Perihelion Software Ltd, part of the Perihelion group headquartered in Cambridge, UK is working on an implementation of X Window for the forthcoming Atari Abaq Inmos Transputer-based workstation, and is moving its Helios operating system to near source code compatibility with Unix System V. Helios is described as a Unix-like operating system, but according to Nick Garnett of Perihelion, Unix is not sophisticated enough to run on sensible, multi-processor systems. The company says it intends to adopt the Posix interface for Helios. The company hopes that by using X Window and approaching Unix compatibility it will encourage software developers to write software for the machines, in the knowledge that with small changes, the products will work on other workstations, such as those from Sun Microsystems and Apollo Computer. Developers will also be able to use X Window to drive the Abaq screen, or use the Abaq as an X workstation logged into another system. The Abaq is being demonstrated at the Hannover Fair, and is expected to be officially launched mid-year. Perihelion says it is looking to promote Helios as a general purpose operating system for the Transputer, which as it does not include virtual memory or memory protection features, is not suitable for a real port of Unix.
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