Dirt-Cheap UNIX ($389.95) for the IBM PC/AT (and clones)

[jim at hoptoad.UUCP]

     Low-cost UNIX has at last arrived!  It  is  Microport's
System V.2 for the IBM PC/AT.  I have had my hands on a ver-
sion  of  the  system  and  it  IS  UNIX,  though   Berkeley
desiderata such as C-shell, script, more (etc) are not there
yet.  The only thing I  found  broken  was  shell  layering,
which  I think is vastly inferior to BSD job control anyway.
Even so, there are up to four windows that can be  selected,
tasks  started, and left to run.  Microport advertises up to
eight users, and I believe it if the PC  clone  has  a  fast
disk  and several meg of memory.  The clone  I tried gave me
results from a "ps -ef" command almost as soon as I  pressed
RETURN.   What  is  exciting about the Microport UNIX is its
pricing schedule:

        Runtime System $159.95
        Software Development System $139.95
        Text Preparation System $159.95
        Complete System Package $389.95
        Berkeley Enhancements $99.95
        Complete System, 3-8 users $454.95

These prices require a little  decoding.   "Runtime  System"
means  the System V.2 shell (with functions), the utilities,
but no compilers or n/troff.
"Software Development System" includes C, F77,  SCCS,  make,
and other goodies.
"Text Preparation System" includes complete System V Release
2  DWB, though the drivers for ditroff are only the standard
ones from Bell.

     Real UNIX comes in two flavors, the  1-2  user  version
for  $389.95  and  the  1-8  user version for $454.95.  Rich
Morin and I walked around the  booths  at  the  recent  West
Coast  Computer  Faire  and  calculated that a complete UNIX
system with 40MB disk and 1MB RAM would  have  cost  $2,600.
That's putting UNIX within reach of a credit card purchase.

     I'm excited enough about Microport's  UNIX  that  I  am
considering  carrying the product in my Bookstore.  The only
really negative thing about the package is that the  manuals
are in the small format, and the type is really too small to
read comfortably-- or is that a statement about my being 44?

     I believe that dirt-cheap UNIX is here, and  that  this
is  only  the  beginning.   Unfortunately,  the  ad  in last
Sunday's "San Jose Mercury" for UNIX and C tech  writers  at
Commodore-Amiga  did  not  mean  that they have wised up and
ported UNIX to the Amiga, according to the manager I chatted
up on the phone.  Too bad.
AT&T:  (415) 626-7581
Snail: c/o Jim Joyce's UNIX Bookstore, 47 Potomac St, SF 94117