<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Title to be specified</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <BODY BACKGROUND="../blue_pap.gif"> <h1>/xenix: 386 happenings</h1> ©1987 - Richard A. Bilancia - All Rights Reserved published first in the October 1987 issue of UNIX&reg/World <hr> With all the recent discussion and conversation about the "...coming of REAL UNIX&reg to replace XENIX&reg" for the Intel 386 microprocessors, I thought that it might be beneficial to you my readers to discuss what I believe to be the significant differences between XENIX&reg and UNIX&reg System V. Please note that it is not my intent to say that one version of UNIX® is better than another version simply because one product is being sold by one organization and the other is being sold by another, but rather to try to identify the underlying reasons for the relative success of one version compared to other. Availability. As of this writing, versions of UNIX&reg for the Intel 80386 are available from Bell Technologies (Fremont, CA), Microport, Inc. (Scotts Valley, CA), and The Santa Cruz Operation (Santa Cruz, CA).  It is my understanding that Bell Technologies has purchased a source code license for their version of the operating system from Microport, Inc., and therefore the two systems should be expected to be substantially similar. Both of these versions of the operating system conform to AT&T’s System V Release 3 product definition and include all of the features and enhancements promised with Release 3.  The significant Release 3 features include: <ul> <li>Streams</li> <li>Remote File System (RFS)</li> </ul> On the other hand, XENIX&reg System V/386 from the Santa Cruz Operation does not conform to the System V Release 3 definition, but it is planned to do so (see the discussion of System V Release 3 products in my May 1987 column) now scheduled for sometime in mid 1988. Additionally, XENIX&reg from SCO comes with a very large collection of enhancements to the System V standard that provide it with much greater capabilities for a wide variety of users, from experienced system managers and software developers to novice users just getting started with applications running in the UNIX&reg operating system environment. I will detail these enhancements below. The Microport enhancements. In addition to the UNIX&reg System V Release 3 features that are standard with the Microport version of UNIX&reg, Microport also provides enhancements with their product.  These enhancements include: <ul> <li>Virtual consoles (up to four)</li> <li>286 UNIX&reg (not XENIX&reg) binary compatibility</li> <li>MS-DOS file partitioning & file transfer utilities</li> <li>a binary reconfiguration tool to allow installation of custom device drivers</li> <li>a menu oriented system administration tool</li> <li>support for up to 33 users</li> <li>support for most leading vendor add-on cards</li> <li>on line help</li> <li>support later this fall for SUN based Network File

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System (NFS)</li> </ul> While the list of these enhancements is not nearly as long or complete as the enhancements provided by the Santa Cruz Operation, the pricing of the product is considerably less. The SCO XENIX&reg features. According to the latest SCO brochure, the SCO XENIX&reg enhancements include: <ul> <li>MultiScreen&reg virtual consoles (up to twelve)</li> <li>286 XENIX® (not UNIX®) binary compatibility</li> <li>user definable console function keys (up to fifty) and modifiable keyboard layout</li> <li>support for several different international character sets </li> <li>a system administration shell</li> <li>MS-DOS cross development utilities</li> <li>local area RS232 networking with Micnet</li> <li>support for serial consoles (no console required)</li> <li>dynamic bad track replacement for defective media</li> <li>serial device support for most vendor products</li> <li>support for cartridge disks and tapes, and battery powered clocks</li> <li>support for multiple printers</li> <li>a "link kit" that will allow device drivers to be installed without the developments system</li> <li>controllable automatic booting features</li> <li>a utility ("custom") to simplify the installation of utilities</li> <li>automatic system configuration at each boot</li> <li>support for up to 8 file systems per partition, 4 partitions per drive, and 2 drives per system</li> <li>optional installation of popular UNIX&reg games</li> </ul> Application software availability. Both vendors claim a substantial base of application software for their 286 products (both of which are upward compatible with their 386 products) but my experience is that more end user software, not just application development tools and word processors, are more readily available. To support this contention see my accounting software review elsewhere in this issue that identifies 16 of 17 accounting packages as being available for XENIX&reg System V/286. Pricing. As I stated earlier in this column, the Microport UNIX&reg product is priced considerably lower than the SCO XENIX&reg product.  However, aside from the features listed above, there are substantial differences in what the purchaser will get for his money.  Let’s take a look and see. Microport advertises the availability of two [2] user 386

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UNIX&reg for $299. To upgrade that product to an unlimited number of users costs an additional $299 (or a total of $598) Additionally, the Software Development tools (including the C compiler) cost an additional $399, and the Text Processing tools cost another $199. In other words, a complete System V 386 operating system for two [2] users will cost $897 if purchased separately and $799 if purchased at one time. For an unlimited number of users the complete System V 386 operating system costs $1196 if purchased separately and $1098 if purchased at one time. The XENIX&reg product for a basic unlimited user license costs $695, the Software Development System costs an additional $695 and the Text Processing tools will not be available separately. The Text Processing tools will be included with the purchase of a complete XENIX&reg System V/386 that will support an unlimited number of users for a total cost of $1495. In other words, the pricing of the two products is not as different as one would originally be led to believe. As everyone has been predicting, the low end UNIX&reg market place would soon gain the characteristics of a commodity market.  What better categorizes a commodity market than comparable products, with comparable prices.  Only additional features (with a significant perceived value) will result in different pricing. Conclusion. Lastly, it’s important to realize that most of the features that the Santa Cruz Operation lists as enhancements to their version of the product are included in the base price of the product. You do not need to pay additional for them, nor do you typically need the development tools or text processing tools to utilize the additional features. <HR><ADDRESS>You can email me on the Internet at <a href="mailto:rab@msn.com">rab@msn.com</a></ADDRESS> <DT>return to <A HREF="../biblio.htm">Article List Page</A> <DT>return to <A HREF="../index.htm">Computer Guidance & Support Home Page</A> </ADDRESS> </BODY></HTML>