wanted: UNIX or clone

[Tim Wright]

In <1991May4.160323.18554 at bilver.uucp> bill at bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion) writes:

>In article <1991May3.213649.3513 at unixland.uucp> bill at unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) writes:

>>In article <1991Apr30.135708.19899 at bilver.uucp> bill at bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion) writes:

>>>On the Lotus-123 for Unix is says it will run under SCO Xenix too.  But
>>>the kicker is - it specifically states it will NOT run on '486 machines.
>>>So they have done something to make it hardware dependant.

>>Could it have something to do with the built-in math co-processor on
>>the 486 chip?

>Well since the the '486 is upward compatible from the '386 Lotus would have
>to be doing something like reading the hardware directly.   This is the
>only conclusion several of us came up with.   But thats a no-no when doing
>Unix.    I suspect some users are going to be upset if they try to do a
>hardware upgrade and find everything works except Lotus.

>Anyone else have any ideas?

I flat do not believe that it won't run on a '486 under UNIX. The only time
I've seen problems with code running on a '486 is when stupid programmers
write self-modifying code and find that the bit they're trying to modify
is now in the cache and hence doesn't get modified. Since UNIX executables
have their "text" part shared and read-only, this can't happen.
If anybody can come up with a plausible explanation for it not working under
UNIX, I'd be interested to hear it !! :-) :-)

Tim
-- 
Tim Wright, Dell Computer Corp., Bracknell    |  Domain: tim at dell.co.uk
Berkshire, UK, RG12 1RW. Tel: +44-344-860456  |  Uucp: ...!ukc!delluk!tim
Smoke me a Kipper, I'll be back for breakfast - Red Dwarf