Category Archives: Xenix

Forward Compatibility, Landmines

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Michal Necasek

Several years ago, after attempting to get a very old 286 version of Xenix running in a VM, I concluded that it was probably incompatible with any 386 and later processor. Recently I revisited this issue and examined the problem … Continue reading →

Posted in 286, Intel, Xenix | 32 Comments

The XENIX 2.2.3 Mystery, Continued

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Michal Necasek

After pondering the strange TeleDisk images of SCO XENIX 386 2.2.3 (released in 1988) and not being able to make heads or tails of it, I decided it was time to simply restore the TeleDisk images onto actual floppies and … Continue reading →

Posted in PC hardware, Xenix | 25 Comments

The XENIX 386 2.2.3 Mystery

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Michal Necasek

On the Internets, one may find a package labeled as SCO XENIX 386 version 2.2.3 or similar, sometimes mislabeled as version 2.2.2. This is one of the very oldest operating systems designed for 386-based PC compatibles, released around June 1988 … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, Xenix | 9 Comments

IBM PC XENIX

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Michal Necasek

In 1984, IBM briefly flirted with XENIX, Microsoft’s variant of UNIX licensed from AT&T.  Around 1983-1984, Microsoft and Intel worked on porting XENIX to the 286 processor; Intel shipped XENIX with a number of its development systems in the mid-1980s. … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, Microsoft, Xenix | 27 Comments

Xenix 286 in a VM

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Michal Necasek

The fixes which were included in VirtualBox 4.0.8 happen to help not only OS/2 1.x but also Xenix. The 386 versions of Xenix 2.3.x (not necessarily older versions!) should install in a VM without trouble, but the 286 versions are … Continue reading →

Posted in VirtualBox, Xenix | 10 Comments