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From: dhb@mst.UUCP (Don Barstow)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Unix on the IBM PC?
Message-ID: <112@mst.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Feb-84 09:35:40 EST
Article-I.D.: mst.112
Posted: Wed Feb  1 09:35:40 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 15:46:47 EST
Lines: 25

About 10 motnhs ago I was asked to port System III to the IBM PC
for the company I worked for at that time.  I spent an hour or so
looking over the architecture of the 8088, and told my employer that
it did not look like a good idea to me, and that it would never support
four users (which was what they wanted).  My main problem was with
the fact that the 8088 provides no hardware support for memory
protection or memory management.  There is no "kernal" and "user"
mode distinction, there are no priviledged instructions, and there
is no way to prevent a user from fooling with I/O devices.  

To check this out, we called Venturcom (the Venix people), and asked
what they had done.  They said that they recommended against
doing any kind of software development on the PC because of this.  They
said that it would be smarter to just run existing (read debugged)
applications, and leave development to the mini's and super-micro's.

So, my question is, what about PC/IX, and other versions for the PC.
Has anybody had experiences with these that would support or contradict
my feeling that the PC is a totally unsuitable environment for a
"real" multi-user Unix, especially if it is intended as a development
system??

Don Barstow
MicroStandard Technologies
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