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3B1 emulated or run in virtual machine?

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Forrie

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Oct 27, 2008, 5:07:23 PM10/27/08
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A random perhaps crazy thought, I wonder if the AT&T 3B1 could be run
under emulation in Linux or separately in a virtual machine. You'd
probably not have access to hardware translation layers, etc... but it
might be fun, nostalgic.

I loved the MGR windowing system - it was very simple, lightweight - I
think it would be great if it worked on modern systems, tho the
libbitblt would need rewriting.


Thanks.

DoN. Nichols

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Oct 27, 2008, 9:13:14 PM10/27/08
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On 2008-10-27, Forrie <for...@gmail.com> wrote:
> A random perhaps crazy thought, I wonder if the AT&T 3B1 could be run
> under emulation in Linux or separately in a virtual machine. You'd
> probably not have access to hardware translation layers, etc... but it
> might be fun, nostalgic.

Hmm ... a bit of web searching shows that MGR was used as the
window manager on systems running OS-9 -- originally written for the
Motorola 6809, later ported to the Motorola 68000 series of processors
(which were used in The Sun-2 and Sun-3 machines).

> I loved the MGR windowing system - it was very simple, lightweight - I
> think it would be great if it worked on modern systems, tho the
> libbitblt would need rewriting.

Maybe not -- with a system built for that level of windowing,
such as the Sun-2 (68010), Sun-3 (68020) and the Sun-3X
hardware (68030).

But I would think that any system which can run an emulator for
the 68000 series of processors could be made to run it. Or MGR could be
compiled to run native on the system of choice. Note that MGR was
originally written and tested on the 3B2 I believe, not the 3B1.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Email: <dnic...@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
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Forrie

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Oct 29, 2008, 2:14:12 PM10/29/08
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It's been many years, but I did have MGR running on the 3B1.

In any case, I really enjoyed it - very simple, easy to work with
(especially on a plain non-graphic monitor). I'm surprised something
like that doesn't exist still today.

As for emulation, if they can run Commodore 64 emulators, then they
can run 3B1 emulators -- but I doubt there's enough interest to
develop one ;-)


Aharon Robbins

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Oct 31, 2008, 7:22:47 AM10/31/08
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In article <2da69ddf-4255-46d3...@l77g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,

Forrie <for...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I loved the MGR windowing system - it was very simple, lightweight - I
>think it would be great if it worked on modern systems, tho the
>libbitblt would need rewriting.

Very early on, MGR ran on Linux, when the hardware running Linux
wasn't up to running X. You might could still find it.

Or just run a lightwieght window manager like 9wm.
--
Aharon (Arnold) Robbins arnold AT skeeve DOT com
P.O. Box 354 Home Phone: +972 8 979-0381
Nof Ayalon Cell Phone: +972 50 729-7545
D.N. Shimshon 99785 ISRAEL

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