48-Year-Old Multics Operating System Resurrected (multicians.org)

"The seminal operating system Multics has been reborn," writes Slashdot reader doon386: The last native Multics system was shut down in 2000. After more than a dozen years in hibernation a simulator for the Honeywell DPS-8/M CPU was finally realized and, consequently, Multics found new life... Along with the simulator an accompanying new release of Multics -- MR12.6 -- has been created and made available. MR12.6 contains many bug and Y2K fixes and allows Multics to run in a post-Y2K, internet-enabled world.
Besides supporting dates in the 21st century, it offers mail and send_message functionality, and can even simulate tape and disk I/O. (And yes, someone has already installed Multics on a Raspberry Pi.) Version 1.0 of the simulator was released Saturday, and Multicians.org is offering a complete QuickStart installation package with software, compilers, install scripts, and several initial projects (including SysDaemon, SysAdmin, and Daemon). Plus there's also useful Wiki documents about how to get started, noting that Multics emulation runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Raspian systems.

The original submission points out that "This revival of Multics allows hobbyists, researchers and students the chance to experience first hand the system that inspired UNIX."

Comments

no systemd ;)

[TheGratefulNet]

maybe its worth looking into..

Re:What can we do with it?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Where did you read that the 360 was so slow it could only handle one user?

This rumor originated in Dr. Gene Amdahl's lesser known history of the IBM mainframe titled, "The Apocryphal Man Mouth," which examined the contradictory cognitive dissonance of software project managers who think that they are running a development process, when, in fact, they are simply running their own mouths. The book is filled with the taller tales of the seminal computer industry, like the instance of Professor Forman Acton of referring to the inventors of that new-fangled language, collectively as, "The FORTRAN Boys."

Apparently, a disgruntled IBM customer complained about about the one user design limitation of OS/360, and asked the IBM sales rep when an upgrade to more than one user would be available. The IBM sales rep pulled out a little plastic case containing resistors, uttered some bizarre incantation like, "Bad Booze Rots Our Young Girls But Vodka Goes Well", and enumerated the prices of the resistors, and how many users each one would support. One cold solder joint later, and the IBM customer was a happy camper.

There was also something in there about Oliver North nearly starting World War Three, because he was forced to use IBM's OrifaceVision/2, which was like their PROFS Professional Office System for mainframes, but it was much more secure, because it was based on OS/2, which meant it never ran or was used at all, and you can't get any more secure than something that just doesn't work . . .

. . . oh, and speaking about IBM SAA AD/Cycle, don't mention that, unless you say "Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman" three times to a mirror, and conclude it with that Islamic curling Eight-ender cry, "Allah Hu Almaraq!", ("God is Gravy!"),

. . . and . . .

Re:Wonder if my account still works?

[OolimPhon]

Is there a password reset function?

Yes, but your email address has to have UUCP bangs in it :)