Helge Heß3d ago
I bet few people ever used it, but I actually did for a short time. There has been an X11 / "regular Unix" implementation of #OpenStep besides GNUstep: for Solaris (Sun's OS at the time).
http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/NeXTProducts/NeXTSoftware/OpenStep-SolarisWhitePaper/files/page538_1.pdf
Show threadMichael Engel3d ago
@helge Was there ever a version of OpenSTEP for Solaris that was compiled as x86 (or ppc…) binaries as the diagram seems to indicate? So far, I’ve only seen the Solaris/SPARC version.
Show threadAlexander Bochmann

@me_ @helge I've never seen any indication of an OpenSTEP for Solaris other than sparc.

The lubu redistribution (https://github.com/itomato/lubu) makes the same claim, for whatever that's worth:

"[..] based on the binary Solaris OpenStep release, it remains a Solaris Sparc product. There are no known binaries for other CPU's or operating systems."

Apr 4 at 7:05pmWeb
Show threadHelge Heß3d ago
@galaxis @me_ I’m 99% sure I had it running on x86. But that’s so long ago. Would be major work on my side to scan old disks for details, which I’m probably not going to invest.
Show threadAlexander Bochmann3d ago

@helge Hrm. a.o has an "OpenStep Enterprise 4.1, for Windows NT, HP-UX, and Solaris": https://archive.org/details/open-step-entcd

No idea currently if that's the same thing as Solaris OpenStep, which provided a window manager with the Openstep UI on top of Solaris (with no applications that I'm aware of besides those shipped in the distribution).

See this old thread for an example: https://mastodon.infra.de/@galaxis/111235455619243297

@me_

Show threadAlexander Bochmann3d ago
@helge @me_ From a quick look, that CD on archive.org seems to contain the development tools that are missing from the Sparc OpenStep UI distribution, and EnterpriseObjects / WebObjects for NT, HP-UX and Solaris.
Show threadHelge Heß1d ago
@galaxis @me_ I've been thinking about this. I really don't remember, but something I may have done is forward the display from a SPARCstation to an x86 Solaris PC. Which may not had have had an own OpenStep build, but X11 w/ DPS.
Show threadGeorg Tuparev1d ago

@helge @galaxis @me_

It was also working on HP Gecko.

For several years, the GNUStep distribution was working on my lab's HP. But the best experience was on Spark. BTW, it was a very early (secret) port for SGI, but it never saw the daylight.

Show threadMichael Engel1d ago
@tuparev @helge @galaxis It would be so nice if Apple could open the NeXT source code. Alas, I don't think this is ever going to happen – not the least because of Adobe code in the DPS implementation... it already took Apple a number of years to publish the Lisa source code.