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Xenix 3.2 Programmer Needed (Help)

aplmak

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2012
Messages
132
Location
United States
Hey gang! I’m looking forward to VCF East. I really need someone’s help! I have a Xenix 3.2f 286 Box and I was wondering if there were any programmers out there who could help me patch the Y2K date on it? I know this is a far reach but back in the day there supposedly a patch. The only patches I could find “FIX2000” are for 386 Boxes. If anyone could help me I’d be forever thankful! Most of the software uses 4 digit date format so I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possible.. I just need a talented programmer/developer to help me. I have the entire development set for this OS as well!

Most Sincerely,
Matthew
 
All UNIX systems are generally capable until the year 2038 (because of the 32-bit time_t since the Unix Epoch).

However, not all tools can deal with years past 2000, noticably "date" often does not support y2k.
The question is whether it is necessary to update the tool in the first place. If your system's RTC can handle such dates, there may be an alternative way of programming the year into it (e.g. using the BIOS setup or a DOS boot floppy). Otherwise, it may be easier to just write a small program in C which calls stime() to set the system time and replace the call to "date" in the startup scripts.

I have done this for PC/IX using the pce-ibmpc emulator (see attachment). Since PC/IX lacks mktime(), it includes an implementation based on binary search. For Xenix-286, you need to either interface to the RTC driver or find another time source; the given inline assembly won't work.
 

Attachments

  • rtcdate.txt
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Hey gang! I’m looking forward to VCF East. I really need someone’s help! I have a Xenix 3.2f 286 Box and I was wondering if there were any programmers out there who could help me patch the Y2K date on it? I know this is a far reach but back in the day there supposedly a patch. The only patches I could find “FIX2000” are for 386 Boxes. If anyone could help me I’d be forever thankful! Most of the software uses 4 digit date format so I don’t see how it wouldn’t be possible.. I just need a talented programmer/developer to help me. I have the entire development set for this OS as well!

Most Sincerely,
Matthew

If you mean 2.3.2 for 286, SCO's SLS for Y2K should still apply, according to https://www.scosales.com/ta/kb/109924.html

from the SCO page said:
This SLS is intended for the following operating system releases, and affected
SCO products:
[...]
SCO XENIX 286 Operating System Release 2.3.2 AT
SCO XENIX 286 Operating System Release 2.3.2 for computers based on
Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)

You can download it from http://www.aljex.com/bkw/sco/xnx427d.Z
 
If you mean 2.3.2 for 286, SCO's SLS for Y2K should still apply, according to https://www.scosales.com/ta/kb/109924.html



You can download it from http://www.aljex.com/bkw/sco/xnx427d.Z
Hey thanks for your input it is really helpful. I have downloaded and extracted XNX427d.Z and it's been a while since I've tried to run the fix sequence.. I am not a programmer in any means at all.. I am a hardware person. I looked and in most programs I see they have a 4 digit year in them. The OS itself only allows you to enter the time and a two digit year. I am goin to try the XNX thing again.. If last I remember I received an "a.out" error. Something like an "unexpected character error". This version of Xenix 3.2f was written specifically for ALTOS from Microsoft even though it truly is Xenix. I do have the entire development set for it if that helps.. My machine is available to access via terminal emulator if someone would be so kind to give me a hand. I was told back in the day by an old Altos dealer that they did make a fix for this.. It may in fact be the XNX zipped files. Let me know if anyone would be willing to give me a hand. Most greatfully.. Matthew
 
This are the actual files extracted and placed on a floppy of the the zipped XNX427.Z file but I am unsure how to run them...

-r--r--r-- 3/3 0 Jan 16 00:42 1999 tmp/_lbl/prd=xnx427/typ=n286/rel=
1.0.0d/vol=01
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 1712 Jan 18 20:02 1999 tmp/perms/xnx427
-rwxr-xr-x 3/3 3582 Dec 11 09:03 1996 tmp/perms/prep.xnx427
-rwx--x--x 3/3 19724 Jul 14 16:46 1995 tmp/xnx427/xnx/bin/touch
-rwx--x--x 3/3 18212 Jul 14 16:46 1995 tmp/xnx427/xnx/bin/sddate
-rwx------ 3/3 18012 Jul 14 16:46 1995 tmp/xnx427/xnx/etc/setclock
-rwx--x--x 3/3 18980 Jul 14 16:46 1995 tmp/xnx427/xnx/lib/cvtdate
---x--s--x 0/3 27513 Jan 8 20:38 1999 tmp/xnx427/xnx/usr/bin/at
-rw-r--r-- 0/2 0 Jan 8 17:49 1996 tmp/xnx427/xnx/usr/bin/z#u8k8=Phs
-rw-r--r-- 0/2 0 Jan 8 17:49 1996 tmp/xnx427/xnx/usr/bin/D

-rw-r--r-- 0/2 0 Jan 8 17:49 1996 tmp/xnx427/xnx/usr/bin/|t
-rwxr-xr-x 3/3 18375 Jan 17 20:51 2002 tmp/init.xnx427
-rwxrwxrwx 3/3 20244 Nov 25 22:11 1998 usr/bin/fix2000
-rwxr-xr-x 3/3 21111 Jan 22 23:55 1999 usr/lib/custom/xnx427.rmv
-r--r--r-- 3/3 1031 Apr 1 15:02 1996 usr/lib/custom/xnx427/fix/op2
-r--r--r-- 3/3 68 Apr 1 15:02 1996 usr/lib/custom/xnx427/fix/wrd
-r--r--r-- 3/3 20 Apr 1 15:02 1996 usr/lib/custom/xnx427/fix/fox
-r--r--r-- 3/3 223 Aug 7 11:46 1996 usr/lib/custom/xnx427/fix/net
-r--r--r-- 3/3 1663 Nov 1 09:05 1996 usr/lib/custom/xnx427/fix/xnx
-rw-r--r-- 3/3 1693 Aug 7 12:59 1996 usr/man/cat.ADM/fix2000.ADM

I don't have a lot of experience running stuff in a shell "$" so at a regular "#" prompt I try to run for example init.xnx427 and I receive the error "init.xnx427: syntax error at line 106: `(' unexpected"

It has to be doable... as you can see above in the one line item for the file tmp/init/xnx427 you can see the date of Jan 17 20:51 2002....
 
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I am not certain but XNX427D may have been written for a 386 processor.. this is a 286.. maybe that's the issue?? I just wish I could get the correct Y2K patch and it applied. I have plenty of backups for the machine so that's not an issue playing around.. I actually have an MFM SSD installed so it's easy just to throw a new image of the hdd on it. Truly any assistance from someone out there would be really appreciated.. For someone else this would probably take a short period of time. One also thing to note is that in the instructions it calls for the "custom" command which I do not have on my machine. But as I said I have the entire development set for the 286 and it's installed as well.
 
Hey gang!!! Svenska did it for me!!!! He spent HOURS and HOURS!!!! What an incredible job he did!!! He was able to make my Altos Xenix 3.2 box Y2K compliant!!! Well at least up till 2038. I cannot thank him enough! Very smart gentleman and very compassionate!!! Definitely an asset to this group and forum!!!!
 
This system is mostly sentimental to me… I used it while I was in my teens and then through high school and dialing up to bbs’s before the internet.. so keeping it running and updated as much as possible means a lot 😊😊😊
 
Gotta wonder how many Y2K-compliant 286 systems there are out there... ;)

I have a load of them at work still - in a mission-critical application! They are OK to 2027...

However, we use bespoke software (operating systems, compilers, network stacks etc.).

Dave
 
The Altos Xenix 3.2 is very similar to IBM XENIX 1.0 - sufficient to run its C compiler. They are all System III, so SCO fixes for SysV do not apply.
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any source code for System III, so a full fix needs binary patching.

These UNIX systems get the day-of-week wrong after 2000 (since it was a leap year).
 
Nice thread you have here, gentlemen.

May we see some photos of that 286 Altos Xenix system?
Sure what would you like to see screen shots of? Just the system or the date fix Svenska compiled and made? It's an Altos 886 system running Xenix 3.2fs8, a 286 with coprocessor and 3MB of RAM. The hard drive is actually a SSD MFM solution that David G. makes.
 
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