Re: Microsoft and Xenix.

[Robert J.Dunlop]

Hi,

On Mon, Jun 25, 2001 at 06:27:24PM +0100, [e-mail] wrote:
> I first used  Unix on a PDP11/44 whilst studying for my Computer Engineering
> degree at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.  I think they and Queen Margaret
> College, London were the first folk running Unix version 6 outside Bell Labs.

Hey! Don't forget UKC ;-) Cut my teeth on pdp11 v6 and VAXen BSD 4.1 once I got
away from the dreaded EMAS. Edinbugh Multi-Access System was the pitts.

> I then used SCO Xenix 286 on early Compaq 286 PC's.   Companies like Chase,
> Specialix and Stallion grew up as suppliers of intelligent RS-232 boards.  As
> a result of all these Xenix machines, Wyse sold a hell of a lot of WY50
> terminals.

Great days.  The business was so incestuous.  We seemed to swap engineers on a
regular basis.  Hacking drivers without kernel source and documentation that
always seemed at least a release behind.  Still keep a WY60 manual on my book
shelf and always regret losing the VT100 one.

> Who remembers terminals from Lear Siegler and Beehive.   All this was before
> networking came about.  Then the Chase Iolan to connect these same Wyse
> terminals to the SCO box but through one bit of co-ax instead of multi-core
> cables.  Also you could get 100m  away from your SCO box  with co-ax.

And the trouble we had explaining to customers that they had to buy a separate
SCO TCP/IP networking package just to hook up the IOLAN.

-- 
        Bob Dunlop
        [e-mail]
        www.xyzzy.clara.co.uk