UNIX First Edition

Unix v1
Logging into a Unix version 1 box
Type:	Multitasking, multiuser
Creator:	Western Electric, AT&T
Architecture:	PDP-7, PDP-11 theoretically portable
This Version:	SYSVr4 - Solais 10 (2009)
Date Released:	1972

UNIX's first edition has been restored by the work of Warren Toomey, Tim Newsham and others. The current project homepage is located here.

PDP-7 predecessor

The earlier first version was written in assembly language for a spare PDP-7 in Bell Labs. Originally what started out as a game (spacelander) eventually UNIX started to fill a need for typesetting on 'cheap' minicomputers.

The first version was primarly written in assembler.

Restoration project

On December 2008, the project made its first relase using scanned printouts as source material, a team was able to re-enter the source files, and using apout they were able to construct a system using various bits from later Unix versions into a booting system for SIMH's PDP-11 emulator.

How do I get this to run?!

There is a packaged version that will easily install on Windows machines that can be downloaded here

You can find all the pieces for this below:

The current binary build can be downloaded from the google code page here.

You need a version of SIMH 3.8-1 or higher, as they will incorporate certain changes required for v1 unix.

What Runs?

Not very much!

External links

• V1 - file tree at TUHS
• 1st Edition UNIX - documentation
  • UNIX Implementation Document - contains scans of a complete listing
  • kernel routine descriptions - handwritten!
  • Unix Programmer's Manual First Edition - overview
• UNIX Programmer's Manual - individual pages in HTML