[TUHS] DOD KSOS Secure UNIX Operating System Manual and Final Report

[TUHS] DOD KSOS Secure UNIX Operating System Manual and Final Report

[segaloco via TUHS]

As promised in the other email, I had one other tidbit worth sharing some detail on but that is very different from WECo promo and informational material.  What I've got here are two documents pertaining to the "Department of Defence Kernelized Secure Operating System" project as undertaken by Ford's Western Development Laboratories Division.

The documents in question are https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111577.pdf and https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111566.pdf and represent the User's Manuals and Final Report respectively on this KSOS system.  These appear to be from the same microfiche as the documents linked based on splotches on the last page's date frame, although the copies I have here have the full frame, the PDFs linked seem to have the last panel cropped to a small square in the middle.  Not super significant, but sometimes it's the little details.

Anywho, unfortunately I don't have much to report, I got a bit excited while looking for these at first because I was having a hard time turning up PDFs, thought I had stumbled upon something unseen for some time, but in the gulf between last email and this I found them.  Silver lining is one less set of documents to scan, but nothing to really expose that isn't already a click away.

- Matt G.

[TUHS] Re: DOD KSOS Secure UNIX Operating System Manual and Final Report

[Tom Perrine]

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I will have to take a look around my offline archives and CDs. I had the
complete source of KSOS as it existed ca 1988 after certain changes were
made at Logicon.

I haven't looked at that data in years - it is possible that it may even
have the original Ford KDNs (Kernel Design Notes).  I'm *pretty* sure I
know where it is.

If there's any interest I can look for it later this week.

Before and during early covid I was using SIMH to build a PWB system to
serve as the dev platform for KSOS.  I think I had everything EXCEPT the
Modula compiler.  For the life of me I can't remember which compiler it
was. It was GFE as part of the project; it would have been the same
compiler used at Ford.

--tep


On Mon, Jun 5, 2023 at 8:16 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:

> As promised in the other email, I had one other tidbit worth sharing some
> detail on but that is very different from WECo promo and informational
> material.  What I've got here are two documents pertaining to the
> "Department of Defence Kernelized Secure Operating System" project as
> undertaken by Ford's Western Development Laboratories Division.
>
> The documents in question are https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111577.pdf
> and https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111566.pdf and represent the User's
> Manuals and Final Report respectively on this KSOS system.  These appear to
> be from the same microfiche as the documents linked based on splotches on
> the last page's date frame, although the copies I have here have the full
> frame, the PDFs linked seem to have the last panel cropped to a small
> square in the middle.  Not super significant, but sometimes it's the little
> details.
>
> Anywho, unfortunately I don't have much to report, I got a bit excited
> while looking for these at first because I was having a hard time turning
> up PDFs, thought I had stumbled upon something unseen for some time, but in
> the gulf between last email and this I found them.  Silver lining is one
> less set of documents to scan, but nothing to really expose that isn't
> already a click away.
>
> - Matt G.
>

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[TUHS] Re: DOD KSOS Secure UNIX Operating System Manual and Final Report

[segaloco via TUHS]

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If you do find that information Tom, one thing I'd be curious about is if it contains the seismic discrimination components: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA121241.pdf

This same cache of documents contained two sets of the manual pages for what I presume are the components being discussed in that paper. The libraries are listed as "seismic", "datacopy", "sdp", "graphics", and "mod1". That said, I can't authoritatively tie them together but I think that's all talking about the same thing. Unfortunately none of this stuff was in close proximity in the binders and stacks of paper, so I can't say whether they're actually related or not, but between this all being together and both KSOS and the seismic package info being there in the same .mil repository, there's a chance.

No rush though, just something to keep in mind if you happen upon that info.

- Matt G.
------- Original Message -------
On Monday, June 5th, 2023 at 8:34 PM, Tom Perrine <tom.perrine+tuhs@gmail.com> wrote:

> I will have to take a look around my offline archives and CDs. I had the complete source of KSOS as it existed ca 1988 after certain changes were made at Logicon.
>
> I haven't looked at that data in years - it is possible that it may even have the original Ford KDNs (Kernel Design Notes). I'm *pretty* sure I know where it is.
>
> If there's any interest I can look for it later this week.
>
> Before and during early covid I was using SIMH to build a PWB system to serve as the dev platform for KSOS. I think I had everything EXCEPT the Modula compiler. For the life of me I can't remember which compiler it was. It was GFE as part of the project; it would have been the same compiler used at Ford.
>
> --tep
>
> On Mon, Jun 5, 2023 at 8:16 PM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs@tuhs.org> wrote:
>
>> As promised in the other email, I had one other tidbit worth sharing some detail on but that is very different from WECo promo and informational material. What I've got here are two documents pertaining to the "Department of Defence Kernelized Secure Operating System" project as undertaken by Ford's Western Development Laboratories Division.
>>
>> The documents in question are https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111577.pdf and https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA111566.pdf and represent the User's Manuals and Final Report respectively on this KSOS system. These appear to be from the same microfiche as the documents linked based on splotches on the last page's date frame, although the copies I have here have the full frame, the PDFs linked seem to have the last panel cropped to a small square in the middle. Not super significant, but sometimes it's the little details.
>>
>> Anywho, unfortunately I don't have much to report, I got a bit excited while looking for these at first because I was having a hard time turning up PDFs, thought I had stumbled upon something unseen for some time, but in the gulf between last email and this I found them. Silver lining is one less set of documents to scan, but nothing to really expose that isn't already a click away.
>>
>> - Matt G.

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