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Summary: Where is 386BSD Now?
Perhaps the discussion of some of these issues might have seemed difficult or incomplete, but we found each item to be of tremendous importance in understanding the practice of a port to the 386 architecture. Unlike Berkeley UNIX ports to other systems, we found that we had to bend over backwards dealing with segments, memory issues, device issues, and a plethora of unique microprocessor features. Now, one may ask, was it all worth it?
Well, BSD is now available on the 386 platform. Even though it is only a preliminary release, we already support the following:
- Many different PC platforms, including the Compaq 386/20, Compaq Systempro 386, any 386 with the Chips and Technologies chipset, any 486 with the OPTI chipset, Toshiba 3100SX, and more.
- ESDI, IDE, and ST-506 drives
- 3-1/2 inch and 5-1/4 inch floppy drives
- Novell NE2000 and Western Digital Ethernet controller boards
- EGA, VGA, CGA, and MDA monitors
- 287/387 floating point, including the Cyrix EMC
- A single-floppy standalone UNIX system, containing support for modems, Ethernet, SLIP, and Kermit to facilitate downloading of 386BSD to any PC over the INTERNET network.
Those of you who can meet University of California requirements should obtain a copy of 386BSD from the University of California, so that you can follow along yourself as we work through the basics of this port from every angle.
In addition, we would like to thank some of the people who have helped make 386BSD a reality, including Mike Karels, Keith Bostic, and Kirk McKusick of CSRG, Dixon Dick and all the support engineers at Compaq, Fred Dunlap and Bob McGhee of Cyrix, Don Ahn (UCB), Tim L. Tucker (Evans and Sutherland), and Clem Cole (Cole Computer Consulting).
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