On Sun, 2007-07-22 at 22:26 -0700, David Boles wrote: > on 7/22/2007 10:18 PM, Ed Greshko wrote: > > David Boles wrote: > >> on 7/22/2007 9:40 PM, Ed Greshko wrote: > >>> David Boles wrote: > >>> > >>>> Really? I have said that I am not a techie only a user of a tool. > >>>> > >>>> Can you name me one personnel computer that would run then, or will today, > >>>> a true Unix OS? > >>> Sorry, I have to ask. What is "true Unix OS"? Does Solaris qualify? > >> > >> I am not sure Ed. What I had in my mind was the OS that runs on those > >> really large cabinets in those really cold rooms. I have worked on those. > >> The rooms and the A\C not the computers. > > > > Well, if you're not sure of what your definition is of "a true Unix OS" then > > a challenge or question as to if a PC will run them kind of loses its meaning. > > > > I venture to say that most folks would classify Solaris as a "true Unix OS" > > and yes, they mostly ran on Sparc CPU server systems in rooms with false > > floors and big A/C's. And yes, in the early days, the workstation varieties > > used Sparc CPU's and not your typical Intel or AMD processor. > > > > But, today Solaris runs just fine on Intel. So, I would submit that as an > > answer to your question. > > Like I said - I was thinking of main frame stuff on big cabinets in really > cold rooms. > > I have never tried Solaris or Sparc. Are they considered what I described > as 'a true Unix'? I was not even aware that they would run in x86 type > equipment. > > I am *not* trying to be a smart *** here. I would like to know. Yes, Solaris is Unix, and runs on x86 and lots of other architectures. As to the big machines in really cold rooms, most modern desktops have more power than the early Unix systems did. In 1972 a 10Mb disk was huge. I worked on a 40Mb disk which had air pumps, pnumatic pistons to drive the heads and ran at 3600 RPM with platters that were about 20" in diameter if I remember right. Sparc is a kind of processor, it means Sparse instruction set computer. Generally with 32 or so registers, these cpus were capable of very fast operations, and only have 20-50 instructions. Kind of a hardware implementation of a P-machine for PASCAL. Regards, Les H
