What kind of computers UNIX was developed for?

tartarotti · 06-10-2014 3:10pm #1

I have a question about Unix, this is for a report that I have to write, would any one help me ? I just don't know how I should start.

Thanks

jimgoose · 06-10-2014 3:11pm

Unix was developed on and for old 1960s/1970s mainframes like the DEC PDP-7. It evolved from there, though various RISC workstations, servers, minicomputers and eventually PCs.

croo · 06-10-2014 5:05pm

Was a DEC PDP-7 ever considered a "mainframe"?

jimgoose · 06-10-2014 10:20pm

croo wrote: »

Was a DEC PDP-7 ever considered a "mainframe"?

No, come to think of it it was a mini.

gctest50 · 06-10-2014 10:29pm

attached (should!) be map of unix thingy

L.Jenkins · 07-10-2014 7:34am

I love how it becomes a little more streamlined by the mid 00's. I'm sure in the 90'S people were truly spoiled for choice when it came to Unix, until the less than favorable distributions slowly died off.

Tom Dunne · 07-10-2014 7:53am

Itzy wrote: »

I'm sure in the 90'S people were truly spoiled for choice when it came to Unix, until the less than favorable distributions slowly died off.

We weren't really.

The choice of Unix was dictated by the hardware/vendor at the time. It's probably more correct to say that as these vendors died off and as the PC rose to dominance (and hence, cheap hardware that could run Unix became available) that things became more streamlined.

/strokes beard

OP: In any discussion of the origins of Unix, you have to mention Multics. It would just be wrong not to.

jimgoose · 07-10-2014 7:58am

Tom Dunne wrote: »

...OP: In any discussion of the origins of Unix, you have to mention Multics. It would just be wrong not to.

Ah, the 90s. What a hodge-podge of wonderfulness! SCO, Xenix, MkLinux, various peculiar ports of AIX...

Here's the original requirements/design document for Unix:

What kind of computers UNIX was developed for?

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