[rescue] 3b1/7300/unixpc/s4 history [was: Wanted - 3B2]

[wa2egp at att.net]

> 3.51m, -not- alas sVr3

Yep, that's it.  Been a long time with too much other crap in between.
 
> iirc the previous release was 3.51c.  some time before that was 3.0
> and before that 2.0.  iirc another grp was working on sVr3 for the
> unixpc but it was never released or afaik even completed.  3.51m was
> the final polish on the berkeley-based convergent unix.  like hp-ux up
> to 9, it was reworked to meet the svid but not sV-based*.
> 
> " > i also wanted to do a qic-40 floppy tape driver.  i still don't know
> " > enough about driver programming today.
> 
> i was starting to think about the floppy tape driver around the time
> of 3.51m, and if i'd been a hotshot kernel driver programmer it
> would've been included.
> 
> " > the one schematic the manual lacks is the video chip.
> " 
> " Figures.
> 
> it is a little odd since afaik it's a custom chip just for the unixpc.
> 
> " If nothing else, the 3B1/7300 looked cool.  A number of years ago, I brought
> " one to school and left it on my desk on to see if the little propeller-heads
> " could crack the password.  Never happened.
> 
> i recall there was a way to make a backdoor that would give you root
> access, but not what it was.  i used it -once- to break into a system
> for which the root passwd was lost.

My way was just reinstall the OS.  OK, so I didn't know much then. :)   (then?)

> 
> i still fondly recall the menu system that would string-match what you
> typed instead of the pc-legacy just taking single chars.
> 
> * i was once personally told by an hp-ux developer that the sV kernel
> was 'crap'.  i would guess sun thought so too, as solaris 2 made
> significant progress in performance and stability when they rewrote
> the kernel, about 2.4 iirc.

I wouldn't know enough to say if a kernel is crap or not.  For what little I did with it, it was fine for me.  The only thing I regretted was that I never got it on line.  My ISP of that time was text-based although the 1200 baud modem would be a little slow. :)

Bob