bsd 4.4 for i386 - vaporware?

[Per Andersson]

In article <326 at design.axis.fr> john at design.axis.fr (John H) writes:
>Huh?????   What the fuck???  How does $100k get turned into $1200???
>Anyway, which university has 1000 386's with > 80Mb disk and the support
>staff needed to put an unsupported operating system on each micro?
>
>(I know you Yanks are stupid and rich, but THAT STUPID?  THAT RICH?)

Well, first universities don't pay what commercial customers do to get
an AT&T source license. Second this also covers Vaxes, Tahoes and probably
some other architectures. Third unsupported can be an advantage, as enough
staff probably are present to understand what needs fixing, if there is 
something. At least on a large university with computer education.

Besides, 4.3BSD on a Vax11/750 is one of the most reliable platforms one
can run. Sad that hardware support is so high. 386 machines can maybe 
replace the 11/750 for uses like mail exchange, especially since 4.4 might
come with PP, the RFC822/UUCP/X.400/(you name it) mailer.

Per
-- 
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Per Andersson
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
perand at admin.kth.se, @nada.kth.se