重温过去：DG/UX UNIX 操作系统
DG/UX UNIX
![](/data/attachment/album/202312/17/083916hnnvzxs1tnmn7thn.jpg)



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> 和我一起重温怀旧时光，回顾我使用 DG/UX UNIX 操作系统和数据通用公司的 AViiON 工作站和服务器的经历。
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我尝试寻找一些我以前使用过的旧操作系统 [DG/UX](https://archive.org/details/installing_the_dgux_system) 的信息。遗憾的是，关于它的信息已经不多了。这个小型操作系统深得我心，虽然我知道我的经历不会改写历史，但我还是愿意记录下我与之相关的经验，传承历史。


这款 [Unix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix) [操作系统](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system) 由 <ruby> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General">  数据通用公司 </a> <rt>  Data General </rt></ruby> 开发，主要服务于 [Eclipse MV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_MV) 迷你计算机系列以及随后的 [AViiON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviion) 工作站和服务器。我并未在 Eclipse 系统上工作过，我的工作主要在 AViiON 系统上进行。这些系统坚固得就像坦克，使用起来也异常简洁。


![Data General AV/4000 | Picture copyright WolfeDen.org](/data/attachment/album/202312/17/083945klbh8lwlnlhnznzn.jpg)


### 操作系统概述


我在 1990 年代中期开始接触 DG/UX，当时它已经存在了一段时间。DG/UX 1 在 1985 年 3 月发布，是基于 [UNIX System V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_V) Release 2，且融入了 [4.1BSD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD) 的优秀特性构建的。几年后，DG/UX 3.10 就添加了 [TCP/IP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP) 网络、[NFS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_File_System) 和 [X Window System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System)。记得 [CDE](https://itsfoss.com/common-desktop-environment/) 吗？


![CDE (Common Desktop Environment)](/data/attachment/album/202312/17/083945zu6xb4t5gbgwatsb.jpg)


DG/UX 4 在 1988 年发布（这个“4”在后面让我非常困扰...），此版本是系统的一次重大设计革新，基于 [System V Release 3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_V_Release_3)。同时，其文件系统可以通过逻辑磁盘设施跨越多个磁盘。


DG/UX 5.4 版本的改变非常有意义，这也是我开始使用的版本。这个版本将传统的 Unix 文件缓冲区缓存替换为了统一的、按需分页的虚拟内存管理。


该操作系统比其他一些 Unix 变体更强大，例如，它内置了完整的 [C](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)) 语言编译器。我们同时还有一支 [COBOL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL) 程序员团队，不过我记得 COBOL 是作为插件使用的。现在，虽然大家都觉得 C 语言编译器是理所当然的存在，但在那个时代，它是一份无比珍贵的礼物。我编写过许多为管理任务服务的脚本，同时我还为特定的工作需求编写了几个 C 程序。


这款操作系统体积小巧，简单易用。System V 和加入的 BSD 工具是完美的结合，可以说，这是最优秀的两全其美的产物。不论是安装还是升级，都非常的简便，并且对内存或者处理器资源的需求也非常低。


内置在系统中的 [卷管理器](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_volume_management) 简单但功能强大。基本上所有的磁盘管理都可以在线上完成，无需将文件系统切换为离线状态。在一个保险/风险管理工作环境中，这一特性是非常重要的。我们可以扩容、迁移、进行镜像或者缩容，这些功能也可以对交换区进行操作，在不中断系统运行的条件下原地迁移磁盘存储。


### 机器


我曾接触过的 AViiON 机器分两种类型：一种是 AV300 [pizza box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_box_form_factor) 工作站，另一种是配有 [CLARiiON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clariion) 磁盘阵列的 AV9500 服务器。


![Data General AViiON AV/300D came in Pizza Box style | Picture Credit Pizza Box Computer](/data/attachment/album/202312/17/083945mtztib16tt4cvzyk.jpg)


在 AViiON 中，DG/UX 支持使用 [多处理器](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiprocessor)。在一个保险/风险管理工作环境中，这是一项很大的优势，因为并不是所有的 Unix 包都支持这个功能。此外，DG/UX 还能无缝地与 CLARiiON 阵列配合工作。


有了像 CLARiiON 这样的 RAID，为特定账户配置空间非常容易。但一个以前的管理员在创造账户时总是会选择“使用第一个可用空间”。很快我们碰到了一些问题，比如：一个单独的查询就会点亮全部 125 个磁盘上的指示灯 —— 一个账户的数据分布着整个阵列设备。


![By Michael Moll - photo taken by Michael Moll, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=512844](/data/attachment/album/202312/17/083945mjpgjjh5pr9rjpj8.jpg)


当我成为主管理员后，我就着手修复这个问题，把一个阵列指定给一些较大的帐户，小帐户分组到两个阵列上。整个修复过程花了我一个星期的晚班时间，但是 DG/UX 让重排文件到指定阵列的整个过程变得异常轻松。


RAID 本身也异常稳定。在某个时期，我们使用过 IBM 1GB 的磁盘。这些硬盘的内部机构有时候会卡住，能让它们回复正常工作的唯一方法就是把他们取出来，在地板上像旋转陀螺那样旋转（没错，我是认真的！）。偶尔，磁盘可能彻底报废，无法再转动。现在，RAID 会在阵列内复制每个磁盘的数据，因此数据仍旧存在，尽管效率将受到影响。有一次，我不得不从另一台计算机上“借用”一个磁盘，让一个阵列能够维持运行，直到我们得到替代品。当天，CLARiiON 的表现极为出色，我们并不想再继续这样冒险，因此我们决定替换所有磁盘，而 DG/UX 的备份/恢复工具使这项工作毫无障碍的进行。


### 技术支持


关于技术支持并没有太多可以讲的，因为它真的很棒。我从未在技术支持上遇到过问题，每个问题都得到了礼貌、准确的回答，如今这点已经很少见了。


你还记得我前面提到的那个“4”吗？就是那个后来让我感到困扰的数字？我曾经因此而拨打技术支持电话。在 1995 年，我收到了操作系统升级的磁带，但我们那时正在运行的是 5.4 版本。我见到 4.10 版本的磁带时非常惊讶，我原以为这是个错误，我被寄给了错误的磁带，我并不想将系统降级。


事实证明，我收到的是正确的磁带。那个“4”是为了向 System V Release **4** 版本致敬。我有时还会觉得这很奇怪 — 升级一个操作系统，却让版本号降低。下面是一些版本的列表说明：


1. DG/UX 5.4 - 3.00 - 1994 年 1 月
2. DG/UX 5.4 - 3.10 - 1994 年 7 月
3. DG/UX 5.4 - 4.00 - 1995 年 1 月
4. DG/UX - **4.10** - 1995 年 8 月
5. DG/UX - **4.11** - 1995 年 12 月


### DG/UX 和 AViiON 的结束


我在 1995 年底离开了这个岗位，但听说在世纪之交 [EMC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMC_Corporation) 收购了数据通用公司，以便能够获得 CLARiiON 阵列和软件。考虑到 CLARiiON 的稳定性，这个决定我认为是理解的。据我记得，EMC 在收购后的几年内还在支持 DG/UX 操作系统和 AViiON，然后就停止支持了。我内心希望他们能一直保留这个操作系统，但那个时候，Unix 世界已经被像 [IBM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM)、[Sun Microsystems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems) 和 [HP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard) 这些大公司主导，同时还有像 [Linux](https://www.linux.com/what-is-linux/) 这样的新兴力量在逐渐崭露头角。


数据通用公司和 DG/UX 无疑是拥有一段美好历史的。它们的卓越支持和操作系统是今天绝难比拟的。我特别喜欢那个操作系统，它也是一款绝对值得被铭记的操作系统。


*（题图：DA/e651f994-3695-4bfd-89cc-c6b7b1ad0309）*




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via: <https://itsfoss.com/dg-ux-os/>


作者：[Bill Dyer](https://itsfoss.com/author/bill/) 选题：[lujun9972](https://github.com/lujun9972) 译者：[ChatGPT](https://linux.cn/lctt/ChatGPT) 校对：[wxy](https://github.com/wxy)


本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出


OK
![Warp Terminal](/assets/images/warp-terminal.webp)


![Warp Terminal](/assets/images/warp-terminal.webp)

I tried looking up some information on an old operating system I used to work with: [DG/UX](https://archive.org/details/installing_the_dgux_system). Sadly, there isn't a lot of information about it anymore. I loved that little operating system, and while I am sure that my experiences will not make history at all, I wanted to add some written account of my experiences with it for the historical record.

Developed by [Data General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_General), DG/UX was a [Unix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix) [operating system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system) for its [Eclipse MV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_MV) minicomputer line, and later the [AViiON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviion) workstations and servers. I never worked on the Eclipse systems, but I worked on the AViiON systems. Built like tanks, they were and amazingly simple to use.

![Data General Avion 4K](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/12/data-general-avion.jpg)

[WolfeDen.org](https://www.wolfeden.org/unix-museum/dg/av4k.html)

## OS Overview

I was introduced to DG/UX in the mid 1990s, but it had been around for a while. DG/UX 1 was released in March, 1985 and, was based on [UNIX System V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_V) Release 2 with additions from [4.1BSD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD). DG/UX 3.10 came around a couple of years later with [TCP/IP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP/IP) networking, [NFS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_File_System) and the [X Window System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System) included. Remember [CDE](https://itsfoss.com/common-desktop-environment/)?

![cde desktop 4](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2021/12/cde_desktop-4.jpg)

[Trying Common Desktop Environment on a Modern Linux DistroBill shares his re-experience with Common Desktop Environment (CDE), the de-facto standard windowing environment on UNIX systems in the 90s.](https://itsfoss.com/common-desktop-environment/)![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2021/12/common-desktop-environment.png)


![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/wordpress/2021/12/common-desktop-environment.png)

DG/UX 4 (the "4" would later confuse me to no end later on...) was released in 1988, and was a major re-design of the system, based on [System V Release 3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_V_Release_3). The filesystem, using the logical disk facility, could span multiple disks.

DG/UX 5.4 was a biggie. This was the version I started working with. This version replaced the legacy Unix file buffer cache with unified, demand paged virtual memory management.

The operating system was also more complete than some other Unix variants; for example, the operating system included a full [C](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)) compiler. We also had an army of [COBOL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL) programmers, but if I remember correctly, COBOL was an add-on. Today, a C compiler may seem to be a given, but it was a blessing back in the day. While I wrote scripts for many of my admin tasks, I did write several C programs specific to the work required.

The OS was small and compact, but extremely easy to use. The System V and added BSD tools were the right mix - the best of both worlds, you could say. It was simple and easy to install or upgrade and did not need much resources of memory or processing power.

The [volume manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_volume_management) built into the OS was simple, but very powerful. Any disk administration could be performed online, without taking any file system offline. Again, in an insurance/risk management shop, this was important. We could extend, relocate, mirror, or shrink - and the same functions could be performed on the swap area, allowing in-place migrations of disk storage without downtime.

## The Machines

The AViiON machines I worked on, came in two types: One was an AV300 [pizza box](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_box_form_factor) workstation and the other was the AV9500 server with [CLARiiON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clariion) disk arrays.

![AV300 front](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/12/aviion-av300-front--1-.jpg)

![AV300 back](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/12/aviion-av300-back--1-.jpg)

Data General AViiON AV/300D came in Pizza Box style | Picture Credit [Pizza Box Computer](https://blog.pizzabox.computer/pizzaboxes/aviion300/)

On the AViiON, DG/UX supported [multiprocessors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiprocessor). Working in an insurance/risk management shop, this was a huge plus. Not every Unix package supported this. DG/UX also worked seamlessly with the CLARiiON arrays.

Having raids, like the CLARiiON, it was easy to allocate space for certain accounts, but a previous administrator would "use first available space" when creating accounts. It didn't take long to run into problems with this approach: a single query could cause the lights on all 125 disks to light up - an account's data was spread across the entire set of arrays.

![CLARiiON disk array](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2023/12/EMC_Clariion_CX500.jpg)

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=512844](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=512844)

Once I took over as senior administrator, I set about correcting the problem by assigning an array to certain large accounts and smaller accounts grouped onto two arrays. It took about a week of night work to do, but DG/UX made the rearranging of files to specifically assigned arrays, easy.

The raids themselves were rock solid too. At one time, we had IBM 1GB disks. The mechanisms in these disks had a habit of sticking and the only way to get them to work again was to remove them and spin them on the floor like a top (I'm serious!). Once in a while, the disk was beyond hope and would never spin again. Now, the raid makes copies of each disk across its array, so the data was still present, although efficiency was lost. Once, I had to "borrow" a disk from another computer to keep an array running until a replacement could be obtained. The CLARiiON handled it superbly for the day. Rather than test our luck further, we replaced every disk. - and the DG/UX backup/restore utility made that work seamless as well.

## Support

There is not much to say about support except that it was fantastic. I had never had a problem with support. Every question I had was answered courteously and always accurately. That's something not seen today.

Remember the "4" I mentioned earlier, that would confuse me later? I called support on that. In 1995, I received the operating system upgrade tapes for the OS. Now, we had been running 5.4. I was surprised to see 4.10 tapes. I thought this was an error and that I was sent the wrong set of tapes; I didn't want to be downgraded.

As it turned out, I did have the right tapes. The "4" was a nod to the System V Release **4** update. I sometimes still think that it was odd - upgrading an OS while backing off the version number. Here's a short list of versions to illustrate:

- DG/UX 5.4 - 3.00 - Jan '94
- DG/UX 5.4 - 3.10 - Jul '94
- DG/UX 5.4 - 4.00 - Jan '95
- DG/UX -
**4.10**- Aug '95 - DG/UX -
**4.11**- Dec '95

## The End of DG/UX and AViiON

I transferred out of the shop at the end of '95 but I heard that [EMC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMC_Corporation) bought Data General, around the turn of the century, in order to get their hands on the CLARiiON arrays and software. Considering how solid the CLARiiON was, I cannot say that I blame them. If I remember the reports correctly, EMC did support the DG/UX OS and AViiONs for a couple of years, and then dropped them. A part of me wishes that they had kept the OS, but at that time, bigger companies, such as [IBM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM), [Sun Microsystems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems), and [HP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard), were calling the shots in the Unix world. Also, let's not forget the rise of [Linux](https://www.linux.com/what-is-linux/) which would become popular.

Data General and DG/UX certainly had a good run. Excellent support and operating system - a combination not easily matched today. I certainly enjoyed that operating system and it is definitely one to be remembered.