Editing Amiga Unix (section)

==Overview==
Bundled with the [[Amiga 3000UX]], Commodore's Unix was one of the first ports of SVR4 to the [[68k]] architecture, and this level of compliance was emphasised in marketing materials such as the company's "Born To Run UNIX SVR4" brochure.<ref name="a3000ux_unix_svr4">{{ cite book | url=https://amigaunix.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/a3000ux_born_to_run_unix_svr4.pdf | title=Commodore Amiga 3000UX Born To Run UNIX SVR4 | publisher=Commodore Business Machines, Inc. }}</ref> The Amiga 3000UX provided the [[OPEN LOOK]] graphical environment,<ref name="byte199012_unix">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1990-12/page/n171/mode/1up | title=Short Takes: A Unix graphics workstation for the rest of the world | magazine=Byte | first1=Ben | last1=Smith | date=December 1990 | access-date=25 February 2024 | pages=134, 136 | volume=15 | issue=13 }}</ref> with the machine reportedly featuring on the [[Sun Microsystems]] and [[Unix International]] stands at the 1991 Uniforum show, ostensibly as a consequence of Commodore's adoption of these exhibitors' technologies.<ref name="amigaworld199104_unix">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/amiga-world-1991-04/page/n11/mode/1up | title=Unix: The Latest Frontier | magazine=Amiga World | date=April 1991 | access-date=7 March 2024 | pages=10 }}</ref> An earlier Amiga-based graphical Unix system had reportedly featured on the AT&T booth at the Uniforum Fall '89 show.<ref name="amigaworld199004_computerdujour"/>

Exhibited at CeBIT in early 1988, the Amiga 2500UX was described as a [[Motorola 68020]]-based system that could be booted to [[UNIX System V#SVR3|Unix System V Release 3]] (SVR3) or AmigaDOS, supporting an X Window System interface, as well as a "very fast and more flexible" proprietary windowing system that was also to be offered. Graphics acceleration using the Amiga chipset was promised, along with an upgrade kit consisting of an expansion board featuring the 68020 and a memory management unit for existing users to upgrade to the Unix system. September 1988 availability was announced for the European market.<ref name="unigramx19880409_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1988160-211/page/n84/mode/1up | title=Commodore Sets 68020 Amiga-UX Launch for September | work=Unigram/X | date=9 April 1988 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=1 }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, at COMDEX Spring 1988, Commodore demonstrated its proprietary windowing system on an Amiga 2000 system running Unix, also showing off a 68030 upgrade board.<ref name="unigramx19880521_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1988160-211/page/n122/mode/1up | title=Commodore Shows off 68030 Board, Unix for Amiga 2000 | work=Unigram/X | date=21 May 1988 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=3 }}</ref>

The Amiga 2500UX was more comprehensively described in [[COMDEX]] Fall 1988 show coverage as a 14.3&nbsp;MHz [[Motorola 68020]]-based system with 80&nbsp;MB hard drive and 150&nbsp;MB tape system, fitted with 5&nbsp;MB of RAM and featuring the [[Motorola 68851]] [[memory management unit]] and [[Motorola 68881]] [[floating-point unit]] (FPU). The "full implementation" of Unix System V was to be offered with the machine.<ref name="info198901_comdex">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/info-magazine-24/page/n39/mode/1up | title=COMDEX | magazine=Info | last1=Dunnington | first1=Benn | date=January–February 1989 | access-date=4 April 2024 | pages=38 }}</ref> A premature report had emerged of a version of Unix running on the Amiga 2000 at a separate October 1988 event,<ref name="info198901_amiexpo">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/info-magazine-24/page/n37/mode/1up | title=LA AMIEXPO | magazine=Info | last1=Brown | first1=Mark R. | date=January–February 1989 | access-date=4 April 2024 | pages=36 }}</ref> due to an X Window System implementation for AmigaDOS having been mistaken for a graphical Unix system.<ref name="info198903_booboo">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/info-magazine-25/Info_Issue_25_1989_Mar_Apr/page/n69/mode/1up | title=Big Booboo | magazine=Info | date=March–April 1989 | access-date=4 April 2024 | pages=68 }}</ref> As of early 1989, Amiga Unix or AMIX was a SVR3.1 implementation on the Amiga 2500UX, reported as featuring a "proprietary windowing system" that was "specifically designed for speed and convenience". Developers had already reportedly received beta versions of the AMIX system, and system pricing was estimated at around ${{Format price|5000}}.<ref name="amigauserinternational198901_unix">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Amiga_User_International_1989001/page/30/mode/2up | title=The Amiga Goes Unix | magazine=Amiga User International | last1=Jacobson-Gonzalez | first1=Max | date=January 1989 | access-date=30 April 2024 | pages=30–32 }}</ref>

Commodore described the Amiga 2500UX with the same 68020-based specifications at the [[CeBIT]] show in early 1989,<ref name="byte198905_cebit">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1989-05/page/n9/mode/1up | title=A Lot of Company | magazine=Byte | date=May 1989 | access-date=18 April 2024 | last1=Langa | first1=Fred | pages=6 }}</ref> also indicating a £{{Format price|1700}} price for the upgrade kit to bring the Amiga 2000 up to the capabilities of the 2500UX.<ref name="unigramx19890325_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1989212-262/page/n70/mode/1up | title=Commodore Shows its Amiga 2500 UX 68020 Unix Machine | work=Unigram/X | date=25 March 1989 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=3 }}</ref> In a May 1989 show in Toronto, Commodore had adjusted the specification of the 2500UX, making it a 68030-based machine running SVR3.3 and the "Amix Windows multi-tasking user interface", even suggesting a price of CA${{Format price|8500}}.<ref name="unigramx19890528_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1989212-262/page/n127/mode/1up | title=Canada's Unix Boom Moves on Apace at Toronto Multi-User Show | work=Unigram/X | date=28 May 1989 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=2 }}</ref> By the end of 1989, the purpose of the 2500UX had become more apparent as a development machine, with Commodore UK suggesting that the eventual Unix product would be a 68030-based Amiga 3000 system running SVR4, available during 1990.<ref name="unigramx19891113_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1989212-262/page/n285/mode/1up | title=Commodore Promises V.4 Amiga for Next Year | work=Unigram/X | date=13 November 1989 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=2 }}</ref>

As the release of the Amiga 3000UX approached, the hardware requirements for Amiga 2000 systems running Unix were refined further, demanding an accelerator card such as the A2630, providing a 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU, bringing them into line with the A2500/30 variant of the [[Amiga 2000#Amiga 2500|Amiga 2500]]. More than 100&nbsp;MB of hard drive storage and a tape drive for installing the operating system were required.<ref name="info199012_unix">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/info-magazine-35/page/n67/mode/2up | title=UNIX On The AMIGA | magazine=Info | last1=Martin | first1=David W. | date=December 1990 | access-date=4 April 2024 | pages=68–69 }}</ref>

By the end of 1990, several months after the launch of the Amiga 3000, Commodore indicated plans to launch the 3000UX at the Uniforum show in January 1991, reportedly needing to finish off its SVR4 implementation and to attract software vendors to its platform.<ref name="unigramx19901008_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1990263-313/page/n266/mode/1up | title=Commodore Unix V.4 Machines "Out in January" | work=Unigram/X | date=8 October 1990 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=3 }}</ref> Finally, at Uniforum, two Amiga 3000UX configurations were unveiled, broadly confirming earlier reports. A reported 1,000 units had already been "shipped to beta-test sites" ahead of wider availability.<ref name="unigramx19910204_commodore">{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/UnigramX1991314-365/page/n36/mode/1up | title=At Last, Commodore's Unix Box Makes its Debut | work=Unigram/X | date=4 February 1991 | access-date=23 July 2024 | pages=3 }}</ref>