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Conference turris::digital_unix

Title:DIGITAL UNIX(FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEC OSF/1)
Notice:Welcome to the Digital UNIX Conference
Moderator:SMURF::DENHAM
Created:Thu Mar 16 1995
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:10068
Total number of notes:35879

8779.0. "UNIX Support on 2100" by OTOOA::KOENDERS (Rick Koenders @OTO) Mon Feb 10 1997 16:45

    My customer is asking me what our policy is for support of new versions
    of UNIX on older processors.  Specifically, they are trying to project
    at what point the 2100 may not be supported by new releases of the OS
    such as 5.0, 6.0,.......?  They are also wondering if we release version
    5.0 of UNIX will it support the 2100 in the first release or will it be
    supported in some minor release (5.0a,b,c, 5.1,......)?  These
    questions are relevant because they are in a development environment
    and OS level support and concurrency of support with newer processors
    is critical.  Would someone be able to provide some guidance,
    surrounded by all the caveats, but at least a general statement?
    
    
    Thanks in advance,
    
    Regards,
    
    Rick Koenders
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
8779.1KITCHE::schottEric R. Schott USG Product ManagementMon Feb 10 1997 20:2837
>
>    My customer is asking me what our policy is for support of new versions
>    of UNIX on older processors.  Specifically, they are trying to project
>    at what point the 2100 may not be supported by new releases of the OS
>    such as 5.0, 6.0,.......?  They are also wondering if we release version
>    5.0 of UNIX will it support the 2100 in the first release or will it be
>    supported in some minor release (5.0a,b,c, 5.1,......)?  These
>    questions are relevant because they are in a development environment
>    and OS level support and concurrency of support with newer processors
>    is critical.  Would someone be able to provide some guidance,
>    surrounded by all the caveats, but at least a general statement?
>    

Generally speaking we don't retire software support for a system in the
base for a long time (for example, I don't think we retired any yet
for Digital UNIX.  It is impossible to say by date or version number
because we don't have a policy to do so.  It is possible to happen, but
I don't see any effort in this area.

Now for cluster software, existing products continue to work on the
machines...but cluster hardware and software products may be restricted
to newer systems (due need for hardware (like PCI slots) or software
qualification of the new release).  Currently, we have not retired
any systems for new cluster releases, but this could change.

In short, nothing to worry about as best as I can tell.

If they want a more formal answer, I guess they will need to put
their request in writing...


>    
>    Thanks in advance,
>    
>    Regards,
>    
>    Rick Koenders
8779.2a cold day in hell?HYDRA::DONSBACHJeff Donsbach, Software Partner Engineering, DTN 297-6862Tue Feb 11 1997 12:438
    
    Given that the bird machines are still supported by the current OS
    releases, I think it's a safe bet that it will be a very long time
    before support for a 2100 is retired.
    
    not officially speaking of course ....
    -Jeff D.
8779.3SMURF::KNIGHTFred KnightThu Feb 13 1997 09:2712
There is also a formal policy of early announcement of
any type of retirements.  So, if it ever did happen, they
would have atleast 1 release (possibly more) worth of warning.

And I think the DEC4000 (Cobra) was the first alpha system
(and we still support that too - with no plans to retire it).
We don't sell any new ones anymore, but we do still support it.

As Digital as a whole goes, I think VMS even still supports
the VAX 780 platform (released in 1978).

	Fred Knight