page_title: History of the Berkeley Software Distribution
section_title: 3BSD
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Berkeley Software Distribution / 3BSD
caption_attribution_description: Elaboratore Digital VAX 11/780
context_page_description: The History of the Berkeley Software Distribution begins in the 1970s.
context_section_description: A VAX computer was installed at Berkeley in 1978, but the port of Unix to the VAX architecture, UNIX/32V, did not take advantage of the VAX's virtual memory capabilities. The kernel of 32V was largely rewritten by Berkeley students to include a virtual memory implementation, and a complete operating system including the new kernel, ports of the 2BSD utilities to the VAX, and the utilities from 32V was released as 3BSD at the end of 1979. 3BSD was also alternatively called Virtual VAX/UNIX or VMUNIX (for Virtual Memory Unix), and BSD kernel images were normally called /vmunix until 4.4BSD.
  The success of 3BSD was a major factor in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) decision to fund Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), which would develop a standard Unix platform for future DARPA research in the VLSI Project.
caption: The VAX-11/780, a typical minicomputer used for early BSD timesharing systems
exif: {"Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "HP PhotoSmart R707 (V01.00)", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2005:10:02 19:39:53", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "456", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8444", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4406", "EXIF ExposureTime": "3117/100000", "EXIF FNumber": "29/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF OECF": "[]", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:10:02 19:39:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:10:02 19:39:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "48515049", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1281/256", "EXIF ApertureValue": "101/32", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "553/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "637/250", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Flash", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "9", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0010", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7690", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "27/1000000", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "200", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Not defined", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "44", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 15, 0, 48, 48, 48, 48, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 55, 65, 48, 48, 48, 48, 56, ... ]", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2"}