As long as you're building a new version.... port it to S/390 :)
|---------+---------------------------->
| | David Boyes |
| | <dboyes@sinenomin|
| | e.net> |
| | Sent by: Linux on|
| | 390 Port |
| | <[EMAIL PROTECTED]|
| | IST.EDU> |
| | |
| | |
| | 07/24/2002 11:07 |
| | AM |
| | Please respond to|
| | Linux on 390 Port|
| | |
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| To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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| cc:
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| Subject: Re: OT: Original OS choice for IBM PC (was: Windows costs more -
official) |
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Wow. I dug in the closet and found a copy of the UCSD pSystem distribution
for the original IBM PC. Still runs (doesn't know what to do with more than
640K of RAM, but boy! Fast compilation!), and is amazingly responsive on a
900Mhz machine. Doesn't have weird timing loop problems with keyboard
input
like much of the original PC software did. I'm building a version that
understands more than 640K RAM as I write this -- we'll see how it does
with
a larger 16-bit address space enabled.
I think the lesser popularity of the Psystem probably had more to do with
the fact that UCSD really didn't want to be in the software business and
thus put no effort into marketing the pSystem for people that didn't
already
know about it or care about it. The big users were more into the Apple II
market -- the Pascal compiler was really about the only widely known piece
of the pSystem OS -- but it had Fortran, PL/1, Basic, a really nifty
integrated editor, and a nice file manager.
The biggest pSystem product I can remember was the Apple II game Wizardry.
That was all written in Pascal, and used the pSystem setup extensively. It
was a really good example of writing for a virtual CPU that predates Java
by
at least 2 decades...8-)
-- db
David Boyes
Sine Nomine Associates
> I guess the UCSD P-system had even less momentum then the 8086 CP/M.
> If I remember right, DRI was exerting a lot of effort toward MP/M, and
> so the CP/M kindof languished. Momentum and market timing count of a
> lot...
>
> john alvord
>
