4 ms·

I've always associated Amigas with AmigaOS, and this is the first I heard about Unix. Why would you replace AmigaOS with Unix? Is it because it would be subst

by 762236 1y ago

I've always associated Amigas with AmigaOS, and this is the first I heard about Unix. Why would you replace AmigaOS with Unix? Is it because it would be substantially cheaper than other 68030 Unix workstations?

pavlov 1y ago
As mentioned in the story, everybody with a 68k or RISC computer in the 1980s tried their hand at making a Unix workstation because the market was so lucrative. In addition to Commodore there were Apple, Acorn, and Atari also making these upscale plays with Unix. Sun and NeXT were native to this market. And non-Unix workstation vendors like Apollo were adding compatibility. It was a crowded market and Commodore didn't bring anything unique to it. The Amiga's multimedia strengths were practically wasted running X Windows.
- rhet0rica 1y ago
  And yet... ! AMIX was actually one of the first gcc targets, as mentioned here: https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1ikyw0s/the_fsf_free_software_foundation_will_auction_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1ikyw0s/the_fsf_free... It seems it may have had a pivotal role in the history of the FSF. So, clearly, someone found value in it!
  - pjmlp 1y ago
    GCC was largely ignored until Sun became the first UNIX vendor to have different SKUs for developers and plain users, quickly followed by other vendors. Only then folks started reaching out to GNU, as means to avoid paying for UNIX developer licenses from their respective vendors. Sun even had multiple levels, one of the reasons Ada didn't took off, was that UNIX vendors like Sun had it as an additional SKU, the developer license would only get the classical UNIX stuff, alongside C and C++ compilers.
- pjmlp 1y ago
  Amiga OS was a kind of plan B, as they originally were thinking of UNIX, when we listen to history from Commodore employees. I was really happy they went and did their own thing, classical UNIX was never great at multimedia.
- fulafel 1y ago
  Nitpick: This was the 90s already. 68k based Sun gear was in the 80s but 90s was the RISC era already for Unix boxes. (except for NeXT I, they continued launching new 68k models into the 90s and got left behind)

by 762236 1y ago

pavlov 1y ago

As mentioned in the story, everybody with a 68k or RISC computer in the 1980s tried their hand at making a Unix workstation because the market was so lucrative. In addition to Commodore there were Apple, Acorn, and Atari also making these upscale plays with Unix. Sun and NeXT were native to this market. And non-Unix workstation vendors like Apollo were adding compatibility. It was a crowded market and Commodore didn't bring anything unique to it. The Amiga's multimedia strengths were practically wasted running X Windows.

rhet0rica 1y ago
And yet... ! AMIX was actually one of the first gcc targets, as mentioned here: https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1ikyw0s/the_fsf_free_software_foundation_will_auction_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/1ikyw0s/the_fsf_free... It seems it may have had a pivotal role in the history of the FSF. So, clearly, someone found value in it!
- pjmlp 1y ago
  GCC was largely ignored until Sun became the first UNIX vendor to have different SKUs for developers and plain users, quickly followed by other vendors. Only then folks started reaching out to GNU, as means to avoid paying for UNIX developer licenses from their respective vendors. Sun even had multiple levels, one of the reasons Ada didn't took off, was that UNIX vendors like Sun had it as an additional SKU, the developer license would only get the classical UNIX stuff, alongside C and C++ compilers.
pjmlp 1y ago
Amiga OS was a kind of plan B, as they originally were thinking of UNIX, when we listen to history from Commodore employees. I was really happy they went and did their own thing, classical UNIX was never great at multimedia.
fulafel 1y ago
Nitpick: This was the 90s already. 68k based Sun gear was in the 80s but 90s was the RISC era already for Unix boxes. (except for NeXT I, they continued launching new 68k models into the 90s and got left behind)