[rescue] rescue Digest, Vol 68, Issue 12

[Andrew Jones]

> Yes, they were selling a SysV UNIX at that time. I can't remember if it
> was under their brand (Xenix?) or a different one. Wasn't the Tandy 
> one sold under Xenix?
>
> Geoff. 

XENIX was a Microsoft port of SysV to early PCs. At some point in the 
80s, it was transferred to SCO. I don't know what SCO's business was 
before XENIX, because XENIX (AKA SCO UNIX, AKA OpenServer) became their 
most important product. XENIX is notable in my mind for being one of the 
few operating systems to support 286 protected mode.
>
> Dell rolled their own, though they may have licensed drivers from 
> someone else. I remember reading a review of Dell UNIX in (I think) PC 
> Mag.
>
> At that time they had Glenn Henry working for them, a former IBM 
> Fellow who later went on to make x86-compatible chips at VIA (after 
> VIA bought Centaur Technology or whatever it was called). They also 
> had some other sharp folks too, who also left after Dell shut down the 
> UNIX operation.
>
> I think that part of Dell's antipathy towards Un*x in general, comes 
> from that early experience of them getting burned.
>
> --Patrick 

I never used Dell UNIX, but I remember reading that it had some kind of 
faux-PNP that allowed it to probe for ISA (or EISA?) devices and load 
drivers. Sounded pretty swanky for its era.