Amiga Unix

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**Amiga UNIX**
Company/ developer:	Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
OS family:	UNIX System V R4
Source model:	closed source
Latest stable release:	2.01 / 1992
Supported platforms:	Motorola 68030
Kernel type:	monolithic
License:	binary only
Working state:	Historic

Commodore-Amiga, Inc., in 1990, did a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4 for the Amiga computer family (in addition to the proprietary AmigaOS shipping with these systems by default), informally known as Amix. Bundled with the Amiga 3000UX, Commodore's UNIX was one of the first ports of SVR4 to the 68k architecture.

Contrary to the popular belief that Amigas were primarily gaming machines, this port was considered one of the finest Unices of its time by Amiga enthusiasts. The Amiga A3000UX model even got the attention of Sun Microsystems, though ultimately nothing came of it.

Unlike Apple's A/UX, Amiga UNIX contained no compatibility layer to allow AmigaOS applications to run under Unix. With few native applications available to take advantage of the Amiga's significant multimedia capabilities, it failed to find a niche in the quite-competitive Unix workstation market of the early 1990s. The A3000UX's price tag of approximately $7000 was also not very attractive compared to other low-end UNIX systems at the time, such as the NeXTstation ($5000 for a base system, with many times the number of applications available), the SGI Indigo (starting at $8000), or the DECstation 5000/25 (starting at $5000). Sun, HP, and IBM had similarly priced systems. The A3000UX's 68030 was noticibly underpowered compared to most of its RISC-based competitors.

Like many other Unix variants with small market shares, Amiga Unix vanished into the mists of computer history when its vendor, Commodore, went out of business. Today, Unix-like operating systems such as Minix, NetBSD, and Linux are available for the Amiga platform, but the commercial and AT&T-licensed Amiga Unix has not been revived.