Need Apple A/UX 1.1 or 1.1.1 disk images

[MrFahrenheit]

There does not seem to exist online any disk images of Apple’s A/UX 1.1 or 1.1.1 for installing the OS. There is a 1.1.1 ISO on MacintoshRepository but it cannot be used to install a fresh system.

What is really needed is the first few disks, imaged and uploaded.

Specifically:
des encyrption
launch
floppy root
sash utils
stand alone shell
system checker
system setup
tape backup

Asking again since it’s been a while. A complete set of disks and binders was sold on eBay earlier this year. The disk images have never been uploaded. Another set of floppies were sold a month ago, and it went on auction for $1425 USD. Beyond belief, the seller didn’t list or photo what disks were included and it still went that high.

I was not the purchaser but I’ve been working with the gentleman that bought them, and he’s missing some disks, and others are unreadable. He’s been trying to recover the unreadable ones professionally, and also trying to figure out what files are on what missing disks. We’re close.

The biggest hurdle at the moment is “Floppy Root”. The rest of the missing or damaged disks cannot be tried until Floppy Root is replaced.

Looking for anyone who might have these or have a link that somehow doesn’t seem to come up in Google searches for 1.1 or 1.1.1 media.

 

[jajan547]

You're in luck I spent hours looking to find information. So to begin I found an old site that is dedicated to A/UX on it they have links to old sites most that died around 2004ish. Anyways the main point it not only did I find 1.1.1 HERE, but I also found 2.0, 2.0.1, and 3.0.1 (and a custom version as well). Also I stumbled across a beta release of A/UX 0.7 HERE (if you are interested its a bit laggy and kernel panics at times). I also included the .sit below for 0.7 and 1.1.1. Also check this out!

 

[MrFahrenheit]

You're in luck I spent hours looking to find information. So to begin I found an old site that is dedicated to A/UX on it they have links to old sites most that died around 2004ish. Anyways the main point it not only did I find 1.1.1 HERE, but I also found 2.0, 2.0.1, and 3.0.1 (and a custom version as well). Also I stumbled across a beta release of A/UX 0.7 HERE (if you are interested its a bit laggy and kernel panics at times). I also included the .sit below for 0.7 and 1.1.1. Also check this out!

Thanks @jajan547 but I already have those.

The A/UX 2.0.0, 2.0.1 were not complete or working until I bought a set of disks and imaged and uploaded them. They are on the garden as “reference archive”. The 3.0.x set of images that are online are incomplete. I do have a complete set and I’m working to compile them into a reference archive release as well, so as to differentiate between my known good set of disks that are complete and the ones online that are sometimes corrupt, are missing files/disks, and are generally incomplete.

As for this post and the project, we’re working on archiving the 1.x set of installation media. Important for preserving it, but also to make 100% working installation images for people to use.

There are about 30 floppy disks in the 1.x release for installing A/UX by floppy. The CDROM ISO still requires several disks. None of these are imaged online.

Specifically, for 1.1, we need the two root disks, neither of which can be found online in any upload. This is the reason a set of 1.1 disks sells for $1400, they haven’t been found online yet.

And so far, nobody who has bought any of the 1.1 disk sets on eBay has imaged and uploaded to any online site. Either because of being selfish and wanting to keep them to themselves, or because they are missing disks or disks are damaged.

I myself have in my possession physical original disks for 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 3.0.0, and 3.0.1, plus a handful of beta seed disks. These are among the most reliable sources as many download images are incomplete or corrupt.

The Penelope site you link to has been the definitive source for A/UX on the internet. I’m currently working with the site owner to put together these good known images. We’re trying to put together the best and most complete set of images for each release. He’s missing 1.x disks, hence this open request.

The project for good 2.0.x disk images is basically complete. You can find those uploaded here: https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-aux-200-and-201-reference-archive

 

[MrFahrenheit]

Here's some beta seeds of A/UX 3.x that I also have in my possession:

 

[CC_333]

I wonder if any alphas or betas of the cancelled A/UX 4.0 exist?

I ask because that version, had it been released, was said to have supported Power Macs and IBM POWER workstations, among other things (source).

c

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I wonder if any alphas or betas of the cancelled A/UX 4.0 exist?

I ask because that version, had it been released, was said to have supported Power Macs and IBM POWER workstations, among other things (source).

c

This would be an amazing find. Though, at the time, Apple was doing far too many things all at the same time. I don’t know if they would have used an outside developer to write A/UX 4 or if they would have tried it themselves internally. I believe all of the existing A/UX were not done within Apple, but I could be remembering wrong.

The existence of a 4 developer build would be interesting to examine. I wonder if A/UX 4 might have been part of what brought down Copland. Maybe they were trying to do too much with making Copland A/UX compatible, and the whole thing was then just a tangled programming mess. I remember having access to Copland builds in the day and not even bothering because you couldn’t even boot it up.

 

[NJRoadfan]

See here about A/UX development, check out the comments in particular: https://virtuallyfun.com/2021/09/19/so-what-is-the-deal-with-a-ux-anyways/

A/UX was NEVER going to be viable as a mass market desktop OS due to the high licensing costs for System V. As for PowerPC, IBM wasn't going to give up AIX so easily. The route Apple went (selling servers with PPC AIX) was likely the best one.

Combining the classic MacOS with something UNIXy was never going to be easy as the platforms were very different. OS X had many growing pains because of it. Even today it is a distinctly different target platform from generic BSDs. Always little landmines that break compatibility with "portable" code lurking.

Copland wasn't supposed to be UNIX based at all. It died from feature creep and developer team infighting if anything.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

See here about A/UX development, check out the comments in particular: https://virtuallyfun.com/2021/09/19/so-what-is-the-deal-with-a-ux-anyways/

A/UX was NEVER going to be viable as a mass market desktop OS due to the high licensing costs for System V. As for PowerPC, IBM wasn't going to give up AIX so easily. The route Apple went (selling servers with PPC AIX) was likely the best one.

Combining the classic MacOS with something UNIXy was never going to be easy as the platforms were very different. OS X had many growing pains because of it. Even today it is a distinctly different target platform from generic BSDs. Always little landmines that break compatibility with "portable" code lurking.

Copland wasn't supposed to be UNIX based at all. It died from feature creep and developer team infighting if anything.

I realize that. But A/UX had to have Mac OS compatibility baked-in for it to succeed. My point being, Apple working on Copland, they would have needed some sort of Copland integration/compatibility in A/UX 4 for it to succeed. The fact that Copland was an absolute mess, A/UX 4 couldn't have even existed in any runnable form.

I'm not saying A/UX would have been part of Copland, I'm saying the other way around. Copland support would needed to have been part of A/UX 4, and due to that OS faltering, A/UX 4 was likely just shelved until they had a working Copland. Which never came.

 

[cheesestraws]

I believe all of the existing A/UX were not done within Apple, but I could be remembering wrong.

Yeah, most of A/UX is UniSoft. Not sure how much of the Mac compatibility stuff was done at Apple and how much at UniSoft.

Fun fact: UniSoft is still around, but doing something totally different. They make video encoding stuff for broadcast TV now. See: http://www.unisoft.com/history.html

 

[cheesestraws]

Here's some beta seeds of A/UX 3.x that I also have in my possession:

I don't suppose you happen to have the APDA A/UX developer CDs hanging around anywhere do you?

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I don't suppose you happen to have the APDA A/UX developer CDs hanging around anywhere do you?

No. I wish I did though.

 

[cheesestraws]

No. I wish I did though.

Oh well, back to copy and pasting blocks of assembler I go!

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I don't suppose you happen to have the APDA A/UX developer CDs hanging around anywhere do you?

Do you know what these look like, or when they were produced, or what specifically they were titled ?

 

[cheesestraws]

Do you know what these look like, or when they were produced, or what specifically they were titled ?

All I know of these is paragraphs like the following in the A/UX 3.0 Toolbox manual:

"Several new and enhanced application development tools are included in the A/UX Developer's Tools product, also available from APDA. A new, ANSI-compliant C compiler (c89) is included, as is a complete library of A/UX system calls that can be used from the MPW environment to assist in the development of hybrid applications."

So I'm guessing at least one version was released at the same time as A/UX 3.0 and it was called the A/UX Developer's Tools, but even those two things are basically guesses

 

[MrFahrenheit]

All I know of these is paragraphs like the following in the A/UX 3.0 Toolbox manual:

"Several new and enhanced application development tools are included in the A/UX Developer's Tools product, also available from APDA. A new, ANSI-compliant C compiler (c89) is included, as is a complete library of A/UX system calls that can be used from the MPW environment to assist in the development of hybrid applications."

So I'm guessing at least one version was released at the same time as A/UX 3.0 and it was called the A/UX Developer's Tools, but even those two things are basically guesses

I do have the manuals for this. But no disks. Could the software perhaps exist on APDA regular developer reference disks ? Have you checked the developer CDs of the period for A/UX components?

 

[jajan547]

Wanna give this a try? I think I found it.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

Wanna give this a try? I think I found it.

We have that as well. The missing disks are required for the floppy disk portion of the install. I do thank you for trying, though.

 

[jajan547]

Rats ill keep looking.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

Rats ill keep looking.

The ISO you attached here is the CD-ROM install, which still requires some floppy disks to make work. I believe those disks are in the prior post you made up above, but I can't say for sure because I don't have a machine that can run 1.1x.

However, the guy who owns the Penelope A/UX site has been working with me on finding, restoring, and verifying the installation from the 1.1 floppy disk set. That is the set of disks that does not include an ISO, and can only be installed from the disks. He has almost all of the disks, but is missing two disks from what we can tell, for a successful install, and these 1.1 (not 1.1.1) disks for a complete install:

des encyrption
launch
floppy root
sash utils
stand alone shell
system checker
system setup
tape backup

I've been looking online for 2 1/2 years and never found them.