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Submission + - Multics reborn! (multicians.org)

doon386 writes: The seminal operating system Multics has been reborn. The last native Multics system was shutdown in 2000. After more than a dozen years in hibernation a simulator for the Honeywell dps8/m CPU was finally realized and, consequently, Multics found new life. This revival of Multics allows hobbyists, researchers and students the chance to experience first hand the system that inspired UNIX.

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.

Comment Re:Sad end to a great operating system (Score 1) 127

Right, that is an understatement. The Multics CPUs were multimillion dollar systems with dedicated support staff that took up large rooms. Compared to which most DEC machines of the time were less than toys. That's why UNIX was considered an "emasculated" Multics. It's really sad that BTL bailed, but such is life. The Multics memory protection mechanisms are so much different than what was available then, or now, that porting directly to x86/x84 is not feasible. We got it working under emulation only with much effort. That said, the folks doing the VMS port to x86/64 had similar problems with the x86 architecture. They decided to implement various missing bits in software. A x64 port of Multics would be quite doable using the same techniques. The realization of which is left as a exercise for the reader. For more information see http://multicians.org/ https://sourceforge.net/projec... andhttp://ringzero.wikidot.com/ Multics Lives! "Multics rulez, UNIX droolz"

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