SunOS
| Industry | Computer software, Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | SunOS (Unix-based operating system), Solaris (successor to SunOS 5.x) |
SunOS represents a Unix-based operating system crafted by Sun Microsystems specifically for their workstation and server computer systems, spanning from 1982 through the mid-1990s. The designation SunOS applies to releases 1.0 up to 4.1.4, which were built on the BSD foundation. Versions beginning with 5.0, derived from UNIX System V Release 4, were rebranded as Solaris.
History
The initial SunOS 1 was compatible with the Sun-2 line, incorporating enhancements for Sun-1 (68010) CPU boards. SunOS 2 extended support to both Sun-2 and Sun-3 (68020) platforms. SunOS 4 catered to Sun-2 (up to 4.0.3), Sun-3 (until 4.1.1), the Sun386i (versions 4.0–4.0.2), and the Sun-4 (SPARC) architectures. Although SunOS 3.2 was released with early support for Sun-4, it was originally intended as the first comprehensive release targeting SPARC processors.
With SunOS 4.1.2, support was added for Sun's inaugural sun4m multiprocessor systems, exemplified by the SPARCserver 600MP series; however, kernel locking mechanisms restricted operation to a single CPU at any given moment.
The final version in the SunOS 4 series was 4.1.4 (also known as Solaris 1.1.2) released in 1994, which accommodated sun4, sun4c, and sun4m architectures but did not extend compatibility to sun4d systems.
Sun continued distributing versions 4.1.3 and 4.1.4 until December 27, 1998, with official support maintained through September 30, 2003.
Version history
| SunOS version | Release date | Codebase | Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun UNIX 0.7 | 1982 | UniSoft UNIX v7 | Provided with the 68000-based Sun-1 system; lacked a windowing environment. | ||||
| SunOS 1.0 | Nov 1983 | 4.2BSD | Supported systems based on the 68010 CPU including Sun-1 and Sun-2 models; introduced the Sun Window System. | ||||
| SunOS 1.1 | Apr 1984 | ||||||
| SunOS 1.2 | Jan 1985 | ||||||
| SunOS 2.0 | May 1985 | Incorporated features such as NFS, Yellow Pages (YP) distributed directory service, Remote Procedure Call (RPC)/eXternal Data Representation (XDR), and a virtual file system (VFS) layer utilizing vnodes; coincided with the launch of 68020-powered Sun-3 hardware. | |||||
| SunOS 3.0 | Feb 1986 | 4.2BSD + System V IPC | Included optional System V utilities and development libraries. | ||||
| SunOS 3.2 | Sep 1986 | Same as 3.0 plus some 4.3BSD | Introduced initial support for the Sun-4 series. | ||||
| SunOS 3.5 | Jan 1988 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.0 | Dec 1988 | 4.3BSD with System V IPC | Featured a new virtual memory architecture, dynamic linking capabilities, automounter functionality, System V STREAMS I/O subsystem; added compatibility with Sun386i hardware. | ||||
| SunOS 4.0.1 | Dec 1988 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.0.2 | Sep 1989 | Exclusive to Sun386i | |||||
| SunOS 4.0.3 | May 1989 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.0.3c | Jun 1989 | Limited to SPARCstation 1 (Sun-4c) only | |||||
| SunOS 4.1 | Mar 1990 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.1e | Apr 1991 | Restricted to Sun-4e systems only | |||||
| SunOS 4.1.1 | Nov 1990 | 'Packaged with OpenWindows version 2.0 | |||||
| SunOS 4.1.1B | Feb 1991 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.1.1.1 | Jul 1991 | ||||||
| SunOS 4.1.1_U1 | Nov 1991 | 'Designed exclusively for Sun-3/3x platforms | |||||
| SunOS 4.1.2 | 'Dec 1991' | 'Enabled multiprocessor support on SPARCserver 600MP machines; marked the first release distributed solely via CD-ROM. | '- | ' SunOS ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' '5.x ' | ' ' 'Jun 1992 ' | ' ' 'SVR4 | 'Refer to Solaris article.' |
"SunOS" and "Solaris"
In 1987, AT&T Corporation partnered with Sun to unify prominent Unix variants—BSD (which incorporated SunOS elements), System V, and Xenix—resulting in System V Release 4 (SVR4).
On September 4, 1991, Sun revealed that its forthcoming major operating system would transition from BSD-based code to SVR4, internally designated as SunOS 5. The brand name Solaris was introduced to encompass not only the OS but also the OpenWindows desktop environment and Open Network Computing (ONC) capabilities.
Although the SVR4-based Solaris was anticipated to be released the next year, Sun opted to rebrand the existing SunOS 4 versions under the Solaris label—SunOS 4.1.1 was renamed Solaris 1.0, while SunOS 5.0 formed part of Solaris 2.0. Minor updates to SunOS 4 persisted until 1994, each aligned with a Solaris 1.x designation; however, both customers and employees frequently referred to the original SunOS version numbers. The version correlations were somewhat intricate:
| SunOS Version | Solaris Version | OpenWindows Version |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1.1 4.1.1B 4.1.1.1 |
1.0 | 2.0 |
| 4.1.2 | 1.0.1 | 2.0 |
| 4.1.3 | 1.1 SMCC Version A | 3.0 |
| 4.1.3C | 1.1C | 3.0 |
| 4.1.3_U1 | 1.1.1 | 3.0_U1 |
| 4.1.3_U1B | 1.1.1B | 3.0_U1B |
| 4.1.4 | 1.1.2 | 3.0_414 |
Currently, SunOS 5 is universally identified as Solaris, although the SunOS designation still appears in system banners, output from the uname command, and footers of man pages.
Aligning SunOS 5.x versions with Solaris marketing names is straightforward: each Solaris edition corresponds directly to its SunOS 5 minor release (for example, Solaris 2.4 includes SunOS 5.4). Following Solaris 2.6, the "2." prefix was dropped; the most recent version is Solaris 11, built on SunOS 5.11.
User interface
Beginning with SunOS 1.0, the Sun Window System provided a graphical user interface named Suntools, which operated atop windowing and bitmap libraries; this interface was renamed SunView in SunOS 3.0.[1] Subsequently, Sun developed NeWS, a windowing system that extended the PostScript language and its graphics framework.
In 1989, Sun launched OpenWindows, an OPEN LOOK-compliant environment based on X11, supporting applications built for both SunView and NeWS, which became the default graphical interface in SunOS 4.1.1.[2]
See also
- Comparison of BSD operating systems
- Comparison of operating systems
- Illumos
- OpenSolaris
- OpenIndiana
- Solaris (operating system)
- Unix wars