Path: gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mcdchg!usenet
From: i...@dell.UU.NET (Dell Computer Corp)
Newsgroups: comp.newprod
Subject: DELL OFFERS UNIX SYSTEM V RELEASE 4
Message-ID: <49361@mcdchg.chg.mcd.mot.com>
Date: 2 Nov 90 21:45:39 GMT
Sender: use...@mcdchg.chg.mcd.mot.com
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Dell Computer Corporation, Austin, Texas 78759-7299
Lines: 310
Approved: use...@mcdchg.chg.mcd.mot.com
Posted: Fri Nov 2 22:45:39 1990
DELL OFFERS UNIX SYSTEM V RELEASE 4
AUSTIN, TEXAS, OCTOBER 31, 1990 -- Dell Computer Corporation
(NASDAQ: DELL) today announced that it will offer DellTM UNIXR
System V Release 4, an enhanced version of the UNIX operating
system. Dell UNIX System V Release 4 will provide users of the
company's 386- and 486-based computer systems with the most
advanced UNIX operating system software available. Dell's
enhancements improve performance and compatibility while
providing portability across industry standard computer systems.
Dell is among the first manufacturers of personal computer
systems to offer an enhanced version of UNIX System V Release 4
(SVR4). When purchased in combination with Dell's high-
performance systems, Dell UNIX SVR4 represents a secure
investment in the open systems market, providing users with
complete, industry-standard hardware and software solutions that
feature outstanding price/performance. Dell UNIX/DOS
workstations and workgroup systems are based on the most current
hardware and software technology. By offering Dell UNIX SVR4,
the most complete and versatile iteration of UNIX available, Dell
continues its commitment to provide advanced systems at
aggressive prices.
UNIX System V Release 4 functionally merges the most popular
versions of the UNIX operating system including XENIXR, SunOS,
4.3 BSD (Berkeley UNIX) and UNIX System V, ensuring compatibility
by providing a single operating system standard. Targeted for
use with power workstations and in networked client/server
environments, Dell's UNIX SVR4 provides upward compatibility for
users in the majority of current UNIX installations.
"UNIX SVR4 represents the new standard for UNIX," said G.
Glenn Henry, senior vice president of Dell's product group. "The
robust development environment of Release 4 will ensure the
availability of increased numbers of UNIX software applications."
A number of new features have been incorporated into UNIX
System V Release 4, including TCP/IP network support; the Network
File System (NFS) and Remote File Sharing (RFS); software
development tools; and the Open Look graphical user interface.
Another advantage of UNIX SVR4 is its increased conformity with
industry standards such as IEEE's POSIX 1003.1, X/Open's XPG3,
ANSI X3J11C and the SVR4 Application Binary Interface (ABI).
Dell's offering of UNIX System V Release 4 maintains an
adherence to industry standards, but also includes a unique
combination of features and performance enhancements. Dell UNIX
SVR4 incorporates the most advanced version of the X Window
System (X11R4); the OSF/MotifTM graphical user interface from the
Open Software Foundation; X.desktopTM 2.0 icon-based desktop and
visual file manager from IXI Limited; Merge from Locus Computing
which provides MS-DOSR emulation; and Serial Link/Internet
Protocol (SL/IP) support. Other added features of Dell UNIX
System V Release 4 include the XView libraries which allow
developers to move SunView applications to the X windows environment;
increased XENIX compatibility; and network and device drivers to
support Dell products.
Available in late November, Dell UNIX System V Release 4 is
priced at $995 for the limited (one to two users) version, and at
$1295 for a system supporting unlimited users. Dell will also
offer an upgrade kit to allow users of Dell UNIX System V Release
3.2 to upgrade to Dell UNIX SVR4. The upgrade kit is priced at
$399 and will also be available from Dell in late November.
Dell UNIX systems also offer users added efficiency through
Dell's ability to custom-configure each system during
manufacturing with the appropriate memory, disk drives,
communications cards, keyboard and monitor. Dell UNIX SVR4 can
be factory-installed with default parameters based on memory and
hard drive capacities.
Dell UNIX SVR4 and every Dell UNIX system is supported with
a UNIX technical support hotline and service package. The
package includes a variety of support options including next-day,
on-site hardware service; UNIX operating system support; UNIX-
based application support; and remote system administration.
Dell is an AT&T source code licensee, and has an in-house team of
experts dedicated to user support and problem resolution. The
quality and accessibility of the company's after-sale service and
support program has been repeatedly cited as a factor in Dell's
consistently high levels of customer satisfaction, as reported in
eight polls of corporate customers conducted by PC WEEK in 1988,
1989 and 1990.
Dell Computer Corporation designs, develops, markets,
services and supports a complete line of personal computers
compatible with industry standards. The company is recognized in
independent surveys as having the highest customer satisfaction
level in the industry for its line of personal computers. Dell
pioneered the direct marketing of personal computers in 1984.
Information on the company and its products can be obtained
through its toll-free number: 800/937-1470.
# # #
Dell is a trademark of Dell Computer Corporation.
UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T in the United States and
other countries.
MS-DOS and XENIX are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
OSF/Motif is a trademark of Open Software Foundation, Inc.
X.desktop is a trademark of IXI Limited.
Other trademarks and tradenames are used to identify the entities
claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Computer
Corporation disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and
tradenames other than its own.
- - - - - - - more details - - - - - - -
UNIX System V Release 4 - Technical Specifications
Base operating system features
File System
SunOS Virtual File System (VFS)
types supported:
ufs - compatible with Berkeley Fast File System
s5 - System V file system, 1K or 2K block size
xenix - Xenix file system
nfs - SunOS Network File System
rfs - AT&T Remote File Sharing
bfs - stand-alone boot file system
proc - processes (for debuggers)
specfs - special files (devices)
fifofs - FIFOs
fdfs - open file descriptors
Symbolic links
Long file names (up to 255 characters) in ufs file systems
Disk quotas (ufs file systems)
New system calls
file rename
file truncation
file synchronization
Up to 2048 open files per process (256 using stdio)
File system directories restructured
Better support for networking, packaging
Read-only root file system capability
Virtual Memory
Adapted from BSD/SunOS
Memory-mapped files (single level storage)
Copy-on-write capability
Flexible paging (swap) space
Swap partition
Ordinary files can be used for swap space
Program Management
ELF - Extensible Linking Format
Shared library support
Dynamic linking support
Lazy binding (link on demand)
Link at exec-time
Binary Compatibility
SVR3 COFF module format
Xenix 386 a.out format
Xenix 286 a.out format
DOS binaries (with Merge feature)
Process management
User-controlled process scheduling
Fixed or dynamic process priority
Traditional timesharing process scheduler
Fixed priority real time process scheduler
Preemptable kernel
Dynamically-tunable parameters
Kernel data structures grow/shrink as required
BSD Resource Limits (rlimit)
High-resolution timing services
POSIX interfaces
BSD interfaces
Concurrent Groups
Interprocess Communication
Networkable and local-only services
Compatibility interfaces for BSD and Xenix
Services include:
Message queues
Named pipes
Named STREAMS
Pipes
Remote procedure call (RPC)
Semaphores (SVR3 and Xenix)
Shared Memory (SVR3 and Xenix)
Transport Layer Interface (TLI)
BSD sockets
STREAMS Mechanism
Bidirectional message transfer between processes and devices
Ability to stack protocol modules
Autopush of protocol modules
Supports both poll and BSD select system calls
Named STREAMS capability
Signal Handling
Complete POSIX interface (derived from BSD)
Complete SVR3.0 interface (sigset)
Complete pre-SVR3.0 interface (signal)
- all three interfaces may be mixed in a single program
Restartable system calls
POSIX features
Manipulation of a set of signals
Ability to block/unblock signals
Ability to examine pending signals
Support job control
Command Shells
Bourne shell (with optional BSD job control)
Korn shell
C shell
Character Mode User Interface
Multiple virtual terminals
termcap and terminfo support
Extended Terminal Interface (ETI)
Superset of curses capabilities
High-level control for ASCII terminals
Frame Access Control Environment (FACE)
Display language interpreter (FMLI)
Support for forms and menus
Internationalization and Localization
Locale support
Multi-byte character support
International time and date formats
International numeric and currency formats
Alternate collating sequences
Message database support
Message Management tools
Compliance with Industry Standards
Compatibility
Binary compatibility with Xenix, System V/386 programs
Source code compatibility with SunOS/BSD programs
Binary compatibilty with MS-DOS programs (Merge feature)
AT&T System V Interface Definition (SVID3)
IEEE POSIX 1003.1
X/Open Portability Guide, Issue 3 (XPG3)
ANSI X3J11 C programming language standard
Data Interchange Formats
File systems
BSD
Xenix
System V
cpio
tar
Networking Features
STREAMS and TLI interfaces
uucp
TCP/IP
DARPA protocols (TCP/IP/UDP)
BSD r* commands (rlogin, rcp, rexec, rsh, etc.)
Distributed File Systems
NFS - SunOS Network File System
RFS - AT&T Remote File Sharing
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and eXternal Data Representation (XDR)
SL/IP - TCP/IP for serial lines
Mail interfaces
sendmail
mh
elm
mmdf
Software Development System
ANSI C compiler
Standard tools, including:
as
awk
lex
yacc
make
sccs
sdb - enhanced for process file system
BSD and public domain tools, including:
rcs
gdb
emacs
BSD Text Processing Tools, including:
nroff
troff
eqn, neqn
tbl
style
diction
spell
On-line manual pages
Graphical User Interfaces
X Window System (X11R4)
OSF/Motif GUI (Motif 1.1)
mwm - Motif Window Manager
programming libraries and toolkits
UIL - user interface language
HP Widgets
Open Look GUI (xview 2.0 version)
olwm - Open Look Window Manager
Xview 2.0 libraries (SunView migration tools)
X.desktop 2.0 icon-based desktop manager
GKS Libraries from Purdue
Portable Bitmap Utilities
Other window managers
twm
uwm
Many public domain or freely redistributable clients, including:
xpostit reminder notes
xcal Day planner
xrn News Reader
xrnm News Reader Motif version
xface display USENIX faces
xfax display fax files (tiff format)
xpic Draw figures ala macpaint
xtex Tex Previewer
xmh mail handler
--
Dell Computer Corp. !'s:uunet!dell!info
9505 Arboretum Blvd @'s:i...@dell.com
Austin, TX 78759-7299 1-800-426-5150
Brian Fawkes, Michele Moore,
Jill Shanks
Dell Computer Corporation
512/338-4400