I wanted to play around with CDE. The project has been open sourced and has been built for modern *nix systems: https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/wiki/Home/

I tried a few different paths. I tried building on OpenBSD and spent way too long, with the instructions not working. I tried on Debian and ran into issues building as well.

I finally got it working with Sparky Linux, based on Debian. Here is what I did. It was my first time using Sparky, but I picked it because it is one of only 2 distros I could find which had CDE packaged and ready to go:

1. I installed the stable MinimalGUI amd64 ISO with default settings: https://sparkylinux.org/download/stable/ This will give you a lightweight window and display manager
2. I booted, and ran sudo apt-get install sparky-desktop-cde
3. I logged out of the default WM and selected CDE from the top right of the display manager and logged back in. Voila, I had a ready to go CDE install.

See here: https://wiki.sparkylinux.org/doku.php/cde

I am passing it along in case anyone else wants to try it (or try it again!).

Hi I hope this is the right place to ask.

My 76 year old father is convinced that he needs a Unix machine (mostly just to browse the internet lol). He said he was having issues with a Windows PC that he had converted to Unix.

He wants to buy a Unix desktop… which seems not to really exist (e.g. at Best Buy etc). He sent me a link to an outdated tower with 4GB RAM from a possibly sketchy website (link: https://spwindustrial.com/hp-visualize-c3750-unix-work-station-a9636a-pa-8700-4gb-ram-36gb-scsi-fx10pro/ ).

Also, I think this costs too much for what he wants to use a PC for.

Is there a Unix PC that we can buy nowadays? Or what are your recommended ways to convert a Windows OS to Unix?

I work in technical support with a computational astrophysics masters degree, so I’m sure I could figure it out. Just wondering if there is a way to fully remove Windows OS (he does not want a partition situation with both OS’) or if there is somewhere to buy a machine with Unix OS.

ETA: wow I didn’t expect so many responses! Thank you very much for all the advice, I’ve learned a lot from your comments.

A bit of context I didn’t think to put in my original post; my dad is a retired systems administrator. So he’s familiar with Unix from work in the 1990s and early 2000s. He stopped keeping up with tech advancements around the time Windows 8 came out. He hated the change to Windows OS at that time. He used to build his own PC towers and is currently using one that he built however is now having issues after trying to update his Unix OS (he said something about it, not being able to format the hard drive). It is a little hard to get information from him over the phone (across the country) at his age.

He has always had negative thoughts about Mac, so I didn’t think to recommend it to him. Also, because his issues with windows was that it “handicaps you” which I assume he’s talking about things that Mac does as well.

But I talked to him about how Mac runs on UNIX and he actually likes that. He’s interested in buying a Mac now. I’m gonna bring him mine when I visit so he can test it out before purchasing. For now, I bought him a cheap mini PC that runs UNIX from Amazon. So he has something to mess around with in the meantime.

I’m not in IT so please forgive me if I don’t refer to things correctly. Company has an old database system circa 1993 on a Unix system we are trying to get data off of to any file format we can get to a windows computer.
We access the system through Reflections but I can also get on the server and we have the root password.
I have located the database files and paths that contain the information we want and also the programs the system uses to view them like file maintenance and reports. Also believe I found the dictionary and map we need to read them.

I’m seeing bbx and looks like up to bbx4. I found BBDICT and BKMAP under a Taos folder.

I think the files are C-ISAM

I know data can be extracted to flat files/.csv but not sure how.

I can use the canned reports from the database but printing to terminal only does page by page - I created a macro in reflections that prints each page to a .txt file and moves to the next page. This works great, but I noticed that for any reports with records more than one line it will hold onto the text at the end of the line and repeat it in any blank spaces at the end of that line on the next page and the bottom of the report text writes over the beginning of the text on that report line which has been a nightmare to try and sort out.

I’m thinking my best bet might be to take one of the spooled printers already set up and change the set up so that it prints to a file somewhere we can access instead of the printer queue. Except I have no idea how to do that or find where I could even see that info.

I can see the directories and view text files from within the database system. Report Writer says not on this system so I think that’s a module they didn’t buy.

I feel like we are so close but we just don’t have the knowledge to get the last few steps. We’d be fine with hiring someone but our IT guys aren’t well versed in Unix and don’t really know anyone they can refer. Any help is appreciated!

Good one!

My last error for mounting with QEMU is here:

home$ sudo mount -o loop,offset=32768 /home/minix2.img /mnt/minix_root
mount: /mnt/minix_root: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop17, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.

To be more clear: I have downloaded the iso and have the img file and have booted into minix as root, but I am not able to mount. I've used different resources, but something I am doing wrong.

Yes, it is to complete homework BUT NO, this is not my homework assignment. I've had a terrible time trying to get Minix3 to work via virtual box, to the point that I somehow broke the VM and it won't even work if I delete it and reinstall it. I also tried VMware but that is unable to mount with current editions, so I then tried the VMware Workstation Pro, which is not listed on the minix3.org's website (even though what they do list no longer supports Minix3 without a headache of configuration issues for a newbie). So now I'm on Ubuntu trying to follow along with this:

https://github.com/o-oconnell/minixfromscratch

https://github.com/o-oconnell/minixfromscratch?tab=readme-ov-file

Side question: Is the trouble I'm having with this as a newbie the reason universities have moved away from teaching operating systems with Minix. It seems like getting it mounted and running properly was overly painful when that's not really the learning objective, and assigned links did not do anything but have me spend too much time floundering around wondering I couldn't get it to work. I mean the book is very well written, but it took me too much time to get this set up properly. I've been reading everywhere that other people run into problems with MINIX OS where support is lacking, so I wonder if this is the reason schools have moved away from teaching OS through MINIX.

I learned today that not only was Internet Explorer available for UNIX back in the day, but so was Microsoft Word! Here is version 5.1: https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-word/5x-unix

Too bad it wasn't version 5.5, of which the DOS version was my favorite.

I wonder if you could do anything to make this run on a modern UNIX system (besides emulation of course).

Entrar al mundo de UNIX es como abordar una nave espacial que alguien construyó en los 70 y nunca terminó de explicarte cómo usar. 🛰️ Todo es potente, misterioso y... ¿Dónde está el manual?

Al principio, el terminal es intimidante. No hay botones bonitos ni tutoriales amigables. Solo un cursor parpadeante que parece decirte: "Inténtalo, si te atreves."

Aprender UNIX se siente como una mezcla entre ciencia de cohetes y arqueología digital. Cada comando que ejecutas podría ser un avance increíble o... el momento en que accidentalmente desinstalas algo crítico. 💀

Y ahí viene el chiste favorito de todos: la reinstalación. Si no has reinstalado tu sistema operativo al menos tres veces en tu primer mes, ¿realmente estás aprendiendo UNIX? 🙃

Pero aquí está el truco: cada reinstalación te enseña algo. Cada error es una lección. Y cada pequeño éxito —como hacer que funcione ese script o configurar correctamente el entorno— te hace sentir como si hubieras hackeado la NASA. 🌌

Así que, si estás en ese camino, recuerda: todos hemos estado ahí. Reinstalar no es fracaso; es parte del viaje. UNIX no es amable, pero cuando lo dominas, te convierte en un verdadero explorador del sistema.

**********************************************************************************************************

Entering the world of UNIX is like boarding a spaceship that someone built in the 1970s and never finished explaining how to use. 🛰️ Everything is powerful, mysterious and... Where's the manual?

At first, the terminal is intimidating. There are no pretty buttons or friendly tutorials. Just a blinking cursor that seems to tell you, “Try it, if you dare.”

Learning UNIX feels like a cross between rocket science and digital archaeology. Every command you execute could be either an incredible breakthrough or.... the moment you accidentally uninstall something critical. 💀

And here comes everyone's favorite joke: reinstallation. If you haven't reinstalled your operating system at least three times in your first month, are you really learning UNIX? 🙃

But here's the catch: every reinstall teaches you something. Every mistake is a lesson. And every little success - like getting that script to work or setting up the environment correctly - makes you feel like you hacked NASA. 🌌

So, if you're on that path, remember: we've all been there. Reinstalling isn't failure; it's part of the journey. UNIX is not kind, but when you master it, it makes you a true system explorer.

I had this thought today while working on bringing libraries over to a system:

I've encountered several times where meson, scons and Cmake do not understand old compilers and end up choking out and you have to sit there and fight over and over.

I'm thinking of an easier way forward. Many of these projects didn't start out on these, in the 2000s autoconf was the standard.

I've already begun this effort a little bit with a couple of key libraries that I don't want to build with Cmake. Would anyone else be interested? Since I have to fork these in order to keep the old build systems intact, it makes a lot of sense to me to start supporting older and more classic architectures and upstreaming work from these.

I'm only one person and I don't have all of the necessary expertise especially with things like automake to do this consistently with every project but I have partially done it with one project already.

Hypothetically, if the Gnu Hurd microkernel were to be completed, what would a desktop using it look like? how would the performance be? would it eventually fall into obscurity and be discontinued, or will it stay relevant and become another FOSS desktop like linux or bsd?

Linux is the most used server operating system but it seems that there is no alternative and everything else is niche

Hello all. I am working as a Network systems engineer. I am interested in learning about Operating Systems. I am looking for university projects on developing unix based OS or similar.

Has anyone worked on this kind of projects at university level . and can share with me .

I will get to learn more by working on small projects directly ?

Thank you !

Hello, as the title suggests, I am interested in the process of porting applications. It seems that materials on this subject are scant, and the subject seemingly straddles an area that isn't specific and tends to include C, Makefiles, changing paths, changing library functions, compiler flags, function behavior, etc.

I would like a general overview on what should be expected while porting in general, such as a methodology or checklist that would be common to porting most applications.

Continuing this point, I am attempting to port a compiler to a Unix-like system. I reached out to the developers of the compiler and they suggested that I change libraries and paths. I reached out to the developers of the operating system and they suggested something similar. Feeling lost between the words of both groups of developers, I read through a book which seemed to be the most popular in porting applications. It wasn't especially helpful. I am coming here to ask about the porting process so that I might understand the process and methods better.

Thank you in advance!

Thanks everyone for your help yesterday! I finally got NetBSD running on my Sun Ultra 5! Woohoo!