I' hoping someone else remembers these machines...

Way back in the late 70s, early 80's, I remember using a standalone (no networking that I can remember) 6502-based machine with 8" disk drives and a very Unix-like OS (I don't actually remember how truly Unix-like it was under the covers, but I do remember a shell that used common Unix-like commands like 'ls', the C compiler was 'cc', and it was able to do background tasks by adding the '&' to the end of the command, which was my first introduction to multitasking, so it was memorable) for learning Pascal, C and assembly in University.. I've been searching high and low but I can't find any info on such a machine, which my fading memory is pretty sure was called a "Lisa" or something very similar.. These days, the best known 'Lisa' is Apple's failed product, and a 6502 assembler program..

Anyways, does anyone else remember a machine like this? I'd love to find an old unit and restore it, but I just can't remember enough details beyond what I have shared above..

Welcome!

Sounds very interesting indeed! Was this in the USA? Could it have been a project built within the university for internal use? Accessed with a terminal? Or VDU and keyboard built in?

Canada, but the machines would have been American as we didn't have any computer manufacturing industry to speak of at the time.. . I don't believe it was an internal development either as we had a whole classroom of these. The form factor was a standalone VDU with keyboard and two vertically mounted 8" floppies. If I recall, everything booted from the floppy, so no internal fixed disk at the time. It had accounts and a Unix-like login screen, but no networking (perhaps you could have connected a serial terminal, but I don't think any of ours were configured that way). There was one unit with a printer connected that you had to take your floppy disk to in order to print... Unfortunately this was my first compsci course and I was more fascinated at what you could do by programming than by the details of the hardware itself.. We also used emacs as the editor in the course, but 'ed' was also taught as we still had TTY on some sort of PDP mainframe.. I don't recall if vi was available, but that system was the one I first learned emacs on, so another reason for nostalgia..

The course was 6502 assembly and another on Pascal and C and the compilers all generated 6502 code, but I wonder if there's any possibility that the computer might have actually been a z80 machine, which would have been much more common in that era, and maybe 6502 co processor card as that kind of thing was also common, albeit in the reverse sense (e.g. the CBM z80 card for the PET that allowed it to run CP/M apps and the similar z80 card for Tandy 6809 machines). Does anyone know if such a thing existed: 6502 daughtercards, as that could explain why I can't find any references to an early 6502 Unixx machine...

I think it was relatively common to have cross-assembly capability, so a 6502 assembler would run on some other, more convenient, platform. I wouldn't be too surprised if the 6502 binary was then run on a software emulator - do you have any recollection of the run-time environment? As you say, it could also have been an actual 6502 system attached as a peripheral or subsystem.

Here's a hint about the setup at Waterloo - they made the SuperPET, a PET with a 6809, showing what a university was capable of:
https://uwaterloo.ca/watitis/university ... w-trenches

The mentioned MicroWat can be seen here:
https://computermuseum.uwaterloo.ca/ind ... jects/1690

But no 8" drive visible.

_________________
x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

The Aztec C compiler (which I used on the Apple II) came with a Shell that had mostly unix-like commands including a 'vi' style editor. I don't recall & though, however this may be a good read:

http://aztecmuseum.ca/

-Gordon

_________________
--
Gordon Henderson.
See my Ruby 6502 and 65816 SBC projects here: https://projects.drogon.net/ruby/

This rings a bell in the back of my brain, but I can't remember the details. There was Lunix on the C64/C128, but that didn't come along until the '90s...

Thanks Gordon - that Aztec C offering has, in at least one variant, as well as a shell, an assembler called LISA, which matches one of c_4's memories:
http://www.appleoldies.ca/anix/index.htm
"The ANIX Shell, Lazer Pascal and the LISA Assembler for the Apple II"

Question for you c_4: when you mention 8" floppies, how sure are you? Both 8" and 5¼" are black-sleeved, large, and a bit flexible. Is it possible that you are comparing to 3½ disks which are smaller and in a hard plastic shell with a sliding metal cover? In comparison to those, and without any other reference point, maybe what you remember are 5¼" floppies? There would be rather more candidate machines in that case. I'm not yet finding a 6502 based machine with integral 8" floppies.

Could it be one of these?

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/co ... st=1&c=242

The high-end TRS-80s were quite expensive ($4999 in 1982 USD for the Model 16), so imagining a classroom full of them strains my imagination.

Also from the wiki:

My university operating systems design course used an AT&T 68k workstation as its target, but we developed our projects on the resident VAX running Ultrix, and transferred our attempts over a flaky serial connection. Most of the student teams used Modula-2, but my team and one other blazed our own trail with a c cross-compiler. Working in a small team was a memorable experience, but not a particularly pleasant one.

_________________
Got a kilobyte lying fallow in your 65xx's memory map? Sprinkle some VTL02C on it and see how it grows on you!

Mike B. (about me) (learning how to github)

Do any of these look like what you remember?

http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele/hobby/ohio-scientific-computers-challenger-iii-oem/
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=47
https://www.smcelectronics.com/DOWNLOADS/1980%20OHIO%20SCIENTIFIC.PDF

The C3 series had 3 microprocessors including teh 6502 and could run a variety of operating systems.

You can find them, or pieces of them, on ebay from time to time.

_________________
Bill

If it was indeed Unix-like you are almost certainly thinking of UniFLEX, which was an evolution of FLEX. However, these ran on the 6809 and 6800, respectively.

The Motorola development machine (Exorcisor) ran on 2x 8" floppies and had a "unix like" command line syntax. It could run FLEX which is unix like. Perhpas the UNI added a 6502 cross assembler?