[42] in Layered Athena
Looking for Layered Athena Testers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark Rosenstein)
Wed Sep 15 00:03:30 1993
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 93 23:59:55 -0400
From: Mark Rosenstein <mar@MIT.EDU>
To: cluster-managers@MIT.EDU, asd@MIT.EDU, dcns@MIT.EDU, o&s@MIT.EDU,
Cc: layered-athena@MIT.EDU
We will start beta testing Layered Athena for the DECstation next
week, and are looking for testers.
What is it?
Layered Athena is a new way of packaging the Athena environment.
Instead of the Athena release completely taking over the machine, you
start with the regular vendor operating system (in this case, Ultrix),
and then "layer" athena on top of it. Layered Athena consists of a
couple of different user interface programs, configuration files
specifying installation/update procedures, some modifications to a few
of the scripts in the regular Athena release, and uses a regular
Athena system pack. The contents of the regular release are divided
up into subsets which may be selected individually.
Why do Layered Athena?
This method of packaging Athena will allow it to run on any
variant of the basic platform that the vendor supports. Additional
display heads, tapes, and other peripherals will be supported as soon
as the underlying operating system can handle them. It will also make
it easier for our development staff to keep up with the latest
releases from the vendors, and quicker to port the environment to new
platforms. The ability to select subsets gives more control over the
use of local disk space and the dependance on the network.
What are the drawbacks?
While the workstation owner is given a lot of flexibility in how
the base operation system is installed and what parts of Athena to
install over that, this means that the environment can look different
on different workstations, making it more difficult to answer user
questions and solve problems. Also, while every effort has been made
to make sure that this will work over different configurations of the
base operating system, we are sure to find a few exceptions.
Can I be a tester?
This initial release only runs on DECstations running Ultrix
version 4.2A or 4.3. If you have a workstation running Ultrix and not
the full Athena release, or have a workstation currently running
Athena that you are willing to completely re-install, then you can run
this software. Since this is a beta-test, we are looking for testers
who know something about Unix, although they need not know too much
about Athena.
What do I do?
If you want to be a testers, please send me <mar@mit.edu> a mail
message indicating this. Also tell me something about the machine(s)
you want to test it on so that we can get a well rounded set of
testers. General discussion about this is on the layered-athena@mit.edu
mailing list, but please send requests to test the software directly
to me.
Thanx!
-Mark
