Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

SunOS

SunOS is a Unix operating system originally developed by for its workstations and servers, first released in 1983 as a BSD-based variant designed to support networked computing environments. It evolved through multiple versions, introducing key innovations such as the Network File System (NFS) for distributed and early graphical user interfaces, before transitioning to a System V Release 4 (SVR4) foundation in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, SunOS releases were rebranded under the name, with SunOS 5.x kernels powering Solaris 2.x and subsequent versions, marking a shift toward enterprise scalability and multi-architecture support. The development of SunOS began shortly after Sun Microsystems' founding in 1982, with the initial SunOS 1.0 drawing from UniSoft's V7 Unix and later incorporating elements of 4.2BSD to provide a robust platform for Sun's SPARC-based hardware. Early releases, such as SunOS 4.0 in 1988 and SunOS 4.1 in 1990, emphasized compatibility with Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) standards while adding proprietary extensions for high-performance networking and windowing systems like SunView and OpenWindows. These versions solidified SunOS as a leader in Unix workstations, supporting up to multiple processors and enabling widespread adoption in academic, research, and commercial settings by the late 1980s. A pivotal collaboration between and in 1988 led to the creation of SVR4, which influenced the redesign of SunOS starting with version 5.0 (marketed as 2.0) in 1992. This SVR4-based iteration merged BSD utilities with System V features, providing binary compatibility, enhanced security, and support for both and x86 architectures, as seen in the 1993 release of 2.1 (SunOS 5.1). Subsequent versions, including 2.6 (SunOS 5.6) in 1997, introduced advanced capabilities in performance, scalability, and manageability, paving the way for 's role as a high-availability enterprise OS. Although was acquired by in 2010, the legacy of SunOS endures in modern releases, which continue to emphasize reliability and virtualization features.

History

Origins and Early Development

Sun Microsystems was founded on February 24, 1982, in Mountain View, California, by Stanford University graduates Andreas Bechtolsheim, Vinod Khosla, and Scott McNealy, with Bill Joy joining shortly after as a key software architect. The company's inception stemmed from Bechtolsheim's earlier Stanford University Network (SUN) project, which aimed to create low-cost, high-performance workstations capable of networking. Motivated by the high cost of existing Unix-based systems, the founders sought to develop an affordable Unix variant bundled with hardware, targeting academic institutions and engineering professionals who needed powerful computing for research and development without prohibitive expenses. This approach emphasized using off-the-shelf components to keep prices around $10,000 per system, making Unix workstations accessible beyond elite research labs. The initial operating system, initially referred to as Sun UNIX 0.7 and based on UniSoft's port of , was bundled with the debut workstation launched in May 1982, supporting the processor and focusing on basic networked computing without a . By late 1983, Sun released SunOS 1.0 publicly in November, transitioning to a base derived from 4.1BSD to enhance compatibility and performance for multi-user environments. This version supported the upgraded processor in and early Sun-2 systems, providing a complete Unix distribution integrated with hardware for seamless deployment in academic and engineering settings. A hallmark of SunOS 1.0 was the introduction of the Sun Window System, a windowing system designed for bitmapped displays on Sun workstations, enabling graphical applications and multiple overlapping windows before the adoption of the open X11 standard. This innovation addressed the need for intuitive interfaces in technical computing, allowing users to manage complex simulations and data visualizations efficiently on affordable hardware.

Version History

SunOS 2.0, released in May 1985 and based on 4.2BSD, introduced the (VFS) layer for pluggable filesystem implementations, the Network File System (NFS) protocol for client and server capabilities, and the TCP/IP networking stack, establishing foundational support for distributed and networked computing environments. It supported and Sun-2 systems. SunOS 3.0, released in February 1986, was based on 4.2BSD with integrations from System V IPC facilities. It provided initial support for the Sun-3 series workstations, which utilized processors, marking a shift toward more powerful hardware architectures. SunOS 4.0, released in April 1988, incorporated the 4.3BSD Tahoe release, bringing advanced management and filesystem improvements. This release enhanced the VFS layer and NFS capabilities, introduced dynamic linking for shared libraries, and expanded platform support to include the architecture with the series workstations, transitioning from the 680x0 family to Sun's new reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors. Additionally, it added support for the Sun386i systems based on x86 architecture. SunOS 4.1, released in early 1990, built upon the Tahoe foundation with elements from the 4.3BSD Reno release, enhancing networking through NFS version 2 and the automounter utility for dynamic filesystem mounting. It maintained compatibility with Sun-3 (680x0) and (SPARC) platforms while introducing support for additional peripherals and improved internationalization features, dropping support for Sun-2 systems and x86 via Sun386i (which ended after 4.0.x). Subsequent updates refined stability and performance: SunOS 4.1.1 in July 1991 addressed bug fixes and hardware compatibility; SunOS 4.1.2 in December 1991 added multiprocessor support for systems like the SPARCserver 600MP, enabling on hardware. Further enhancements came in SunOS 4.1.3, released in August 1992, which provided additional improvements to dynamic linking capabilities for shared libraries, allowing more efficient loading of runtime components and better support for third-party software. The 4.1.3_U1 update in December 1993 provided additional stability patches, including early compliance measures. SunOS 4.1.3C, released in November 1993, offered specific support for systems like the SPARCclassic and LX. SunOS 4.1.4, released in November 1994, served as the final major release in the series, incorporating further compliance patches to address date-handling issues in legacy applications and system utilities. This version continued support for and select 680x0 systems. The platform evolution across these releases reflected ' hardware advancements: starting with 680x0-based Sun-3 systems in 3.0, expanding to in 4.0 for superior performance in scientific and engineering workloads, and briefly including x86 via Sun386i in early 4.x versions before focusing on proprietary architectures. Official support for SunOS ended with the 4.1.4 release in 1994, though maintenance patches were provided until September 30, 2003, after which no further updates were issued.

Technical Overview

System Architecture

SunOS versions 1.0 through 4.1.4 featured a architecture derived from 4.xBSD, integrating essential services including process scheduling, device drivers, and system calls into a single protected for efficient low-level operation. This design emphasized performance on workstation hardware while inheriting BSD's emphasis on modularity within the kernel through loadable modules for certain drivers, though core components remained non-separable. The kernel's structure supported dynamic allocation of data structures to minimize , with configuration options allowing customization via tools like config(8) for architecture-specific builds. Virtual memory management in SunOS combined paging with segmentation to provide a flexible exceeding physical limits. Paging served as the core mechanism, dividing into fixed-size pages (typically 4 KB) managed through page tables and a global replacement policy that treated physical as a for backing objects like files or anonymous mappings. Segmentation complemented this by logically partitioning the user into regions—text (read-only ), (initialized and uninitialized), and —each backed by pageable segments for efficient sharing and protection. Introduced in the SunOS 4.0 rewrite, this system supported demand paging, for process creation, and unified handling of file-mapped , enabling features like memory-mapped files without duplicating structures across file systems. The default file system was the Berkeley Fast File System (FFS), a performance-optimized variant of the (UFS) that addressed limitations in the original design through larger block sizes (up to 8 KB), cylinder groups for locality-aware allocation, and fragmentation support to reduce wasted space. FFS improved throughput by minimizing seek times and enabling faster metadata operations, serving as the primary storage layer for SunOS volumes formatted with newfs(8). Compatibility with UFS ensured with other Unix variants, while enhancements in SunOS 4.1 included a revised on-disk format for better on larger disks. Process management adhered to Unix standards, with each process represented by a proc structure tracking state, signals, and resources, using signals for asynchronous notification and synchronization. SunOS extended this with resource limits via setrlimit(2), including controls on file descriptors (soft limit 64, hard 256) and . A major advancement in SunOS 4.1.2 was (SMP) support, enabling parallel execution across multiple CPUs on systems, with locks protecting shared data structures to maintain consistency while scaling performance for compute-intensive workloads. SunOS kernels were ported to diverse hardware platforms, starting with the 680x0 family (68010 to 68030) on Sun-1 through Sun-3 series, which used sun3/sun3x kernel architectures optimized for 16/32-bit addressing and / I/O. Support extended to the 80386 via the Sun386i platform, leveraging x86 for 32-bit operations, and shifted to the RISC architecture from Sun-4 onward, with sun4/sun4c kernels exploiting register windows and cache hierarchies for higher instruction throughput (e.g., 12.5 on early SPARC at 20 MHz). Architecture-specific adaptations included distinct bootloaders and device probes, ensuring binary compatibility within families while requiring recompilation for cross-architecture portability. Interprocess communication relied on BSD-inherited primitives: for unidirectional byte streams between related processes via pipe(2), and sockets for bidirectional, domain-specific channels supporting local Unix-domain or network protocols like TCP/IP. SunOS augmented these with early modules, a layered I/O framework ported from System V Release 3, allowing modular stacking of processing elements (e.g., drivers, filters) on character devices for extensible data transformation, such as in handling or network protocols. preserved compatibility with legacy character I/O while enabling push/pop of modules at runtime for customized pipelines. The (VFS) abstraction layer, introduced in SunOS 4.0, decoupled file operations from specific implementations by interposing a generic interface over concrete file systems. VFS employed vnodes—generic file descriptors encapsulating operations like read/write/open—as the core abstraction, representing files, directories, or special devices uniformly regardless of backing store (e.g., disk or network). This pluggable design allowed seamless integration of multiple file systems: mounting a new type via attached its vnode operations to the , enabling transparent access to UFS volumes alongside remote ones without recompilation or user-space awareness of underlying differences. By standardizing calls like vnop_lookup and vnop_read, VFS facilitated extensibility and performance through caching at the vnode level.

Core Features and Innovations

SunOS extended the capabilities of standard Unix through a series of innovations focused on and efficient , particularly from versions 1.0 to 4.1.4. These features emphasized seamless networking and administrative simplicity, enabling Sun workstations to operate effectively in multi-machine environments. The Network File System (NFS), developed by in 1984 and integrated into SunOS 2.0, represented a groundbreaking advancement in distributed file . NFS enabled clients to and remote filesystems transparently, as if they were local, using a client-server model built on for performance. Its stateless design ensured that servers did not maintain session state, allowing robust recovery from crashes without data loss or reconnection protocols. A dedicated mount protocol, implemented via RPC calls, handled filesystem attachment by returning opaque file handles after verifying permissions, supporting cross-domain exports. The NFS version 2 specification, outlined in Sun's 1985 technical report and later standardized in RFC 1094, established a benchmark for interoperable distributed storage, influencing protocols like and CIFS. Complementing NFS, Sun introduced (RPC) and (XDR) in SunOS 2.0 to support platform-independent communication. RPC offered a familiar procedure-call abstraction for invoking remote services, abstracting network details through client and server stubs that handled marshalling and transmission. XDR provided a format for serializing data structures, ensuring byte-order and type neutrality across heterogeneous systems. These components, specified in Sun's technical reports, formed the basis of the Open Network Computing (ONC) suite and were essential for NFS operations, enabling scalable distributed applications without . Yellow Pages (YP), later renamed (NIS) due to trademark issues, debuted in SunOS 2.0 as a distributed for managing users, hosts, and network resources. It centralized administrative data—such as passwd and hosts files—across domains using a master-slave replication model over RPC, allowing updates on one server to propagate automatically. This service simplified and naming in large deployments, reducing manual efforts while supporting read-mostly scalability through flat-map databases. In SunOS 4.0, the automounter enhanced NFS usability by dynamically mounting volumes on access demand, avoiding static /etc/ entries that could lead to failures or idle mounts. Configured via map files (local or NIS-distributed), it triggered mounts under a unified like /home, unmounting after inactivity to conserve resources and improve by limiting exposure. This on-demand approach, detailed in a 1989 Winter Conference paper, optimized and reduced administrative overhead in environments with replicated or indirect filesystems. Dynamic linking, implemented through shared libraries and the runtime linker ld.so in SunOS 4.0, addressed memory inefficiencies in multi-process environments. By loading common code (e.g., libc) once into segments, it reduced duplication across applications, cutting footprint by up to 50% in typical workloads while enabling post-deployment updates without relinking executables. The design used ELF-like object formats with relocation tables resolved at load time, supporting for flexibility. This feature, pioneered in a 1987 paper, influenced SVR4 and modern systems' library management. Additional system management tools in SunOS included the Resource Manager for enforcing disk quotas, preventing user overconsumption via per-filesystem limits tracked in structures, and integrated crash dump analysis utilities like savecore, which captured memory post-panic for with adb. These capabilities streamlined administration and diagnostics, enhancing reliability in production settings.

Relationship with Solaris

Branding and Naming Evolution

SunOS was originally branded as the Unix operating system developed by , debuting in 1983 alongside the company's inaugural workstation to provide a robust environment for and scientific on their hardware platforms. This naming tied the OS directly to Sun's workstation ecosystem, emphasizing its role in delivering affordable, high-performance Unix systems for academic and professional users. The brand was announced in 1991, as a marketing designation to signal a more unified and forward-looking product line amid the fragmenting Unix landscape known as the . However, the full launch of occurred in June 1992 with 2.0, which was internally designated as SunOS 5.0 and built on Release 4 (SVR4) standards to promote and reduce vendor-specific divergences. This shift was motivated by challenges in AT&T's Unix licensing model, which complicated proprietary enhancements, as well as the need to adopt SVR4 for broader industry alignment and to establish a distinct identity separate from the BSD-derived SunOS heritage. As part of the rebranding, Sun retroactively applied the Solaris 1.x nomenclature to the SunOS 4.1.x series, with releases like SunOS 4.1.1 (1990, with updates in 1991) equated to 1.0, while subsequent SunOS 5.x versions were exclusively marketed under 2.x and beyond. This nomenclature evolution allowed Sun to present a continuous product lineage while superseding the older BSD-based SunOS with the SVR4 foundation of 2.0, fostering greater portability across hardware and easing the transition for developers during the standardization efforts.

Technical Transition and Compatibility

The transition from the BSD-derived SunOS 4.x to the SVR4-based marked a significant architectural shift, beginning with the release of SunOS 5.0, also known as 2.0, in June 1992. This version integrated the Release 4 (SVR4) kernel, developed jointly by and , while preserving BSD compatibility through extensions in the /usr/ucb directory. These extensions allowed users to access familiar BSD commands and behaviors alongside the new SVR4 environment, facilitating a smoother migration for existing applications. Key differences between the systems included enhanced compliance in , achieved through dedicated library routines that mapped SunOS 4.x behaviors to SVR4 standards, as well as the introduction of extensions for prioritized scheduling and multithreading support via lightweight processes—features absent in the BSD-pure SunOS 4.x. In contrast, SunOS 4.x maintained a more traditional BSD model without these SVR4-specific capabilities, emphasizing and networking from 4.3BSD. The last release of the original SunOS 4.x line, version 4.1.4, occurred in 1994, after which Sun focused development exclusively on the lineage. To ensure , 2.x introduced the SunOS Binary Compatibility Package (BCP), consisting of the SUNWbcp and SUNWowbcp packages, which enabled unmodified SunOS 4.x binaries to execute on the new platform. This package emulated the SunOS 4.x runtime environment, including sun4c architecture support on systems, by mapping system calls, signals, ioctls, and pathnames (e.g., redirecting /usr/bin to /usr/ucb via symbolic links and adjustments). It supported dynamically linked executables from SunOS 4.x and statically linked ones starting with 2.3, though it required applications to be "well-behaved"—avoiding traps, writes to system files, or use of /dev/kmem, /dev/mem, or libkvm. The BCP was positioned as a temporary transition tool for end-user environments, not for ongoing development, with reduced performance and increased resource demands as trade-offs. Migration strategies involved a structured three-phase process: pre-installation backups of data and configurations, installation of software (potentially preserving SunOS 4.x file systems), and post-installation restoration with conversions. Tools such as format(8) and dkinfo(8) assisted in analyzing disk partitions and file systems, while manual or scripted merging converted SunOS-specific files like to Solaris's /etc/vfstab. Automated options included Custom for installations, and applications could be transferred via cp, tar, or mounting, with libraries placed in /usr/4lib. Both SunOS and initially targeted architectures for continuity, but expanded x86 support earlier, starting with version 2.1 in 1993, broadening its platform reach beyond SunOS 4.x's primary SPARC focus.

User Interfaces

Command-Line Environment

SunOS's command-line environment inherits the core principles of Unix, offering a robust set of shells for interactive use and scripting, alongside a suite of utilities for file manipulation, system inquiry, and administration. The (sh) served as the default login shell in early SunOS versions, providing basic command interpretation, scripting, and environment control through its POSIX-compliant syntax. The (csh), derived from BSD influences in SunOS 4.0 onward, introduced features like command history, aliases, and job control, making it popular for interactive sessions. With the release of SunOS 4.1, the Korn shell (ksh) was made available, enhancing scripting with advanced constructs such as functions, arrays, and built-in commands while maintaining with Bourne shell scripts. Key utilities in SunOS encompassed standard Unix tools like the vi editor for modal text editing and for pattern matching in files, ensuring efficient text processing and search operations. Sun-specific extensions included the utility for , labeling, and defect management on and SMD drives, and the command for displaying the effective username corresponding to the current user ID. These tools emphasized SunOS's focus on hardware integration and user convenience in a networked environment. Scripting capabilities were bolstered by standard Unix tools such as for pattern scanning and data transformation, and for stream editing and text substitution, both supporting regular expressions for automated processing. Perl support emerged around SunOS 4.0 through third-party ports, enabling more sophisticated text manipulation and report generation as a practical successor to and . Environment variables facilitated integration with services, including settings like NIS_DOMAIN for specifying the Network Information Service domain and NFS-related variables such as for mount paths, allowing seamless of distributed and name . System administration from the command line relied on tools like the Admintool interface for configuring local users, printers, and network databases, alongside the daemon for scheduling recurring tasks via crontab entries. SunOS's adoption of the system—later standardized as —introduced commands like ypcat for retrieving and displaying contents of distributed maps, such as user passwords or hosts, enabling centralized querying across networked workstations.

Graphical User Interfaces

The graphical user interfaces for SunOS began with proprietary systems tailored to Sun Microsystems' workstations and evolved toward open standards to support broader interoperability. Early versions relied on bitmap graphics for local display, while later developments incorporated network-aware and PostScript rendering capabilities before aligning with the X Window System protocol for remote access and application portability. The Sun Window System served as the initial graphical environment for SunOS 1.0 through 3.x, released starting in November 1983. This proprietary, bitmap-based windowing system provided a foundation for visual interactions on Sun workstations, enabling multiple overlapping windows and basic input handling through a server process managing display output and events. Developers used the accompanying SunView toolkit to create applications, which offered high-level abstractions for building user interfaces with panels, text editors, and icons, emphasizing simplicity for engineering and scientific workflows. SunView's event-driven model and notifier mechanism facilitated responsive programs, though it remained tightly coupled to Sun's hardware like the Sun-1 and Sun-2 series. With the release of SunOS 4.0 in December 1988, Sun introduced the Network-extensible Window System () as an advanced alternative, leveraging for and rendering. NeWS extended PostScript into a full windowing server, allowing programmable display elements, multithreading for event handling, and network extensibility for distributed applications—innovations aimed at high-fidelity imaging in collaborative environments. Despite its technical merits, including object-oriented extensions for toolkit development, NeWS proved short-lived due to compatibility challenges and the industry's shift toward the . SunOS marked a pivotal transition to standards-based GUIs in 1989 with , an X11R4-compliant environment that supported remote display over the X protocol for networked workstations. Integrated into SunOS 4.1 by March 1990, adopted the , featuring a minimalist design with visuals, property sheets for , and snap-to-grid window management to enhance . The DeskSet suite provided core productivity tools, including a , clock, , and console, all unified under OPEN LOOK for consistent interactions like drag-and-drop selections and menu-driven operations. For application development, the OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT), built on X Toolkit Intrinsics (Xt), enabled creation of widgets such as buttons, scrollbars, and dialogs, promoting modular code with callbacks for events and resource management. This shift not only preserved with SunView and applications but also positioned SunOS for wider adoption in heterogeneous Unix ecosystems.

Legacy and Impact

Deployment and Adoption

SunOS found primary adoption among academic institutions, engineering firms, and early pioneers, facilitated by ' bundled hardware-software model that delivered affordable, integrated Unix-based workstations optimized for networked environments. This approach emphasized tight coupling of SunOS with proprietary , enabling seamless deployment in settings where reliability and were paramount. In the Unix workstation market, SunOS-powered systems dominated during the 1980s and 1990s, with SPARC architectures running SunOS 4.x capturing a leading position; by 1995, Sun held 40% of shipped units (307,000) and 34.9% of market revenue ($4.7 billion) in the traditional segment. The operating system's innovations, such as the Network File System (NFS), further accelerated adoption by supporting distributed file sharing critical to early internet infrastructure. Notable deployments included , where Sun workstations running SunOS supported CAD applications like for during the 1980s and 1990s. In Hollywood, utilized over 100 Sun SPARCstations with SunOS for rendering the groundbreaking in (1995), leveraging the system's price-performance advantages for compute-intensive tasks. The hardware ecosystem, particularly SPARCstations, drove widespread use in CAD/CAE workflows due to their native support for software on Unix platforms. By 1993, had shipped over 1 million systems running SunOS, underscoring its peak market penetration before the transition to led to declining SunOS-specific licenses in the mid-1990s.

Influence on Successors

SunOS's direct successor, —branded as SunOS versions 5.x and later—directly inherited key innovations such as the Network File System (NFS), early file system management concepts that foreshadowed , and native support for architecture. Developed initially by and later maintained by following its 2010 acquisition, integrated SunOS's BSD-derived networking stack with System V Release 4 (SVR4) foundations, ensuring while advancing for enterprise servers and workstations. continued active development and support for , with Solaris 11.4 receiving updates as recently as July 2025, though new hardware development effectively ceased in 2017, shifting focus to platforms. Beyond Solaris, SunOS exerted broad influence on Unix-like systems through its pioneering distributed computing protocols. The NFS protocol, first implemented in SunOS 2.0 in 1985, was standardized as RFC 1094 in 1989, enabling transparent file sharing across heterogeneous networks and becoming a cornerstone for implementations in Linux kernels and macOS. Similarly, SunOS's Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism, introduced in 1986, provided a language-neutral framework for distributed applications, directly inspiring the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) RPC used in Microsoft Windows and influencing Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) for cross-platform object communication. SunOS's open-source legacy further amplified its reach, particularly through its BSD underpinnings. Early SunOS releases, derived from 4.2BSD and 4.3BSD, contributed code and concepts to the broader BSD ecosystem, with elements of its networking and userland utilities integrated into modern derivatives like and , which trace their portability and modularity back to Sun's workstation adaptations. The SunOS Network Information Service (), originally branded as , served as a centralized directory for user and host management, evolving into the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol () standard, which supplanted NIS in enterprise environments for its enhanced security and scalability. Echoes of SunOS persist in contemporary operating systems via shared design paradigms. The automounter facility in SunOS, which dynamically mounted NFS shares to optimize resource use, inspired Linux's autofs kernel module, automating on-demand file system access in distributions like and . Additionally, SunOS's transition to the (ELF) for dynamic linking in standardized shared library management across Unix variants, supplanting older formats like a.out and enabling efficient runtime loading in and other systems. SunOS played a pivotal role in popularizing Unix workstations during the and , establishing a model for (HPC) environments that later facilitated 's dominance in the field. By bundling advanced like processors with robust Unix software, SunOS enabled scientific simulations and engineering workloads, creating market demand for affordable, scalable clusters that open-source distributions fulfilled in the 2000s through commodity . This legacy endures, as 11.4 remains viable for legacy deployments in 2025, underscoring SunOS's foundational contributions to modern OS resilience.

References

  1. [1]
    [PDF] The History of Solaris - UNL School of Computing
    Sun Microsystems is founded. 1983 Sun Microsystems introduces SunOS. 1984 About 100,000 UNIX sites exist worldwide. 1988 AT&T and Sun start work on SVR4, a ...
  2. [2]
    Solaris 2.1 for x86 - The OS/2 Museum
    Solaris 2.1 for x86, also known as SunOS 5.1, was Sun's first entry into the PC market (technically it was SunSoft, a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, ...
  3. [3]
    [PDF] The Single UNIX® ingle UNIX Specification History & Timeline
    AT&T's UNIX System Group (USG) release System III, the first public release outside Bell Laboratories. SunOS. 1.0 ships. HP-UX introduced. Ultrix-11 ...
  4. [4]
    Solaris Operating System (Unix)
    The first version of SunOS was published in 1982. With the version 4.0 the new product name Solaris was introduced for SunOS releases as of 1989. The operating ...Missing: history | Show results with:history
  5. [5]
    Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Company-Histories.com
    They were named president and director of manufacturing, respectively, of Sun Microsystems, Inc., upon its founding in February 1982.
  6. [6]
    Sun Microsystems - Kleiner Perkins | Make History
    In February 1982, Andy and two other Stanford graduates, Vinod Khosla and Scott McNealy, joined together to launch Sun Microsystems. Vinod was named ...Missing: SunOS origins
  7. [7]
    SunOS - Computer History Wiki
    Nov 20, 2023 · 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 ...
  8. [8]
    [PDF] Programmer's Reference Manual - Bitsavers.org
    For: Sun System Release 1.0. Programmer's Reference Manual for the. Sun Window System ... to introduce concepts which are specific to this window system. We ...
  9. [9]
    Solaris - BetaWiki
    Sep 11, 2025 · SunOS. Version, Release date. Sun Unix 0.7, 1982. Sun UNIX 4.2 Release 0.4, 1983. SunOS 0.4, Jun 1983. SunOS 1.0, November 1983. SunOS 1.1|| ...
  10. [10]
    SunOS & Solaris Version History
    SunOS & Solaris Version History. SunOS version, Solaris version, Release date, Supported platforms. 4.0.2, none, Sep. 89, 386i. 4.0.3, none, May 89, sun2, sun3/ ...
  11. [11]
    [PDF] SunOS 4.1 Release Manual - Bitsavers.org
    Mar 6, 1990 · This chapter contains notes on SunOS release 4.1 features that require special ... Since the real date is now greater than that date, a feature of.
  12. [12]
    [PDF] SunOS 4.1.2 Release Manual
    Support for Multiple SCSI Buses on SP ARC system 600MP ............. 4-4 ... SunOS 4.1.2 adds support for the new 1.3GB, 5 1/4-inch SCSI disk drive, a ...
  13. [13]
    SunOS 4.1.4 - BetaWiki
    Dec 15, 2024 · SunOS 4.1.4 (also known as Solaris 1.1.2) is a version of SunOS, released in November 1994. SunOS 4.1.4 was the last version to be referred under the SunOS ...
  14. [14]
    1999: SUMMARY need y2k patches for SunOS 4.1.4
    Nov 18, 1999 · SUMMARY need y2k patches for SunOS 4.1.4. From: Pat Chanthavong (pchanthavong@nebs.com) Date: Thu Nov 18 1999 - 15:21:23 CST.
  15. [15]
    Oracle Solaris End of Life Date - Computernewb Wiki
    Jan 30, 2024 · The lifespan of Solaris releases are known for being extremely long; they are typically supported for around 15 years.
  16. [16]
    [PDF] SunOS Virtual Memory Implementation - Kos
    The new VM architecture treats physical memory as a cache for the contents of memory objects. The page is the data structure that contains the information that ...
  17. [17]
    [PDF] The Solaris OS, UFS, Linux ext3, and ReiserFS - Oracle
    Solaris UFS has its roots in the Berkeley Fast File System (FFS) of the 1980s, although today's file system is the result of more than 20 years of ...
  18. [18]
    Multiprocessing Changes Since the SunOS 4.1 System
    Here is a simplified view of how the earlier releases of the SunOS kernel ran on multiprocessors. Only one processor could run kernel code at any one time, and ...Missing: support | Show results with:support
  19. [19]
    [PDF] STREAMS Programming - Bitsavers.org
    Mar 27, 1990 · This is because the SunOS STREAMS implementation preserves the external interfaces to the character devices and drivers (e.g. through the ...
  20. [20]
    (PDF) The Automounter - ResearchGate
    May 22, 2025 · This paper describes the automounter -- an automatic filesystem mounting service distributed with Sun Microsystems version of the Unix ...
  21. [21]
    Sun Microsystems - Engineering and Technology History Wiki
    Jul 25, 2014 · Their original 1982 model (the Sun-1) had a Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of memory, and a million-pixel graphics display. It was based on a design ...Missing: SunOS branding
  22. [22]
    [PDF] 1 History of Solaris Bill Joy Discovers Unix 1993
    Web-enhanced Solaris environment introduced. With more than 100 enhancements, this release substantially increases the software's Internet performance. ❑ Sun ...
  23. [23]
    [PDF] Solaris Binary Compatibility Guide
    The SunOS and OpenWindows Binary Compatibility Packages allow SunOS 4. x based applications to run on the Solaris 2. x release, making them available for use ...
  24. [24]
    Chapter 1 Introducing the Binary Compatibility Packages (Binary ...
    These packages are only transition tools. They are intended for end-user environments, and allow existing SunOS 4.x binaries to run on the Solaris 8 release.
  25. [25]
    Chapter 3 Converting a SunOS 4.x System to the Solaris 2.6 ...
    Converting a SunOS 4.x system to the Solaris 2.6 environment is a three-phase process that includes pre-installation (backing up data), installing the Solaris ...
  26. [26]
    Chapter 10 Customizing Your Working Environment (OpenWindows ...
    The Bourne shell is the default shell for SunOS, but you can also use the C shell or Korn shell. ... In the example above, the shell is set to /bin/sh (the Bourne ...<|separator|>
  27. [27]
    Your Login Shell (Solaris Advanced User's Guide)
    The default shell for SunOS system software is the Bourne shell. The Solaris operating environment also supports the following shells.Missing: 4. | Show results with:4.
  28. [28]
    Command Differences Between SunOS and Solaris
    Mar 5, 2007 · This document describes the differences you will encounter between the SunOS and Solaris command sets. Command Differences.
  29. [29]
    Managing NFS and NIS, 2nd Edition - O'Reilly
    NIS servers must be configured so that map information remains consistent on all servers, and the number of servers and the load on each server should be ...
  30. [30]
    Admintool
    Admintool applications enable you to manage the following tasks on a local system: System database files such as aliases and netmasks. User account and group ...
  31. [31]
    Working With NIS Maps (Solaris Naming Administration Guide)
    Users can obtain information from and about the maps at any time by using the ypcat , ypwhich , and ypmatch commands. In the examples that follow, mapname ...Missing: Yellow | Show results with:Yellow
  32. [32]
    Sun retains lion's share of workstation market in 1995 - SunWorld
    Sun Microsystems continues to dominate the traditional workstation market, claiming 40 percent (307,000) of the units shipped and 34.9 percent ($4.7 billion) ...
  33. [33]
    None
    Below is a merged summary of Sun Workstations and SunOS deployment at CERN during the 1980s-1990s, consolidating all information from the provided segments into a dense and structured format. To maximize detail retention, I’ve used tables in CSV-like format where appropriate, alongside narrative text for context. The response includes mentions of Sun workstations, SunOS deployment, their use in particle physics simulations, and useful URLs, ensuring no information is lost.
  34. [34]
    Sun goes Hollywood - SunWorld - November 1995
    For "Toy Story," SGIs were used to handle modeling, animation, shading, and lighting. But SPARCstation 20s offered a clear price/performance win. Using data ...Missing: CGI | Show results with:CGI
  35. [35]
    Computer Aided Engineering - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
    CAD/CAM on an engineering workstation. Currently, a typical system is based on a RISC-based processor such as the SUN SPARCstationTM offering 40-80 MIPS.
  36. [36]
    Company Information: Sun History
    Sun LX50 server introduced. New general-purpose systems run Linux or Solaris operating systems, extend product line into 32-bit, x86 market. Sun powers more ...
  37. [37]
    Announcing Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU83
    Jul 15, 2025 · We've just released the Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU83, the July 2025 CPU. It is available via 'pkg update' from the support repository or by downloading the SRU.
  38. [38]
    Oracle quietly extends Solaris 11.4 support until 2037 - The Register
    Jan 29, 2024 · Oracle has quietly extended paid support and upgrades for Solaris 11.4 to 2037 – three years past its previous deadline.Missing: SunOS | Show results with:SunOS
  39. [39]
    RFC 1094 - NFS: Network File System Protocol specification
    The Sun Network Filesystem (NFS) protocol provides transparent remote access to shared files across networks.Missing: influence Linux macOS
  40. [40]
    RFC 3530: Network File System (NFS) version 4 Protocol
    The Network File System (NFS) version 4 is a distributed filesystem protocol which owes heritage to NFS protocol version 2, RFC 1094, and version 3, RFC 1813.Missing: Linux | Show results with:Linux
  41. [41]
    SunRPC Windows, Sun RPC for Windows, Windows ONC RPC ...
    Sun ONC RPC allows a client to have a server execute a procedure call as if it was a local subroutine. Distinct toolkits port this to Windows.
  42. [42]
    Explaining BSD | FreeBSD Documentation Portal
    Jul 22, 2023 · BSD stands for "Berkeley Software Distribution". It is the name of distributions of source code from the University of California, Berkeley.
  43. [43]
    NIS to LDAP: Making the Leap | Enterprise Networking Planet
    Jan 11, 2007 · NIS, designed by Sun Microsystems and sometimes called a Yellow Pages directory, is a mechanism to centrally manage machine configuration data.Missing: evolution | Show results with:evolution
  44. [44]
    autofs - how it works - The Linux Kernel documentation
    The goal of autofs is to provide on-demand mounting and race free automatic unmounting of various other filesystems.
  45. [45]
    ELF - OSDev Wiki
    ELF (Executable and Linkable Format) was designed by Unix System Laboratories while working with Sun Microsystems on SVR4 (UNIX System V Release 4.0).
  46. [46]
    The Rise and Fall of Sun Microsystems: A Tech Revolution
    Dec 30, 2022 · Explore how Sun Microsystems transformed the tech world with groundbreaking workstations, from their meteoric rise to eventual decline.
  47. [47]
    Oracle Solaris | endoflife.date
    Sep 14, 2025 · Oracle Solaris ; 11.3, 10 years ago. (26 Oct 2015). Ended 4 years and 10 months ago. (01 Jan 2021). Ends in 1 year. (01 Jan 2027) ; 11.2, 11 years ...