Unix for 8080/Z80? [Re: WooHoo!! PC/XT Unix anyone?]

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Sat Jan 23 16:59:20 1999

This notion of cooking up or breathing new life into an old 8-bit model to
run *NIX is probably a mite more than has been considered for one reason.
*NIX tends to want to use virtual memory, without which many systems would
quickly choke. The old CPM-capables don't support VM. A good reason for
this is probably the lack of performance.

regards,

Dick

----------
> From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: Unix for 8080/Z80? [Re: WooHoo!! PC/XT Unix anyone?]
> Date: Saturday, January 23, 1999 11:44 AM
>
> > Any Unix clones for 8080/Z80 systems? It ought to be doable, given that
the
> > original Unix was done on a 64KB address space machine...
>
> The problem with any multi-tasking or multi-user system on a Z80 is that
> there is no easy way to write position-independant code. There is no
> relative call and no relative loads/stores (both the PDP11 and the 6809
> have them). There are workarounds (either you use RST instructions to
> simulate the relative call, etc or you relocate the task when you load
> it), but they make life a little harder.
>
> -tony
Received on Sat Jan 23 1999 - 16:59:20 GMT