Are there any BSD-derived UNIX versions for 386's?

[Richard Foulk]

>I have followed the BSD 386 UNIX story in Dr. Dobb's Journal since Feb. (I
>missed the 1st article in Jan.)  In none of the articles do the authors list
>any points of contact for the BSD port, yet the articles appear to me to 
>imply that BSD 386 UNIX is a finished product.  My organization might be
>interested in getting BSD 386 UNIX, but who do we contact?  Out of
>desperation, I tried sending email to one of the authors, but no response yet.

It's not ready yet.  And contrary to what another poster said, Berkeley's
intent is apparently to provide the complete OS completely free of AT&T
licensing requirements.  Seems like that may take a while...

I sent email to one of the addresses provided in the magazine and got
the this response:

> From: lynne at okeeffe.Berkeley.EDU (Lynne Jolitz)
> Message-Id: <9102052002.AA03110 at okeeffe.Berkeley.EDU>
> To: richard at pegasus.com, william at ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
> Subject: Re: 386BSD
> 
> 
> Thank you for your inquiry on 386BSD.
> 
> 386BSD is distributed by the University of California at Berkeley CSRG.
> You should contact them at 415-642-7780 when 386BSD is available.
> In the meantime, the February issue will feature several complete and
> freely redistributable programs used in the actual 386BSD port.
> 
> BTW, here is the University's official statement on the subject:
> " The 386BSD support will be available in February as part of a revision
> of the 1989 Networking Release distribution.
> One very important fact to remember is, that although the 386BSD itself
> support is freely redistributable, much of the rest of the operating system
> and utilities require source licenses.
> Therefore, the February distribution will NOT be a complete system and
> cannot be booted or run on a 386 machine.
> The distribution will require only a Berkeley license and distribution fee.
> Previous fees were approximately $500, but the actual fee has not yet
> been determined.
> 
> The 4.4BSD release is scheduled for the middle of 1991, and additional,
> support for the 386 will be made available at that time."
> 
> [...]
> 
> Bill and Lynne Jolitz.
> 

BTW: If you found the article interesting/important you might consider
sending a note to the editors of Dr. Dobb's saying so.  That's one way
to help keep the journals on track.
-- 
Richard Foulk		richard at pegasus.com