pope
AAS> --- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114
* realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

[Ahem A Rivet's Shot]

On Tue, 18 Jun 2024 06:50:00 -0700

Post by Kurt Weiske
I'd missed by a couple of years the heyday at SCO, when they had a
company hot-tub and had to remind employees not to be naked in the hot
tub. Or the office!

Spoilsports!

[Trog Woolley]

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro

Post by Tavis Ormandy
I enjoyed this video series about getting an old 68k UNIX workstation

Ah, Unix for “business” use.
Anybody else remember the Pick-versus-Unix wars?

I worked on Pick off and on for 10 years, both native and running under
Unix. I remember under SCO, you were better off having the Pick partion
outside of Unix. Unix would fschk it and stuff it up. Strangely, on AIX
it didn't, or in my experience it didn't. I sometimes miss Pick. For a
small group of users, it was a find o/s. I never thought there was a
Pick v Unix war, but I might have missed it having worked as a Pick
programmer. We installed the Unix side and left it to it's own devices.

[Kurt Weiske]

To: Trog Woolley
-=> Trog Woolley wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

Post by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Anybody else remember the Pick-versus-Unix wars?

TW> I worked on Pick off and on for 10 years, both native and running under
TW> Unix. I remember under SCO, you were better off having the Pick partion
TW> outside of Unix. Unix would fschk it and stuff it up. Strangely, on AIX
TW> it didn't, or in my experience it didn't. I sometimes miss Pick. For a
TW> small group of users, it was a find o/s. I never thought there was a
TW> Pick v Unix war, but I might have missed it having worked as a Pick
TW> programmer. We installed the Unix side and left it to it's own devices.

I don't remember PICK versus UNIX; while I was at university I worked at
the bookstore on a Microdata system running REALITY, their version of
PICK. For tracking books from inventory to orders to invoice to sales to
the general ledger, it was a great system. I was a kid studying computer
science, and was able to code a ton of stuff using BASIC and their
SQL-like procedural language. We even wrote an email system under PICK!

kurt weiske | kweiske at realitycheckbbs dot org
| http://realitycheckbbs.org
| 1:218/***@fidonet










TW> Trog Woolley | (A Croweater, who has handed in his pad of coding forms)
TW> --- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114

... Grape soda is the most effective hand sanitizer.
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114
* realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

I never thought there was a Pick v Unix war ...

Here in NZ, the computer magazines would frequently have people pointing
out how Pick was purpose-built for “business” use, with a database at its
heart, while Unix was more of a general-purpose OS, with lots of
technicalities that “business” users didn’t understand.

Also the hardware was less powerful in those days, so the greater
overheads of Unix would have counted against it.

I think somebody did eventually implement the guts of Pick as an
application (or application suite) running on Unix. And that roughly
marked the end of Pick as an independent OS.

Nowadays I think even SQLite is more powerful than the Pick DBMS. And it’s
considered lightweight enough that you almost certainly have a copy on
your smartphone.

[Kurt Weiske]

To: Lawrence D'Oliveiro
-=> Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote to alt.folklore.computers <=-

LD> I think somebody did eventually implement the guts of Pick as an
LD> application (or application suite) running on Unix. And that roughly
LD> marked the end of Pick as an independent OS.

Years after I worked on a native Pick system (the aforementioned
Microdata Reality system) I kept running into HRIS applications for DOS
that were pick-native apps running on a DOS Pick machine called
Revelation.


--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
--- Synchronet 3.20a-Win32 NewsLink 1.114
* realitycheckBBS - Aptos, CA - telnet://realitycheckbbs.org

[Peter Flass]

Post by Tavis Ormandy
I enjoyed this video series about getting an old 68k UNIX workstation
http://youtu.be/iltZYXg5hZw
I thought some regulars here might enjoy (or recognize it??).
Things were starting to look bleak until the most recent chapter, where
they discovered some unpartitioned space on the disk contained
original schematics from the factory (!?).
Tavis.

Very interesting, thanks!