Worried that the Advanced Computing Environment will give the wrong impression about the availability of straight Unix System V.4, Unix System Laboratories Inc yesterday rushed out its announcement of availability of the V.4 Applications Binary Interface for the MIPS Computer Systems Inc RISC architecture, noting that AT&T Computer Systems, NEC Corp, Olivetti Systems & Networks, Prime Computer Inc, Pyramid Technology Corp, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, Sony Microsystems Co and Tandem Computers Inc – all bar AT&T being listed among the Advanced Computing Architecture backers – have committed to offering MIPS-based computers compliant with the Unix V.4 Applications Binary Interface for MIPS R-series kit; the reference implementation will be based on Pyramid Technology Corp’s System V.4 for MIPS with significant contributions from Sony Microsystems and NEC Corp; the first MIPS reference machine will be Sony Corp’s NEWS 3200 Laptop; the reference implementation will be available in the third quarter.
