Apple A/UX (Apple's old Unix Software)

As for minimum hardware, Apple says the with the minimum install you should be able to run it on a SE/30 (68030/16MHz, 68882) with 8/80 (you would be missing alot of stuff though). I'm running it on a Quadra 700 (68040/25MHz) with 24/500. I would personally put the lower end at and 68030 with FPU or 68040 with at least 16/200. It should work great on all of the Centris 650, Quadra 610 and 650 systems as long as you have the Enabler for those systems that works with System 7 (I think you can still download those from Apple because you can still download System 7.0.1). As for the 660 and 840 series systems... I don't know. Those were very special systems that put them beyond the other Quadras and almost in the same league as the first generation Power Macs. I would guess that because 3.0.1 supports the Quadra 800, that it would also work with the 660 and 840 systems. But again, I really don't know for sure.

As for the LC III systems, they didn't have the 68882 FPU. The Mac IIsi had a card that you could get to add one, but I don't remember if the same was true for the LC systems.

(Note: the Centris 610 has a 68LC040 and would need to have it replaced with the 68040, which is what the Quadra 610 came with, in order to run A/UX).
 
After finding a great FAQ about this OS online, I discovered that none of the AV models are supported, so both my Centris and Quadra 660 will be useless for this, as will my LCIII. And the only other Macs I have are all Power Macs. I can't believe I have this many Macs and not a one that will freaking run this OS ... but oh well, I have it on disk for the collection at least :) And I can't believe I missed refurb madness' free 68K sale...
 
If you can find some roms of a system that will run this OS, fire up a mac emulator such as Bassilik 2 and then install A/UX through this emulation. I believe their is a Bassilik 2 version for Unix so you can probablly recompile it to run A/UX is OS X.
 
I took the 68040 out of my dad's Centris 660av when we upgraded it to a 100mhz chip.

The 68040 from the centris worked flawlessly in a Pareforma 636cd. It ran at 33mhz, and the FPU was noticed in system 8.1 (system profiler).

Now, I have both computers and a PowerMac 660AV. I'd love to put something extremely rare on them all... like next or a/ux. Any ideas?
 
Originally posted by theCaptain
If you can find some roms of a system that will run this OS, fire up a mac emulator such as Bassilik 2 and then install A/UX through this emulation. I believe their is a Bassilik 2 version for Unix so you can probablly recompile it to run A/UX is OS X.

Excellent idea. One can install Basilisk II with Fink, so I might just give this a try...
 
Tried it....used a Mac ROM I found online of a Quadra 650. Didn't work. I'm gonna try getting the ROM from my actual Quadra 650 and see if that works.

Of course, it will be installed on my Quadra 650. :) I just need to back everything up.
 
Ok, here's the rundown.

I installed it by first booting off of the floppy and then having the system access the installer on the CD-ROM drive. I selected the Easy Install and went ahead and loaded everything.

After being asked to reboot, the system acted a bit funky in that it booted, but then gave a message that the system had fixed all the inconsistencies and needed to reboot again with the fixed kernel. OK, then...I went ahead and rebooted again only to be greeted by the System 7 message saying that my system was too new and that System 7 wouldn't run on that system (Quadra 650).

After rebooting a few times, the geek in me decided to hit the programmer's button on the box and hit "G" to continue. Startup continued successfully and I was greeted with a desktop. I launched CommandShell and played a bit with my Linux expertise, but didn't get too far. Networking was a bust since I couldn't edit the Network Control Panel settings (I found out from AppleFritter.com that it's set to Read Only and that you have to change it with the "route" command). I tried to see about enabling "ae0," but it was nowhere to be found in the /dev directory. Weird thing is that I could see my AppleTalk share from the Win2K box I have up, but when I tried to access is it would crash the system. :mad:

After a bit, I got bored and decided this was a fun blast-to-the-past, but it was time to try something else....like NetBSD/68k. Still working on getting that installed...:rolleyes:

AU/X was interesting to see, but not too functional for me at the time (I know I probably could have REALLY done a better job at getting it useful, but it's kind of hard when your 2-year-old wants to play with you....and he will always be my main priority... :D ) Maybe another time in the future...
 
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