Entering into the world of A/UX

[macintoshman]

Well, I am ready to bring my quadra to unix. I have an Apple CD 300, and all the requirements are met. Is there any A/UX Software out there for web browsing and email etc? I can still use the system 7 stuff.

Will 56mb of ram be plenty?

 

[porter]

I installed A/UX using a CD 300 on a Quadra 700 with 20Mbs and it runs just fine.

Personally I would not use it for web-browsing, as you will get frustrated very quickly as sites continually expect you to have the latest and greatest browser.

It's System 7.1, I've never tried adding the DragAndDrop Mgr or ThreadsLib.

Also, you may have better mileage using X natively, not using MacX.

 

[macintoshman]

It doesnt look like a pain to install, but it does look hard to get ethernet working. I am thinking a/ux is a good way to learn unix.

 

[porter]

but it does look hard to get ethernet working.

really? A/UX uses the built-in ethernet in my Quadra 700, it's then just a matter of executing if "ifconfig" and "route" commands at startup.

I am thinking a/ux is a good way to learn unix.

Yes, if you forget about the System 7 side of things, it's a nice simple system.

 

[paws]

Just be aware that it's old. A lot of things that were quite natural for a UNIX admin in the early nineties would be frowned upon today for security reasons, especially related to networking.

 

[macintoshman]

My Quadra just had a odd virus infect it. A/UX FULL STEAM!

 

[wood_e]

ok - I want to try A/UX on my Quadra 605 with a full 040 - where the heck can i get a copy?

 

[ChristTrekker]

ok - I want to try A/UX on my Quadra 605 with a full 040 - where the heck can i get a copy?

Q605 will not work. But as for getting A/UX, you have to find a second hand copy. Maybe eBay or something. It's not legal to download. I would definitely recommend against googling for "german a/ux ftp archive".

 

[wood_e]

I thought the limitation with the 605 was the LC040

 

[porter]

I thought the limitation with the 605 was the LC040

And other things too, including drivers and other support.

For instance it doesn't work on a IIvx unless you do some real nasty hacking.

 

[ChristTrekker]

For instance it doesn't work on a IIvx unless you do some real nasty hacking.

Is there a confirmed instance of a successful install on a IIvx? Or do you mean hacking in the sense of "it's not really a IIvx by the time you get done"?

 

[porter]

Is there a confirmed instance of a successful install on a IIvx? Or do you mean hacking in the sense of "it's not really a IIvx by the time you get done"?

I installed on a IIcx, disabled macgetty, added the System Enabler 001 to both the boot drive and the AUX drive, then put the drive into my IIvx.

You can't use the Mac environment, perhaps if you added a Toby card you could.

 

[tmtomh]

Linux and 68040 BSD distros will indeed work on a Q605 and similar Macs with just a swap from an 'LC040 to a full '040.

But A/UX is a totally different animal. Unlike Mac OS, it doesn't use the Macintosh Toolbox and accesses the hardware directly. And unlike Linux/BSD, its hardware support hasn't been updated in over 15 years. So basically any machine not officially supported by A/UX won't work, no matter what you do.

As for porter's claim that it can work on a IIvx, I'm saying 100% no way, but I will say that I've never heard that before and would need to know more before believing it.

M

 

[porter]

As for porter's claim that it can work on a IIvx, I'm saying 100% no way, but I will say that I've never heard that before and would need to know more before believing it.

It did work but the OS had a problem with the internal video of the IIvx, so hence why the installer itself didn't work, and macgetty locked up. If you telneted in a gave macgetty a polite signal it would wake up and continue.

It did work happily with an Asante NuBus ethernet, and the screen in the old terminal mode. I was able to telnet and ftp happily to the box and do compilations etc. I eventually removed the keyboard and mouse and just had it booting headless.

 

[ChristTrekker]

I installed on a IIcx, disabled macgetty, added the System Enabler 001 to both the boot drive and the AUX drive, then put the drive into my IIvx.
You can't use the Mac environment, perhaps if you added a Toby card you could.

It did work but the OS had a problem with the internal video of the IIvx, so hence why the installer itself didn't work, and macgetty locked up. If you telneted in a gave macgetty a polite signal it would wake up and continue.

It did work happily with an Asante NuBus ethernet, and the screen in the old terminal mode. I was able to telnet and ftp happily to the box and do compilations etc. I eventually removed the keyboard and mouse and just had it booting headless.

This is an incredibly significant revelation, as far as A/UX goes. AFAIK, nobody's ever had A/UX running on a machine that Apple hasn't deemed supported. If you want to write up something that would answer "How can I run A/UX on a IIvx?" I'll add it to the FAQ straightaway.

How in the world did you come to discover how to do this? Why did you even decide to try it?

 

[porter]

How in the world did you come to discover how to do this? Why did you even decide to try it?

I borrowed the IIci (it was a IIci come to think of it), I had it set up with AU/X then had to return the box. The IIvx was the only 68030 box I had at the time.

Um, that's all I did,

(a) install on IIci,

( B) add System Enabler 001 to both Mac partition and OS environments

© disable macgetty with chmod -x,

(d) then swap disks.

 

[porter]

There is actually a follow up.

I created a bootable AU/X system on a 100Mb ZIP disk that I could use to recover the system, that would boot on the IIvx, so could actually set up the system from scratch using that. Set up the small Mac boot partition using the mac environment, then kick into A/UX to set up the rest of the system.