From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from out2-smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.26]) by ewsd; Wed Jun 20 15:32:00 EDT 2018 Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.nyi.internal [10.202.2.41]) by mailout.nyi.internal (Postfix) with ESMTP id B786821AFE for <9front@9front.org>; Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:31:58 -0400 (EDT) Received: from web3 ([10.202.2.213]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:31:58 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=fastmail.fm; h= content-transfer-encoding:content-type:date:from:message-id :mime-version:subject:to:x-me-sender:x-me-sender:x-sasl-enc; s= fm3; bh=c06cg2JkxfNuokec2svmXuahPrGq3+nwvUMK5a4iVvw=; b=X9CouP1A oNUwo6eGg1XkLpxeCafib4mD2TqYGfJqiumtIDlodxju88P6I4zBTM+tDmpTjQFj P6Rr4XIkqHuq3Tni6RnI+yqIMShzPwAlC6N9USCFDXAAm0FEGvS3eZvLNy2NwZZ+ tm3HFTEkDNGIyZ6vbJ7p9sOLSLClexep8wZ0pmOTSlg3L83k1Epwvgt+harX8p5u vE74scmtLwM+9CLJaYFMW5Cm842dxsfDouCjaLfQrwRHEZy7Kgk3Zd/HlSE1NU5b fnrWmpBS4QNzcZDvawL+otEprfeaHYT7mLwF0MsDT55wejz5DRwjTHcBVVbQDvxs C+jsYBShMcqYyA== DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=content-transfer-encoding:content-type :date:from:message-id:mime-version:subject:to:x-me-sender :x-me-sender:x-sasl-enc; s=fm3; bh=c06cg2JkxfNuokec2svmXuahPrGq3 +nwvUMK5a4iVvw=; b=agbK5zVTfbhh1uhj6rFbnRkPrIeT8P63mqqxfV/EuMdfn tSCnpqANdaimSwHlUWV7qeqHgPJvAK1YgeCrf9XUpkS3gFrT9qcNCDIseGcFc/uF xnG9xs0qgRroE78vlv4H7MTsqkOHwYbaa6fj7eoi6sraiTuV80J/VYG6Q3D2qBnH xkGdsdIF36OddUmcmNG6iyP4OInK1UgH5oOH82w5XOzv+4AMgbGBoyVgPemxYewr c1dIC8Z7JfVgRVF/mj0EldzD3dKfznZIAxZAAn4gBIucHWewoiNr7SJUiW9Ihpfn XxUv4GT7Jx6opht+JXSQIYpoV8OKT5Gq1FQR6pZBQ== X-ME-Proxy: X-ME-Sender: Received: by mailuser.nyi.internal (Postfix, from userid 99) id 82C229E2CC; Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:31:58 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <1529523118.3238688.1414832872.6C8B427F@webmail.messagingengine.com> From: "Ethan A. Gardener" To: 9front@9front.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" X-Mailer: MessagingEngine.com Webmail Interface - ajax-0d8ea36c Subject: Another computer system with 1 drive and many terminals Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2018 20:31:58 +0100 List-ID: <9front.9front.org> List-Help: X-Glyph: ➈ X-Bullshit: extended non-blocking table NoSQL GPU dependency just-in-time control Rather less capable than Plan 9 but an impressive system for its era, the Polycorp Poly 1 was an 8-bit machine designed in 1980. It networked in daisy-chain fashion, with a disk drive at the end of the chain. The disk drive unit (called Proteus) notably ran a multi-tasking form of the Poly's own Flex, with one thread for each of the connected Polys. I didn't note much else of interest about the software, but the Poly's graphics hardware supported 5 layers: text, graphics, text 2, graphics 2, and background. In the development lab, they went further. "We integrated a full 10" Laser Disk player under program control, which played onto the "background" layer (5) instead of the background colour. In this way, we could take videos, and annotate them for teaching purposes." It all seems rather overkill for an 8-bit, but there it was. :) https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/collection/poly1.htm General info with photos -- it ought to have featured in some sci-fi series, possibly hovering, it looks like it should. :) In the comments is a personal account from the operating system developer, including the graphics info I quoted. https://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blog/2016-10-9-poly-acquisition.htm A few more links here, a bit more info, and a lot more photos, and of course the site owner's tale of how he got them. http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/homepages/andrew/poly/Poly.htm This is an emulator project which, unlike some, doesn't seem to hide any info at all. Documenting the Poly is part of the goal. There's a lot of resources here, including software. -- The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne. -- Chaucer