4.3 BSD

4.3 BSD
Logging into a 4.3 BSD system
Type:	Multitasking, multiuser
Creator:	CSRG, University of California, Berkeley
Architecture:	VAX, Tahoe theoretically portable
This Version:	4.3BSD-Reno (1990) 4.3BSD-Quasijarus0c (2004)
Date Released:	1986

4.3 BSD follows 4.2 BSD, with TCP/IP networking, an improved filesystem, in -Tahoe, partial cross-platform capability, and in -Reno, a significant move toward POSIX compliance. This is a favourite with hobbyists, as being open source there are no licencing concerns and the tape data is freely available online, and it runs very well in SIMH. 4.3 BSD is also quoted as being the The Greatest Software Ever Written.

``The single Greatest Piece of Software Ever, with the broadest impact on the world, was BSD 4.3. Other Unixes were bigger commercial successes. But as the cumulative accomplishment of the BSD systems, 4.3 represented an unmatched peak of innovation. BSD 4.3 represents the single biggest theoretical undergirder of the Internet. Moreover, the passion that surrounds Linux and open source code is a direct offshoot of the ideas that created BSD: a love for the power of computing and a belief that it should be a freely available extension of man's intellectual powers--a force that changes his place in the universe.``

4.3 BSD

The first version of 4.3 BSD incorporates many performance fixes related to the release of 4.2 BSD. Many people have listed this piece of software as the single most important piece of software ever. Without doubt, it's responsible for influencing almost all operating systems that ever connected to the intenet, and it's TCP/IP stack was used for coutless other OS's. While not as feature rich as the other 4.3's it is known for being faster then 4.2 . However this version does *NOT* support the MicroVAX II that SIMH emulates, but rather the VAX-11/780.

4.3 BSD-Tahoe

Tahoe follows up on 4.3 BSD in 1988 with plans to ditch the aging (ironically it would be around for 12 more years...) VAX platform with machine independence and a port to the "Tahoe" Power 6/32 platform. No one has any idea what this Tahoe computer is, as it completely disappeared off the face of the planet shortly after.

The original announcement is here http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.tahoe/browse_thread/thread/e7431a9ef74cd7eb#

Announcement

Newsgroups: comp.sys.tahoe
From: bos...@OKEEFFE.BERKELEY.EDU (Keith Bostic)
Date: 15 Jun 88 23:56:31 GMT
Local: Wed, Jun 15 1988 6:56 pm 
Subject: 4.3BSD-tahoe release
Reply to author | Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author 
We are happy to announce the availability of the release of 
4.3BSD for the tahoe processors.  Attached is a brief summary 
of the information mailed to all 4.2 and 4.3BSD licensees. 
This mailing contains all necessary ordering information; 
if you have not received it by July 5th, please contact our 
distribution office at +1-415-642-7780. 

Mike Karels 
Kirk McKusick 
Keith Bostic 


======================== 
     We are happy to send you  information  about  our  June 
1988  revision of the Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution, 
hereafter referred to as the ``4.3BSD tahoe''  distribution. 
The purpose of this release is to provide 4.3BSD support for 
the ``tahoe'' processor and to  get  feedback  on  some  new 
features  and facilities that we expect to include in future 
Berkeley releases.  This  distribution  is  not  a  standard 
Berkeley  release;  it  is  an  interim release intended for 
testing and evaluation rather than production use  by  naive 
users.  The distribution is available to users with licenses 
for the April 1986 4.3BSD release for the VAX. 


What is the 4.3BSD Tahoe Release? 


     The distribution consists of one 6250 BPI or three 1600 
BPI magnetic tapes, certain updated manual pages, and a copy 
of ``Installing and Operating 4.3BSD  on  the  Tahoe.''  The 
magnetic  tape(s) contain copies of source code and documen- 
tation for both the VAX and the tahoe, and binaries for  the 
tahoe.   On  the three-tape 1600 BPI set, parts of the user- 
contributed software are shipped as compressed  archives  to 
save space. 


     The primary purpose of this release is to provide  sup- 
port  for  the ``tahoe'' processor, the CPU used by Computer 
Consoles, Inc. (CCI Power 6/32, 6/32SX), and high end  lines 
of Harris (HCX-7 and HCX-9), Unisys (7000/40), and ICL (Clan 
7).  Support for this processor is derived from  the  4.2BSD 
system  done by CCI.  Support for new DEC equipment has also 
been added, including support for the 8250 BI-based CPU  and 
the KDB-50 BI disk controller from Chris Torek, and the QVSS 
and QDSS display drivers for the MicroVAX II, contributed by 
Digital Equipment Corporation.  We expect to provide support 
for  both  the  VAX  and  the  tahoe  processors  in  future 
releases. 


The  major  new  software  systems  include  the   following 
features: 


+    The TCP and IP code is the same as that  recently  made 
     available  via  the  ARPANET  and  Usenet.  Several new 
     algorithms  are  used  in  TCP,   in   particular   Van 
     Jacobson's slow start and dynamic window size selection 
     algorithms and Phil Karn's modification to  the  round- 
     trip   timing   algorithm.    These   changes  increase 
     throughput and reduce  congestion  and  retransmission. 
     Several  fixes  were made in the handling of IP options 
     and other gateway support. 


+    The file system has been generalized to remove the lim- 
     its on the maximum number of inodes per cylinder group, 
     cylinders  per  cylinder  group,  and  number  of  dis- 
     tinguished  rotational  positions.  The kernel and file 
     system utilities operate normally on both new  and  old 
     format  file  systems;  old  kernels treat the new file 
     systems as read-only.  This change allows better utili- 
     zation  of  newer  disks with larger numbers of sectors 
     per cylinder. 


+    The system has full support for disk labels  that  con- 
     tain  disk geometry information and partition layout on 
     each disk.  Labels are used on disks using  the  hp  or 
     uda  drivers  on  the VAX (hp or ra disks) and all sup- 
     ported disks on the tahoe.  The  utility  to  read  and 
     write  disk  labels can be used with the system running 
     multiuser; the labels are used and updated as appropri- 
     ate by newfs, bad144, the kernel and the bootstrap pro- 
     grams.  Basic file system parameters are stored in  the 
     label  so  that  fsck can locate alternate superblocks. 
     The filesystem and  newfs  use  additional  information 
     about  the disk geometry that is now available, such as 
     track-to-track skew. 


+    A new general-purpose dynamic memory allocator has been 
     written  that can be used by all the kernel subsystems. 
     The design of this allocator takes advantage  of  known 
     memory  usage  patterns  in  the  UNIX  kernel, using a 
     hybrid strategy that is time-efficient for small  allo- 
     cations  and  space-efficient  for  large  allocations. 
     This allocator replaces most  of  the  previous  memory 
     allocation  interfaces  with  a  single easy-to-program 
     interface, results in  more  efficient  use  of  global 
     memory   by  eliminating  partitioned  and  specialized 
     memory pools, and is quick enough that  no  performance 
     loss  is  observed relative to the previous implementa- 
     tions.  Most of the kernel  memory  allocation  is  now 
     done using this allocator. 


+    The source code has been reorganized to ease support of 
     multiple machine types. 


+    The Olson/Harris/Elz timezone implementation  has  been 
     added to the system. 


+    Numerous bug fixes  and  enhancements  have  been  made 
     throughout  the  system,  including new versions of the 
     nameserver  named  and  the  routing   daemon   routed. 
     Several years' backlog of bug fixes have been applied. 


+    We have started a process of identifying  the  code  in 
     the  4.3BSD  distribution that is not derived from AT&T 
     code.  The copyrights in this code have been changed to 
     indicate that it may be freely distributed if the copy- 
     right notice is retained and that due  credit  for  its 
     origin  is  given  to  The Regents of the University of 
     California.  Over 1000 files have  been  identified  in 
     this distribution.

4.3 BSD-Reno

Following up in 1990 comes -Reno, with a significant thrust toward POSIX compliance, (with an associated increase in code size).

4.3 BSD-Quasijarus

http://ifctfvax.harhan.org/Quasijarus/ "Quasijarus is a project of the International Free Computing Task Force (IFCTF) led by Michael Sokolov to indefinitely continue the maintenance, support, and further development of the classic line of Berkeley UNIX on the classic VAX hardware."

A fork of 4.3 BSD-Tahoe to maintain it, for the VAX architecture. This is often the distribution that hobbyists will install on real or, especially, emulated VAXen.

How do I get this to run?!

The Unix Heritage Society's archives have copies of most 4-BSD variants http://minnie.tuhs.org/TUHS/ However, they're not immediately in ready-to-use-in-SIMH tape format. We should get a repository of SIMH-ready tape images up here.

4.2 & 4.3BSD Reno are in ready to run formats on sourceforge

The 4.3 RENO has built in networking so you have limited internet access (Using SLiRP)

SIMH Installation instructions

• Installation instructions for 4.3 BSD can be found here
• Installation instructions for 4.3 BSD TAHOE can be found here
• Installation instructions for 4.3 BSD RENO can be found here
• Installation instructions for 4.3 BSD Quasijarus 0c can be found here

What Runs?

4.3 BSD-Reno includes a large amount of POSIX which dramatically improves compatibility with many modern and older *nix packages. A lot of people don't like -Reno as its embracing of POSIX is rather treasonous to the BSD ideal. So what compiles on 4.3 BSD-Tahoe or its maintained version, -Quasijarus?

• gcc-2.8.1x see ftp://ifctfvax.harhan.org/pub/unix/apps/gcc
• perl 4! I haven't really tried hard enough to get perl 5 to compile, might work with gcc...
• pdksh - right out of the box! http://www.cs.mun.ca/~michael/pdksh/
• A lot of software from that era, including early versions of many GNU programs, (emacs-18!) and so on
• A copy of Zork is also included in the distribution.