Could A/UX Run On An 040?

[CC_333]

Hi,

The reason I ask is because I have a Quadra 950, and A/UX would be a fun thing to play with on there.

c

 

[uniserver]

sure, a/ux can run on on a SE/30 / Macintosh II

http://www.aux-penelope.com/hardware.htm

 

[CC_333]

Excellent!

I had forgotten about that page.

So, next step I guess is to determine if my CD-ROM drive is compatible, make a disk, and install away!

I just need to figure out how :-/ .

c

 

[uniserver]

yeah, let me know too,

i talked to mcdermd about installing A/UX, he said its not bad … its just once you get it installed its kind of useless.

 

[Gorgonops]

once you get it installed its kind of useless.

Is there much you can install on a 68k Mac that isn't kind of useless anymore? (In the "wouldn't it be easier at this point to just use something newer?" sense of useless.)

 

[uniserver]

Have you ever installed A/UX? Experiences?

 

[CC_333]

I don't really care if it's useless, I just want to install it because I can.

By the way, it probably isn't useless for the tasks that were expected of it in the early 90s (it could still be useful on a small server with a low amount of traffic, for example).

c

 

[theos911]

If web serving security might be a concern.

 

[Gorgonops]

Have you ever installed A/UX? Experiences?

A decade or so ago I wrote a short article with some screenshots about my experiences playing with it for a few days on a Quadra 650. (It was posted on Applefritter, seems to be gone or unlinked now.) So yes, I've installed it, and yes, it's an interesting piece of history.

By the way, it probably isn't useless for the tasks that were expected of it in the early 90s

It certainly was useful for a few things back then (the special version of Appleshare that ran on the ANS 95 was much faster than the MacOS-based version), and it also apparently was very useful for sharing Apple-branded printers with other-brand UNIX computers on a network. So sure, it was useful back then. But on the flip side, it was never really common enough to have much third-party software specifically written for it so other than playing with the bundled widgets and going "oooh, aaaah!" there's really not much to do with it today other than installing the antiquated open-source archives and treating it like a really old and insecure Linux box.

 

[mcdermd]

An appleshare server running on A/UX allows *nix workstations to print to Laserwriters too, no? Interoperability was not an insignificant task in the late 1980s.

 

[Gorgonops]

An appleshare server running on A/UX allows *nix workstations to print to Laserwriters too, no?

You actually didn't need the Appleshare server for that. The magic trick you could do with an A/UX box, any A/UX box, was that you could select a Localtalk-connected Laserwriter and share it with the LPR daemon over the Ethernet port. That ability made it not unusual to find *one* A/UX box in a lab otherwise full of, say, SUN workstations acting as a bridge to let the UNIX geeks use the same printers as the Mac-using desktop publishing drones.

Granted buying a Mac with A/UX *just* to do this probably cost as much as a decent laser printer, but you could use the same box to share multiple printers.

 

[mcdermd]

I remember that setup at the University using an SE/30 circa 1991.

 

[uniserver]

and the SE/30 they kept in the bathroom….. just for you guys

 

[mcdermd]

Not just guys. It was a Unisex bathroom. And it was my brother that worked down there.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Dangit... I have a WGS95 card (the dedicated SCSI+ROM card that made a Quadra 950 boot only into A/UX,) but not Q950 to put it in! (Apparently it works in a Q650, which I do have running A/UX, but it doesn't fit with the case closed, and the Q650 has a monitor on top, so I can't easily do that.)

 

[mcdermd]

Wish I could help. The Q900/950 is on my short list.

 

[CC_333]

Dangit... I have a WGS95 card (the dedicated SCSI+ROM card that made a Quadra 950 boot only into A/UX,) but not Q950 to put it in!

I have mine... is it something you're willing to let go of for $***?
If not, are they easy to find? Somehow, I think not, but I'd like to be told otherwise.

Meanwhile, it'll still run A/UX just fine as is.

c

 

[rabindranath72]

I have A/UX 3.1.1 running on my Quadra 650 with 20Mb ram and 36Gb hard disk, and it works like a charm.

 

[mcdermd]

I forgot the original intent of this thread - I have AU/X running on a Quadra 800 without issues.