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In article <17dtuhINNff4@early-bird.think.com>, philip@think.com (Philip Mucci) writes:
>...SCO... Could someone give me a
> rundown on what kind of Unix/X packages are available for the 486?
> 
Well, I've heard of a few, e.g. Linux, Solaris, a Novell "shrink-wrapped" Unix
and some (I think free) BSD port.  I don't have a lot of details about them,
so I hope that anyone responding to the original poster will also help me by
indicating where these have got to, how much support there is for them, etc.

As I understand it, Unix on PC hardware is very sensitive to support - you need
a steady flow of drivers and updates for new boards.  I know of SCO being used
where they really need an updated version, but it is beyond their budget, so I
guess cost is an important parameter too.

I've heard people say that major packages like X11, TeX and emacs/epoch will
compile on some of these Unixes (Unices? Unixen??) with minor modifications,
although that's not the same as being a big enough product that major packages
come ready-tested and configured for them. 

Mark Aitchison, University of Canterbury.

phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes:

>In article <17dtuhINNff4@early-bird.think.com>, philip@think.com (Philip Mucci) writes:
>>...SCO... Could someone give me a
>> rundown on what kind of Unix/X packages are available for the 486?
>> 
>Well, I've heard of a few, e.g. Linux, Solaris, a Novell "shrink-wrapped" Unix

>As I understand it, Unix on PC hardware is very sensitive to support - you need
>a steady flow of drivers and updates for new boards.  I know of SCO being used

No no no!
There are a host of excellent Unix options for the PC, SCO is merely
the worst-priced of them.

You don't need a "steady stream of drivers".   You need to get your
system up and running once, and then it'll work "forever".

Commercial
----------

1. Interactive Systems Unix
   SV oriented, you get $195 upgrade to Solaris 2.0 for Intel.
2. SCO -- nasty incompatibilities may bite every once in a while :-(
3. many small companies producing SVR4 implementations.  See Eric
   Raymond's posting for more.

RSN:
1. Solaris 2.0 for Intel (will be same as the OS which runs on a Sun
   workstation)
2. "Destiny" -- Novell + USL SVR4 implementation
3. Nextstep

Free
----

1. Linux
   Full Unix, with X, no networking.  Too good to be true.
2. 386-BSD
   Not as many hackers into it as Linux.  But it has networking and NFS.

RSN
1. Hurd
   The GNU OS.  Been in the works for decades.  Based on Mach.

        -ans.
-- 
Ajay Shah, (213)749-8133, ajayshah@usc.edu

In article <17dtuhINNff4@early-bird.think.com> philip@think.com (Philip Mucci) writes:
>
>	Hi all,
>
>	I am thinking of buying a 486, but only if it will run Unix and X
>windows. The other day I called an SCO dealer and they said that a fully
>configured software package (read: C compiler, Unix, and X - no NFS) for a
>single user would cost $1600.0 with student discount!! I might as well keep
>my amiga and buy unix for it. That's ridiculous. Could someone give me a
>rundown on what kind of Unix/X packages are available for the 486?
>
>	Thanks,
>	-Pjm

You can run both Unix an X11 for, believe it or not, nothing.

Now for the serious part. There is a Unix, named Linux, which is freeware.
There is also a port for X11, problem is it isn't running on all videocards.
As far as I know it does support Tseng, Paradise and some other cards. If you
want more information about Linux and/or X11 please check the newsgroup:
comp.os.linux

Goodluck
--
Robert-Jan Kooper                | We're living in an age when lemonade is 
    rob@is.twi.tudelft.nl        | made with artificial ingredients and 
    kooper@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl | furniture polish is made of real lemons!
                                 |             -Alfred E. Neuman (MAD #310)

In article <l9lge4INN9e2@almaak.usc.edu> ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) writes:
>phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes:
>
>>In article <17dtuhINNff4@early-bird.think.com>, philip@think.com (Philip Mucci) writes:
>>>...SCO... Could someone give me a
>>> rundown on what kind of Unix/X packages are available for the 486?
>>> 
>>Well, I've heard of a few, e.g. Linux, Solaris, a Novell "shrink-wrapped" Unix
>
>>As I understand it, Unix on PC hardware is very sensitive to support - you need
>>a steady flow of drivers and updates for new boards.  I know of SCO being used
>
>No no no!
>There are a host of excellent Unix options for the PC, SCO is merely
>the worst-priced of them.
>
>You don't need a "steady stream of drivers".   You need to get your
>system up and running once, and then it'll work "forever".
>
>Commercial
>----------
>
>1. Interactive Systems Unix
>   SV oriented, you get $195 upgrade to Solaris 2.0 for Intel.
>2. SCO -- nasty incompatibilities may bite every once in a while :-(
>3. many small companies producing SVR4 implementations.  See Eric
>   Raymond's posting for more.
>
>RSN:
>1. Solaris 2.0 for Intel (will be same as the OS which runs on a Sun
>   workstation)
>2. "Destiny" -- Novell + USL SVR4 implementation
>3. Nextstep
>
>Free
>----
>
>1. Linux
>   Full Unix, with X, no networking.  Too good to be true.

Linux now has a beta TCP/IP at the finland site, MIT in a few days...
	Richard

>2. 386-BSD
>   Not as many hackers into it as Linux.  But it has networking and NFS.
>
>RSN
>1. Hurd
>   The GNU OS.  Been in the works for decades.  Based on Mach.
>
>        -ans.
>-- 
>Ajay Shah, (213)749-8133, ajayshah@usc.edu


-- 
__________________________________________________________________________
 Richard Guy Briggs         |   briggs@aix1.uottawa.ca
 Excalibur Systems Limited  |   rgb@[esleng|excalibur].ocunix.on.ca
 Kanata, Ontario, Canada    |   [esleng|excalibur]!rgb

In article <17dtuhINNff4@early-bird.think.com>, philip@think.com (Philip Mucci) writes:
> 
> 	Hi all,
> 
> 	I am thinking of buying a 486, but only if it will run Unix and X
> windows. [...].
{deleted text about $1600 for an SCO system}
>That's ridiculous. Could someone give me a
> rundown on what kind of Unix/X packages are available for the 486?

You might look into 386bsd, it's not commercial, nor is it complete (yet), but
it runs on 3/486 machines, is fairly stable, comes with full (non-AT&T) source,
and is ... FREE.  take a look at comp.unix.bsd