SunOS
| SunOS | |
| Type: | Multi-tasking, multi-user UNIX |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Sun Microsystems |
| Architecture: | Sun-1, Sun-2, Sun-3, Sun-4 (SPARC) |
| This Version: | SunOS 4.1.4 (1994) |
| Date Released: | 1982/1983 |
Introduction
SunOS is, in a sense, the predecessor to Solaris, Sun's current operating system, and was the first Unix system used by many. Unlike Solaris, which is based primarily upon System V, SunOS is based extensively on BSD, and by the 4.x releases, being based heavily on 4.3 BSD. For this reason, SunOS 4.x maintained some extremely loyal users into the 21st century, long after Sun had moved their entire base to Solaris. Sun finally discontinued support for SunOS in 2003.
History
| SunOS version | Release date | Code base | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun UNIX 0.7 | 1982 | UniSoft UNIX v7 | Bundled with 68000-based Sun-1 system |
| SunOS 1.0 | 1983 | 4.1BSD | Support for 68010-based Sun-1 and Sun-2 systems |
| SunOS 1.1 | Apr 1984 | ||
| SunOS 1.2 | Jan 1985 | Support for Sun 2/50 | |
| SunOS 1.3 | Support for Sun 2/160 | ||
| SunOS 1.4 | Mar 1985 | ||
| SunOS 2.0 | May 1985 | 4.2BSD | Introduced VFS layer and the NFS protocol |
| SunOS 3.0 | Feb 1986 | 4.2BSD + System V IPC | coincided with release of 68020-based Sun-3 series. Optional System V tape offered utilities and development libraries. |
| SunOS 3.2 | Sep 1986 | Same as 3.0, plus some 4.3BSD | First support for Sun-4 series |
| SunOS 3.4 | May 1987 | Support for Sun 3/60 | |
| SunOS 3.5 | Jan 1988 | ||
| SunOS 4.0 | Dec 1988 | 4.3BSD with System V IPC | New virtual memory system, dynamic linking, automounter, System V STREAMS I/O. Sun386i support. |
| SunOS 4.0.1 | 1988 | ||
| SunOS 4.0.2 | Sep 1989 | Sun386i only | |
| SunOS 4.0.3 | May 1989 | Support for Sun 3/80, 3/470, 3/480 (sun3x) | |
| SunOS 4.0.3c | Jun 1989 | SPARCstation 1 (Sun-4c) only | |
| SunOS 4.1 | Mar 1990 | Support for Sun-2 systems dropped | |
| SunOS 4.1e | Apr 1991 | Sun-4e only | |
| SunOS 4.1.1 | Mar 1990 | Bundled with OpenWindows 2.0 | |
| SunOS 4.1.1B | Feb 1991 | ||
| SunOS 4.1.1.1 | Jul 1991 | ||
| SunOS 4.1.1_U1 | Nov 1991 | Sun-3/3x only | |
| SunOS 4.1.2 | Dec 1991 | Support for multiprocessor (SPARCserver 600MP) systems; first CD-ROM-only release | |
| SunOS 4.1.3 | Aug 1992 | ||
| SunOS 4.1.3C | Nov 1993 | SPARCclassic/SPARCstation LX only | |
| SunOS 4.1.3_U1 | Dec 1993 | ||
| SunOS 4.1.3_U1B | Feb 1994 | Earliest release for which Y2K compliance patches were available | |
| SunOS 4.1.4 | Nov 1994 | Last release of SunOS 4 |
Availability
SunOS was apparently redistributable by users when it was released, as Sun was more interested in selling their hardware, with their software as a tack-on service. As Solaris is still freely available, it is presumable SunOS tape images are acceptable for redistribution. They can be run on The Machine Emulator, apparently.
- SunOS 2.x to 4.x for Sun-2 - https://web.archive.org/web/20060709183240/http://www.soupwizard.com:80/sun2/sunos/
- SunOS 4.x for Sun-3 - http://www.sun3arc.org/
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