Robert Nordier's port of v7 to x86 probably didn't get the attention it deserves.
It's what it sounds like: v7 Unix ported to x86. Unix v7 was portable enough and the PDP-11 architecturally similar enough to x86 that almost all the code works without change. (Many of the changes from v6 to v7 were to make Unix more portable; it was already running on at least 4 different architectures by 1980.)
I wonder if the obscurity is because the x86 v7 source was an archive inside an archive? Seems a minor thing but not having it to browse online is likely to be an off-ramp for most.
Good mention! If one wants to study Unix in an acedemic sense then xv6 is a great starting point. IIRC, many course studies start with xv6 and gradually adding new capabilities to it.
Robert Nordier's port of v7 to x86 probably didn't get the attention it deserves.
It's what it sounds like: v7 Unix ported to x86. Unix v7 was portable enough and the PDP-11 architecturally similar enough to x86 that almost all the code works without change. (Many of the changes from v6 to v7 were to make Unix more portable; it was already running on at least 4 different architectures by 1980.)
I wonder if the obscurity is because the x86 v7 source was an archive inside an archive? Seems a minor thing but not having it to browse online is likely to be an off-ramp for most.
https://www.nordier.com/v7x86/v7x86-0.8a-all.tar.xz has releases/v7x86-0.8a.tar.bz2 (you'll want a prefix it explodes in the current directory). It's in usr/src of course.
I know this is software that's almost 50 years old. But it comes up a lot still in teaching.
xv6 the MIT 'spiritual port' (so to speak) of Version 6 Unix probably deserves to be mentioned there as well, as while it's not actually a historic Bell Labs Unix it will better meet some people's needs. https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2012/xv6.html https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2025/xv6.html
Good mention! If one wants to study Unix in an acedemic sense then xv6 is a great starting point. IIRC, many course studies start with xv6 and gradually adding new capabilities to it.