Comment by accrual
15 days ago
That's awesome! Any particular or interesting memories from your AIX development days you remember?
I've never worked with Microchannel in person (yet), but it's a pretty cool technology. Kind of like a pre-PCI interface.
The C compiler was written in Pascal - I thought that was funny. The DOS compatibility window in AIX PS/2 1.1 ran in 386 mode whereas Microsoft Windows only required a 286, so you actually had better DOS compatibility in AIX than Windows back then. When I first got hired I had to fly with a PS/2 Mod 80 between JFK to SFO multiple times, and the machine case was so metal we didn't even pack it in anything, just checked it as is as baggage, got through without a scratch on it. Years later when IBM was offering surplus computers for super cheap and a friend asked me if it was ok to buy a PS/2 Mod 80 I told him it was ok on one condition, that at the same time he bought a tube of Krazy Glue and glued the cover on permanently so that he'd never be tempted to buy upgrades for it and if it ever broke he'd throw it out and not try to buy spare parts.