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From: jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr)
Subject: More Details on the 386BSD Release 1.0 CD-ROM
Message-ID: <jmonroyCq1qK0.5vJ@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 10:59:59 GMT
Lines: 244
More Details on the 386BSD Release 1.0 CD-ROM
---------------------------------------------
Before I start, it is 2:10 am. This thing in the bottom of
my bag is supposed to be a burrito. Damm TB, I'd wish they'd
charge ten cents more for better help.
>> Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 20:54:17 -0400
>>
>> Much of the comp.unix.bsd talk has centered around booting, which I don't
>> really care about.
>>
Me either.
>> I (and possibly others) would appreciate if you could
>> post a technical summary of the improvements to 386BSD 1.0 relative to
>> other versions.
>>
I'll do the best I can, with the information I have.
>> In particular:
>>
>> -- new devices supported?
>>
To answer your question, I don't know.
However, speculating on conversations I've had with Lynn
and Bill (Jolitz), if someone sent a driver to Bill
it will be included. This, of course, depends on the
quality of the driver. Both Bill and Lynn stated quite
candidly that driver were going to be the last item
added to the OS.
On that same premise, expect more support for SCSI,
expect more for 32-bit devices (especially via EISA),
expect more for VIDEO (via the X11R5 port). In short,
most things that have been added to {Free/Net}BSD
should be available, if people sent Bill a copy of the
code.
>> -- what's the complete list of supported cards / buses? PCI? VESA?
>>
Interesting topic.
At an SVNET meeting many months ago, Bill and others discussed
the future of "buses for the PC". My favorite was PCMCIA,
but the discussion favored a local bus solution, probably VESA
- PCI if someone help Bill.
To make this exceptionally clear, THERE MAYBE NO BUS SUPPORT
BEYOND ISA AND EISA. I can give you a definite answer
when I get a copy of the CD.
>> -- will >16 megabytes of RAM work properly with ISA devices?
>>
Most definitely, if your board can handle ">16 megabytes"
of RAM. This means, of course, you will need an advance
DMA controller or a good "chip set".
As you may (or may not) know, many early version of the Intel 386
could not handle more than 16MB of memory. Along with this
many "support chips" could not support the address lines to
use ">16 MB" of memory.
The best thing to say is check the "list of supported devices"
when it becomes available.
Also don't make the mistake of asking for a technical reason
on this... else we'll get a new toaster factory going.
>> -- shared libraries?
>>
Rumor had people working on this.
Where and how? I don't know.
Will it be available for the release?
Probably not.
>> -- same terms as before (freely redistributable)?
>>
All code from the Net/2 release is still freely
redistributable. This should go without saying.
Code released in 0.0 and 0.1 is still subject to prior
conditions, namely it is freely redistributable.
I will take it upon myself to speculate that you
mean "Are any of the source code changes between
0.1 and 1.0 freely redistributable?". If so,
then I will (overstep to) say, I see no logical
reason for the code not be "freely redistributable".
Certainly the people at Miller-Freeman and
DDJ (Dr. Dobbs Journal), know the legacy and history
of UNIX. One would be foolish to attempt to
confine the distribution of 386bsd (a unix-like-OS).
In addition, the only way one might expect to gain
further acceptance is to allow "free distribution".
Remember 386bsd is the OS (Operating System) being used
as education tool on four (maybe five) continents.
From the commercial perspective, it should only take
about 10,000 units to pay for the initial pressing.
LINUX people claimed 60k units (with and without NetBSD).
FreeBSD people said they meet their 10k goal easily.
This is my information and it maybe incorrect.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
|Speculate on your own. "DDJ" claims 70k readers with a |
|pass-a-long rate of 3 to 1. This gives you about |
|210k potential customers. "Unix Review" claims about |
|30k (unconfirmed) with a pass-a-long rate of 4 to 1. |
|"DDJ" also claimed about a 30-50% increase on circulation |
|while Bill's articles were running. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
This is information if confirmable.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
|To add more fuel to the flame, 386bsd has 30k confirmed |
|registered users. Wall Street Journal estimates in |
|the first year 1 million copies circulated the world. |
|Japan and Australia have new telecommunications lines |
|and restrictions because of the problems that followed |
|the 0.1 release. |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
>> -- portable to non-x86 computers (Jolitz originally removed all
>> the multiple-architecture support in Net/2)?
>>
Speculating on what I know of Bill, the 386 will continue
to be the primary platform for development of 386bsd, hence
the name. However, I spent many hours trying to convince
Bill to make the support chips (the DMA, PIC and RTC) separate
device drivers, thereby allowing further leverage on his
"microkernel" or process-executive (vs. the Real-Time-
executive).
To answer your question better, please ask the NetBSD
group, as they've spent many (sleepless) nights prying
the i386 dependent code out of 386bsd.
>> -- based on Net/2 or 4.4 lite?
>> -- if Net/2, are there plans to migrate to 4.4 lite?
>>
The code is Net/2 based. As for 4.4 lite, Bill has stated
that he at least want to try to port the "log based file
system". As for other items in the 4.4 release, these things
will be judged on a piece by piece bases.
>> -- MS-DOS support?
>>
Yes, at least what was available before.
>> pc filesystems?
>>
Yes, this is stated in the advertisement.
>> DOS virtual machines?
>>
Not at this time.
Most efforts are being developed under GNU, this limits
the distribution methods and conflicts on some points
with the UCB policy.
In addition, the Virtual Machine subsystem is not
available on all 386 chips. This places a restriction
on the distribution set, which is trying to be eliminated.
>> WINE support?
>>
Maybe a chablis or a burgundy. :-)
Seriously though - WINE is in it's infancy,
even the project volunteers aren't sure of
what to do.
For a real answer (or a real question) ask:
Will WINE support 386bsd?
====================================================================
>> Hi,
>> I have seen your announcement a few days ago and
>> I would like to have some more information about it:
>> -Is it still free?
>>
What do you mean by "FREE"?
>> -What devices are supported?
>>
Please check the FAQ for release 0.1.
All devices supported then will be supported in 1.0
A new list of supported devices is still not available.
>> -To which *NIXES is it compatible?
>>
BSD unix, of course.
>> -Where to get further information?
>>
More information will be posted to the net as it
becomes available.
>> -Is there any forum for diskussion about it?
>>
Yes. Please use the following groups for discussion.
comp.os.386bsd.development
comp.os.386bsd.announce
comp.os.386bsd.bugs
comp.os.386bsd.apps
comp.os.386bsd.questions
comp.os.386bsd.misc
>> -What are the hardware requirements?
>>
Again, please check the FAQ for release 0.1.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sorry for the lack of information, but this is all I have now.
It is 3:38 - local time.
--
Jesus Monroy Jr jmonroy@netcom.com
Zebra Research
/386BSD/device-drivers /fd /qic /clock /documentation
___________________________________________________________________________