new groups for iX86 unix (was: Bell Tech 386 SysVr3)

[Paul Vixie]

In article <425 at uport.UUCP> plocher at uport.UUCP (John Plocher) writes:
# Xenix 2.3 (announced as being avaliable on 8/15, shipping in "6 weeks")
# is Xenix with the ability to run COFF binaries (V/386 and V/286 stuff).

That's true -- Xenix and V/386 will be object compatible with eachother
and probably source-compatible to a degree.  But since much of the traffic
on the net about a UNIX port is about system administration, installation,
internals, and other special witchery, I am convinced (recently) of a need
for a seperate comp.unix.xenix group.  I'll even entertain a .i286/.i386/
.mc68k subdivision if volume warrants it.  But let's not talk more about
that immediately.

# >On this basis, I think that two newsgroups,
# >	comp.unix.sysv.i286   and
# >	comp.unix.sysv.i386
# 
# why not just comp.unix.intel for all of the above - the volume does NOT
# demand a split.

The volume on my info-386ix mailing list and the UNIX-related traffic on the
Davidsen's 386users mailing list might change your mind on that point.  In
any case, we again have a situation where the sysadmin and installation for
286-based sysV is very different from sysadmin/install on 386-based sysV.
Since these are the sorts of things we often end up discussing, it makes
good sense to split the groups along those lines.  Microport's V/AT product
has been reasonably popular and will probably continue to be.  Nothing will
tick netnews readers off faster than having to skip half the articles in a
group, day after day, because they deal with a processor they don't have
and don't want to spend any time learning about.

This works in comp.unix.wizards because the number of different UNIX ports
being discussed is infinite :-).  Here, we've got just a couple.  I think
we can afford to split these.

# If you must split, why not comp.unix.intel, or comp.unix.Vr3/.Vr2 ?

Because some day, some ambitious idiot will make System V.4 run on a 286 :-),
and then where will we be?
-- 
Paul Vixie
Digital Equipment Corporation	Work:  vixie at dec.com	Play:  paul at vixie.UUCP
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