A/UX

A/UX (from Apple Unix) is Apple Computer s implementation of the Unix operating system for some of their Apple Macintosh computers. The latest versions of A/UX run on the Macintosh II, Macintosh Quadra and Macintosh Centris series of machines. A/UX was first released in 1988, with the final version (3.1.1) released in 1995. A/UX requires a 68k Mac with an Floating point unit and a paged memory management unit (PMMU).

The operating system is based on UNIX System V 2.2, with some additional features from SysV 3 and 4, and Berkeley Software Distribution 4.2 and 4.3. It is POSIX and System V Interface Definition (SVID) compliant, though conforms to versions of the standards which are no longer state of the art. It included TCP/IP networking from version 2 onward. There were rumors of a later version using OSF/1 as its primary code base, but this system was never released to the public, if it ever existed.

A/UX 3.x provided a graphical user interface with the familiar Macintosh Finder windows, menus, and controls. The A/UX Finder is not the same program as the System 7 (Macintosh) Finder, but a customized version adapted to run as a Unix Process (computing) and designed to interact with the Unix Kernel (computer science) and file systems. A/UX 3.x also included a CommandShell terminal program, which offered a command line interface to the underlying Unix system, a feature which was never available on Macintosh computers running the classic Mac OS Finder. An X Window System server application (called MacX) with a terminal program could also be used to interface with the system and run X Window applications directly in the Finder. Alternatively, the user could choose to run a full X11R4 session without the Finder.

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A/UX included a utility called Commando (similar to a tool of the same name included with Macintosh Programmer s Workshop) to assist users with entering Unix commands. Opening a Unix executable file from the Finder would open a dialog box that allowed the user to choose Command line interface options for the program using standard controls such as radio buttons and check boxes, and display the resulting command line Parameter (computer science) for the user before executing the command or program. This feature was intended to ease the Experience curve effects for users new to Unix, and decrease the user s reliance on the Unix manual.

Unfortunately for Apple and for A/UX users, the Unix niche was a costly business in the early 1990s. Apple never ported A/UX to PowerPC Macintoshes (though an OSF/1 adaptation was rumored to have been A/UX 4.0), and the company all but abandoned it by 1996, preferring to use a slightly modified version of IBM s AIX operating system system on some of their mid-90s server systems. After Steve Jobs returned to Apple, another Unix-like operating system was produced in the form of Mac OS X, but it had very little in common with A/UX, instead being based on NeXTSTEP.

A/UX users had one central source for most A/UX applications, a server at NASA called Jagubox. Although Jagubox is down, some Mirror (computing) are still maintained. Aside from a few isolated servers still running it, A/UX is essentially extinct, and is considered to be abandonware.

=External links=

*[http://www.aux-penelope.com/ A/UX Penelope] – Some screenshots and a tutorial on A/UX installation and security *[http://web.archive.org/web/20031004074741/http%3A//www.applefritter.com/ui/aux/ The Unix for the rest of us] – Screenshots and a general overview of the major features.