Tuesday, March 9, 2021

A Color AT&T UNIX PC???

The following are excerpts and hyperlinks to a thread named 

SVR3.5 + source code 

on the comp.sys.3b1 message board archive by Google:

The very first comment about a Color UNIX PC came from 

Clarence Dold on November 6, 1998.  

(Clarence Dold is a name I've known since our very first year of "the MightyFrame journey", 2014...)

"If it's the same guy that had the color UnixPC..."


Joe R. replies (appropriately)

"A color Unix PC? Tell me more!"


To which Ward Griffiths replies:

> >If it's the same guy that had the color UnixPC...

>

> A color Unix PC? Tell me more!

To the best of my knowledge, there were three prototypes built of what

would have been the next version of the Unix PC. 68020. SIMM sockets

for 16MB. Color tube. Socket for math coprocessor. 2400 modem. I

forget what else. Brian salvaged one on its way to the dumpster. It

had a debug ROM, not a boot ROM, and a boot ROM from a stock Unix PC

did not work. Project aborted when AT&T pulled out. A damned shame.

-------------------------------------------------------

Ward Griffiths lists contact information at http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/, which has been a dead domain for many years now.  However, we can thanks the folks at The Wayback Machine for archiving what it USED to look like...

On it was posted Ward Griffiths' Resume

In context to the topic here, most noteworthy on his resume is:

Unisys Corporation, San Jose CA, Software Design Verification Engineer, 1990-1991:  Tested and verified Unix operating system software and utilities for functionality, stability, reliability and conformance to company internal design specifications and industry standards including AT&T SVVS, X/Open and POSIX.  Tested for compatibility with third party application packages designed to operate with previous releases of Unix by Unisys and other vendors.

Which puts him at the right place, at the right time, to have good contextual (if not first-hand) knowledge of what he speaks regarding the Color UNIX PC.

Can any more be learned from reading the details of this entire thread, in context?  Perhaps.  You, the reader, decide, and let us know what you think....

OH, and for entertainment, let's not neglect to view the original CNCT.COM in it's full vintage glory...

*Note*:  It appears that some (not all) of the messages in this particular "SVR3.5 + source code" thread are archived out of original order by groups.google.com.  In some messages, quotes of things said appear above what appears to be the original message where they were said.  Looking at the time stamps, every message is time-stamped 2am, which indicates a possible loss of original timestamp somewhere in the archival process from the original platform(s).  This is only my speculation.

1 comment: