From: doug@cs.dartmouth.edu (Doug McIlroy)
Subject: [TUHS] A Talk on Early Unix
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 08:41:42 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <201606301241.u5UCfgXc014753@coolidge.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> (raw)
> AFAIK the later ESS switches include a 3B machine but it only handles
> some administrative functions, with most of the the actual call
> processing being performed in dedicated hardware.
That is correct. The 3B2 was an administrative appendage.
Though Unix itself didn't get into switches, Unix people did
have a significant influence on the OS architecture for
ESS 5. Bob Morris, having observed some of the tribulations of
that project, suggested that CS Research build a demonstration
switch. Lee McMahon, Ken Thompson, and Joe Condon spearheaded
the effort and enlisted Gerard Holzmann's help in verification
(ironically, the only application of Gerhard's methods to
software made in his own department). They called the system,
which was very different from Unix, TPC--The Phone Company. It
actually controlled many of our phones for some years. The
cleanliness of McMahon's architecture, which ran on a PDP-11,
caught the attention of Indian Hill and spurred a major
reworking of the ESS design.
Doug
next reply other threads:[~2016-06-30 12:41 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 14+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2016-06-30 12:41 Doug McIlroy [this message]
2016-06-30 12:53 ` Ronald Natalie
2016-07-01 3:48 ` Lyndon Nerenberg
2016-07-02 1:57 ` Steve Simon
2016-07-03 1:17 ` Brad Spencer
2016-06-30 13:02 ` Dan Cross
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2016-06-30 16:34 Doug McIlroy
2016-06-30 6:56 Warren Toomey
2016-06-30 7:10 ` arnold
2016-06-30 10:30 ` Andrew Warkentin
2016-06-30 10:39 ` Andrew Warkentin
2016-06-30 11:03 ` Steve Nickolas
2016-06-30 22:22 ` Dave Horsfall
2016-06-30 14:11 ` Nemo
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