Tru64

Tru64 is Hewlett-Packard s (formerly Compaq; formerly Digital Equipment Corporation) 64-bit UNIX operating system for the DEC Alpha platform. It was previously known as Digital UNIX, and before that as OSF/1. DEC s prior Unix product was known as Ultrix.

It is unique among common commercial UNIX implementations in being built on the Mach kernel often associated with NeXT, and now Mac OS X. It is sometimes criticized for POSIX compatibility holes.

Beginning with OSF/1, this version of UNIX booted from the System Reference Manual boot firmware on DEC Alpha-based computer systems.

=OSF/1=

In 1988, during the so-called Unix wars , DEC joined with International Business Machines, Hewlett-Packard and others formed the Open Software Foundation (OSF) to develop a version of Unix to compete with AT&T and Sun Microsystems. OSF/1 was one of the first operating systems to use the Mach kernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University, and is probably best known as the root of what was to have been the third major branch of the Unix family tree, after System V and Berkeley Software Distribution.

DEC s original release of OSF/1 was in 1991 for their line of MIPS workstations; it was never really a fully supported product and it was cancelled before the end of 1992. DEC moved OSF/1 to their new line of Alpha workstations, and this was the original version (V1.2) of what is most commonly known as OSF/1.

HP also worked on a product based on OSF/1 designed for early versions of their PA-RISC workstations, but this project never really got off the ground due to the complex nature of the hardware. Apple Computer was rumored to be working on an OSF/1 version of A/UX for their PowerPC architecture, but the project never made it out of the rumor stage.

In 1994, after the Unix wars had splintered the Unix market, the Open Software Foundation ceased funding of research and development of OSF/1.

=Digital UNIX=

After the OSF gave up on OSF/1, DEC renamed it Digital UNIX and made it the main operating system for the company s DEC Alpha processors. It was 64-bit and retained the basis on the Mach kernel but with components from Berkeley Software Distribution, System V and other sources.

=Tru64=

After Compaq s purchase of DEC in early 1998, Digital UNIX was renamed to Tru64 to emphasise its 64-bit-clean nature.

=Future plans=

With HP s purchase of Compaq in 2002, HP announced the intention to migrate many of Tru64 s more unique features (including its file system) to HP-UX, HP s proprietary Unix. As of December 2004, however, HP appears to have cancelled this project, instead choosing to use the Veritas file system and abandon the rest of the Tru64 advanced features. In the process, many of the remaining Tru64 developers have been layoff (made redundant).

As of 2005 HP intends to continue selling the product through 2006 (coincident with the final shipping dates of AlphaServer hardware), with continued support up to 2011.

=External links=

*[http://h30097.www3.hp.com/ Tru64 UNIX] - HP s official Tru64 site *[http://www.tru64.org/ Tru64.org] - Industry news, events, links, etc. related to HP s Tru64 UNIX operating system running on [http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/ AlphaServers]. *[http://www.unixguide.net/compaq/faq/ Tru64 FAQ] from [http://www.unixguide.net/ UNIXguide.net] *[http://www.tru64.org/faq/tru64_faq.php3 Tru64 UNIX FAQ] from [http://www.tru64.org/ Tru64.org] *[news://comp.unix.tru64 comp.unix.tru64] - Newsgroup on running, owning and administering Tru64 UNIX (web-accessible via [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.unix.tru64 Google Groups]) *[news://comp.unix.osf.osf1 comp.unix.osf.osf1] - Newsgroup on running, owning and administering OSF/1 (web-accessible via [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.unix.osf.osf1 Google Groups])