VENIX on Rainbow (was Re: Wanting to get my first classic computer)

[Ethan Dicks]

On Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 11:53 PM Warner Losh via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 8:08 PM Ray Jewhurst via cctalk <
> cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> > Hello all, I have been a student of computer history for years...
> > I would like
> > something more exotic.  (Although it might me neat to own a Rainbow.)
>
>
> All the cool kids had DEC Rainbows...

When Rainbows were new I remember being horrified at the cost and how
much of a PITA the RX50 was.  I also had no need to run CP/M myself,
so I was never a target customer anyway.

Turn the page and flash forward 35 years and I just got a couple of
Rainbows to use as heavy VT100s and to run CP/M.

> ... I'm currently on a DEC
> Rainbow VENIX boondoggle trying too reconstruct frmo v7 and sys III sources
> now available the original Venix 86R source code... :)

Interesting.  I have VENIX on a Professional 350 (it was one of the
machines I had on display for VCF East).  I haven't tried fiddling
with VENIX on a Rainbow, though I did know it existed.

Why the reconstruction?  Trying to walk the path or is there some
issue with getting original install disks or getting those disks to
load?

Mostly curious because as a long-time UNIX programmer, I do find some
of the odder UNIX implementations interesting (and certainly more
interesting to me than Yet Another DOS Box).

-ethan