raw rumour: VAX 8600 & Ultrix

[Avadis Tevanian]

I may not have all my facts totally correct, but here goes anyway.
Running Unix (or Ultrix) on a 8600 is not as simple as just writing a
simple device driver to talk to the CI.  Remember that the CI is this
"intelligent" device that lets a Vax cpu talk to it at a very high
level.  It is my understanding that VMS actually gives "filenames" to
the CI to be processed.  Unfortunately, there are two problems.  The
first is that Unix file names don't look like VMS file names.  The
second is that information about the CI is hard to come by.

The second problem is not a problem for Ultrix, but rather for anyone
else who wants to attempt to bring up Unix with a CI.  The first
problem is a tough one.  Either you write something to translate Unix
file names to VMS names (and vice versa), or you microcode the CI to
understand Unix file names.  Either solution is non-trivial.  I will be
surprised if Ultrix is available in the near future (< 1 year) on the
8600 (personal opinion).

The *real* problem, of course, is that you can only get the 8600 with
the CI.

	Avie