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Ultrix for Alpha (?)

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Jorge Cisternas M.

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Dec 19, 1994, 11:27:34 AM12/19/94
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When Digital originally anounce Alphas, they say it will support Ultrix,
OSF/1 and OpenVMS.
But did the Ultrix for Alphas really exists?
Any pointer welcome.

--
Jorge Cisternas M.
jcis...@puc.cl

kai...@acm.org

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Dec 21, 1994, 2:17:31 AM12/21/94
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In article <AEJ.94De...@mikasa.WPI.EDU>, a...@mikasa.WPI.EDU (Allan E
Johannesen) writes:

>I heard, from what appeared at the time to be a reliable source, that ULTRIX
>was the first OS to actually run on an Alpha.

True. ULTRIX was ported to Alpha as a research project, and it was the
first OS to run on Alpha. It's not widely known, but not a secret, that
the original big Alpha AD units (they weren't even prototypes, since they
were never intended for sale but only for software development) required
MIPS ULTRIX systems as consoles and boot devices, even when they ran VMS.
None of this, of course, has anything to do with the merits or popularity
of the OSes themselves.

___Pete

kai...@acm.org
+33 92.95.62.97, FAX +33 92.95.50.50

Allan E Johannesen

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Dec 20, 1994, 12:08:33 PM12/20/94
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I heard, from what appeared at the time to be a reliable source, that ULTRIX
was the first OS to actually run on an Alpha. That aside, the only OS
controversy was whether OSF/1 would be ported to MIPS. That project was
on-and-off depending on the most recent rumor. The resolution was a firm _NO_.

I recall no hint that ULTRIX would ever be ported to Alpha. It seems clear
enough that ULTRIX is in a maintenance-only mode on the older platforms.

Terry C Shannon

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Dec 20, 1994, 11:36:20 AM12/20/94
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I've followed Alpha pretty closely since its inception, and I have no
memories (repressed, overt or otherwise) of promised support for Ultrix.
I don't think you'll see it happen. Now, a pure BSD Unix implementation
for Alpha may not be beyond the realm of possibility....


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry C. Shannon For a sample of The Newsletter That Takes
Editor, Shannon Knows DEC No Prisoners, email your snailmail address
sha...@illuminata.com to newsl...@illuminata.com. Do it today.


Farrell Woods

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Dec 21, 1994, 6:42:02 PM12/21/94
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In article <3d8kqb$d...@mrnews.mro.dec.com>, kai...@acm.org writes:
|> True. ULTRIX was ported to Alpha as a research project...

This is correct. The machines were called ADU's, or Alpha Development Units.
They were washing-machine sized boxes with DECstation 5000's sitting atop
as a host/IO processor and front-end. The ADU was in a way a Turbochannel
option on the DECstation; that's how they talked.

Ultrix ran on the ADU's initially, then OSF. Development of OSF for Alpha
proceeded on the ADU for quite a while as the first examples of what would be
known as the DEC 3000 model 500 started trickling in (this was known internally
as the Flamingo.) Support for the ADU was dropped before the first release
of DEC OSF/1 for Alpha shipped, but some intrepid souls within the company
managed to keep them going for themselves through the first two releases
of the OS.

I don't recall talk of officially supporting Ultrix on the Alpha. It only
ever ran on the ADU and was never carried to the production machines.
Alpha/Ultrix was an AD effort.


--
Farrell T. Woods, Jr. Voice: (603) 881-2948
Digital Equipment Corporation Domain: f...@zk3.dec.com
110 Spit Brook Rd. uucp: ...!decvax!ftw
Nashua, NH 03061

Rule of Acqusition Number 112: Never have sex with the boss' sister.

Peter Imholz, Swiss PTT, Zurich, Switzerland

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Dec 23, 1994, 7:46:20 AM12/23/94
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Jorge Cisternas M. (jcis...@tolten.puc.cl) wrote:
: When Digital originally anounce Alphas, they say it will support Ultrix,

: OSF/1 and OpenVMS.
: But did the Ultrix for Alphas really exists?

No, and they never said Ultrix for Alpha. They only said OSF/1 for
Alpha AND Mips, and never delivered OSF/1 for Mips. But considering
the migtaion path, this decision is a good one.

p...@infoserve.osilab.ch

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