A/UX
Apple Computer | |
OS family |
|
---|---|
Working state | Historic |
Source model | Closed source |
Initial release | February 1988[1] |
Latest release | 3.1.1 / 1995 |
Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
License | Proprietary |
A/UX is a
Described by InfoWorld as "an open systems solution with the Macintosh at its heart",
Features
A/UX provides a
Apple's compatibility layer allows A/UX to run Macintosh System 7.0.1, Unix, and hybrid applications. A hybrid application uses functions from both the Macintosh toolbox and the Unix system. For example, it can run a Macintosh application which calls Unix system functions, or a Unix application which calls Macintosh Toolbox functions (such as QuickDraw), or a HyperCard stack graphical frontend for a command-line Unix application. A/UX's compatibility layer uses some existing Toolbox functions in the computer's ROM, while other function calls are translated into native Unix system calls; and it cooperatively multitasks all Macintosh apps in a single address space by using a token-passing system for their access to the Toolbox.[7]
A/UX includes a utility called Commando (similar to a tool of the same name included with
A/UX requires 68k-based Macintoshes with a floating point unit (FPU) and a paged memory management unit (PMMU),[8] and select models. For example, the Quadra 840AV, the fastest 68k Macintosh, cannot run A/UX.[9]
History
A/UX 1.0 was announced at the February 1988 Uniforum conference, seven months behind schedule. GUI interface, although it is compatible with only about 10% of the existing Macintosh software library.
It was initially aimed at existing Unix customers, universities and VARs.[11] The system was initially sold pre-installed on the Macintosh II for US$8,597 (equivalent to $22,100 in 2023), a larger monitor could be added, or a kit could upgrade an existing Mac II for a lower price.[1][11] Third-party software announced with the system's first release includes the Ingres database, StatView, developer tools, and various productivity software packages.[1][12]
Released in 1989, A/UX 1.1 supplies the basic GUI of System 6, with Finder, Chooser, Desk Accessories, and Control Panels. It provisions Unix with the X Window System (X11R3) GUI, the Draft 12 POSIX standard, and overall improved speed to competitive levels with Sun-3 desktop and deskside workstations, which used the same Motorola 68020 series CPU, FPU and MMU, none of which supported the exceptionally large RAM complement of 128MB at the time.[6][13][14] Having its first POSIX compliant platform allowed Apple to join "a growing list of industry heavyweights" to be allowed into the US federal government's burgeoning $6 billion bid market.[6]
In 1991, Apple's plans were influenced by the new AIM alliance with IBM, envisioning A/UX as becoming the basis for drastically scaling its concept of Macintosh system architecture and application compatibility across the computing industry, from personal to enterprise markets. Apple formed a new business division for enterprise systems led by director Jim Groff, to serve "large businesses, government, and higher education". Basing the division upon a maturing A/UX, Groff admitted that Apple was "not a major player" in the Unix market and had performed merely "quiet" marketing of the operating system, but fully intended to become a "major player" with "very broad-based marketing objectives" in 1992. Further, Apple believed the alliance with IBM would merge A/UX, AIX, and System 7—thus ultimately scaling the execution of Macintosh applications from Mac desktops to IBM's huge RS/6000 systems.[15]
In November 1991, Apple launched A/UX 3.0, planning to synchronize the two concurrent release schedules of A/UX and System 7. At that time, the company also preannounced A/UX 4.0, expected for release in 1993 or 1994. The announcement expounded upon the historic technology partnership between Apple and IBM, expecting to merge Apple's user-friendly graphical interface and desktop applications market with IBM's highly scalable Unix server market, and allowing the two companies to enter what Apple believed to be an emerging "general desktop open systems market". The upcoming A/UX 4.0 was proposed to target the PowerOpen Environment ABI, merge features of IBM's AIX variant of Unix into A/UX, and use the OSF/1 kernel from the Open Software Foundation. A/UX 3.0 was proposed to serve as an "important migration path" to this new system, making Unix and System 7 applications compliant with the PowerOpen specification.[4] The future A/UX 4.0 and AIX operating systems were intended to run on a variety of IBM's POWER and PowerPC hardware, and on Apple's PowerPC-based hardware.[15]
...Apple agreed to provide IBM with the technology needed to allow standard Macintosh applications—starting with the Finder—to run under the new AIX, much as they do under A/UX today. Apple will apply the PowerOpen label to the new version of A/UX that results from the deal; IBM will do likewise with the new AIX.
— MacWeek[16]
In April 1992, a C2-level secure version of A/UX was released.[17] Coincidentally, the AIM alliance had launched the Apple/IBM partnership corporation Taligent Inc. one month earlier, with the mission of bringing Apple's other next-generation operating system Pink to market as a grandly universal operating system and application framework.
Contrary to all announcements, Apple eventually abandoned all plans for the unreleased A/UX 4.0. In 1995,
The final release of A/UX is version 3.1.1 of 1995.[19] Apple had abandoned A/UX completely by 1996.[citation needed]
Timeline of Mac operating systems |
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Reception
A/UX 1.0 was criticized in the April 1988
A/UX 3.0 was praised in the August 1992 issue of InfoWorld by the same author, describing it as "an open systems solution with the Macintosh at its heart" where "Apple finally gets Unix right". He praised the GUI, single-button point-and-click installer, one year of personal tech support, the graphical help dialogs, and the user's manuals, saying that A/UX "defies the stereotype that Unix is difficult to use" and is "the easiest version of Unix to learn". Its list price of $709 (equivalent to $1,500 in 2023) is much higher than that of "much weaker" competing PC operating systems such as System 7, OS/2, MS-DOS, and Windows 3.1, but low compared to the then prevailing proprietary Unix licenses of more than $2,000 (equivalent to $4,300 in 2023). The review found the system speed "acceptable but not great" even on the fastest Quadra 950, blaming not the software but the incomplete Unix optimization found in Apple's hardware. Though "a very good value", the system's price-performance ratio was judged as altogether uncompetitive against Sun's SPARCstation 2. The reviewers thought it unlikely for users "to want to buy Macs just to run A/UX" and would have awarded InfoWorld's top score if the OS was not proprietary to Macintosh hardware.[4]
Tony Bove of the Bove & Rhodes Report generally complained that "[f]or Unix super-users there is no compelling reason to buy Apple's Unix. For Apple A/UX has always been a way to sell Macs, not Unix; it's a check-off item for users."[15]
Legacy
Vintage A/UX users had one central repository for most A/UX applications: an Internet server at NASA called Jagubox. It was administered by Jim Jagielski, who was also the editor of the A/UX FAQ.[citation needed]
See also
- Executor, a third-party reverse-engineered reimplementation of System 7 as a Unix application
- Macintosh Application Environment, Apple's Mac OS application layer for third-party Unix systems
- Classic, a subsystem for Mac OS X
- macOS, Apple's current OS, descended from the Unix-based NeXTSTEP
- MachTen, Unix in the form of a Mac OS 7 application
- MacMach, an academic Mach-based Unix experiment providing System 7 as a Unix application
- MkLinux, Apple-sponsored Mach microkernel-based Linux on Macintosh hardware
- IBM PCclones
References
- ^ a b c d Pitta, Julie (February 15, 1988). "A/UX ships following lengthy delay". Computerworld. Vol. XXII, no. 7. p. 133.
- ^ Flynn, Laurie (March 7, 1988). "Universities High on A/UX But Want More". InfoWorld. Vol. 10, no. 10. p. 31. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
- ^ "The Open Group official register of UNIX Certified Products". The Open Group. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Crabb, Don (August 10, 1992). "Apple finally gets Unix right with A/UX 3.0". InfoWorld. Vol. 14, no. 32. pp. 68–69.
- ^ Betts, Mitch (August 8, 1988). "Uncle Sam Salutes the Mac". Computerworld. Vol. XXII, no. 32. p. 60.
- ^ a b c d Ryan, Alan J. (August 15, 1988). "Apple keen on Unix future". Computerworld. Vol. XXII, no. 33. p. 6.
- ^ Morley, John. "Macintosh Hybrid Applications for A/UX". MacTech. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
- ^ Singh, Amit (February 2004). "Many Systems for Many Apples". Kernel Thread. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
- ^ "A/UX and Compatible Macintoshes". Apple, Inc. August 1994. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020.
- ^ Keefe, Patricia (March 2, 1987). "Apple brackets Unix, Ethernet". Computerworld. Vol. XXI, no. 9. p. 94.
- ^ a b Flynn, Laurie; Patton, Carole (February 22, 1988). "Apple breaks into Unix market with A/UX". InfoWorld. Vol. 10, no. 8. p. 31.
- ^ Flynn, Laurie (February 22, 1988). "Developers Eager to Display Programs Run Under A/UX". InfoWorld. Vol. 10, no. 8. p. 32.
- ^ Mace, Scott; Patton, Carole (August 8, 1988). "Apple to Support X Window in A/UX". InfoWorld. Vol. 10, no. 32. p. 5.
- ^ a b Marshall, Martin (January 16, 1989). "A/UX, Release 1.1 Supports X Window". InfoWorld. Vol. 11, no. 3. p. 31.
- ^ a b c Corcoran, Cate (November 4, 1991). "Apple reveals plans for updated A/UX, PowerOpen Unix development alliance". InfoWorld. Vol. 13, no. 44. pp. 1, 115–116.
- MacWeek. Vol. 7, no. 12. March 22, 1993. p. 38. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
- Network World. Vol. 9, no. 15. p. 13.
- ^ "Floodgap ANSwers: The AIX on ANS FAQ".
What versions of AIX does the ANS support? Only 4.1.4 (4.1.4.0 and 4.1.4.1) and 4.1.5, and then only Apple-branded versions
- ^ "A/UX FAQ".
- ^ Crabb, Don (April 4, 1988). "A/UX: This Operating System Is Far From Being "Unix for the Rest of Us"". InfoWorld. Vol. 11, no. 14. p. 43.
- ^ "The BYTE Awards". BYTE. Vol. 14, no. 1. January 1989. p. 327.