2 ms·

great comment - thanks :) and lets not forget: * VMS/VAX had virtualization & clustering in the 80ties * DECNET * systems which ranged from low-cost CMOS - f

great comment - thanks :) and lets not forget: * VMS/VAX had virtualization & clustering in the 80ties * DECNET * systems which ranged from low-cost CMOS - for example microVAXes or the older bitsliced 11/730 - to high-performance ECL - for example the 9000 * VMS uses ASTs - asynchronuous system traps - for system calls ... imho. this approach is far supirior to any "software-interrupt" concept from UNIX etc. and pays out especially under high loads (read: database-server) * ... cheerst ps.: VMS and windows NT where so similar in their (basic) concepts, that the joke VMS++ = WNT still holds ;) pps.: when it came out 1992 and during the following years digitals alpha-processor was far superior to nearly anything in the market back then ... ok, maybe 2nd to MIPS ;) * http://alasir.com/articles/alpha_history/ http://alasir.com/articles/alpha_history/

lproven 5y ago
Virtualisation on VMS? I don't recall that... tell me more? There was a ton more influence too. I was trying to highlight perhaps the most significant bits people who weren't yet born in the 1970s or 1980s might have seen, used, and know. As pointed out over on lobste.rs by David Chisnall: (https://lobste.rs/s/kmpnqd/historical_significance_dec_pdp_7_8_11_vax#c_wr98pr https://lobste.rs/s/kmpnqd/historical_significance_dec_pdp_7...) • The VAX memory layout is why modern OSes' memory layouts are the way they are. - The VAX block size of 512 bytes is why hard disks had 1/2 kB blocks until recently. - The VMS VM file was called PAGEFILE.SYS, which is why NT's has that name. - Unix first got virtual memory in the VAX version. The ordinary kernel was called `unix`, and to distinguish it, the VM version was called `vmunix`. That's why the Linux kernel was called `vmlinux` and later the compressed version `vmlinuz`. • The PDP-11 instruction set influenced the CPU designs of the Heathkit H11 (CP1600) & Intellivision (CP1610), Hitachi SuperH and Motorola 68000. • The VAX's protection rings influenced the protection rings of the Intel 80386, which is why x86-32 has 4 rings but almost all OSes use only 2 of them. There is a huge amount of low-level stuff in the designs of the Mac, Amiga, ST, the PC and x86 in general, in games consoles, even in late-1970s and early-1980s 8-bit home computers, that are that way because DEC were so totally dominant... but a lot of this stuff is only visible if you program in machine code, know the memory layouts and so on. So I tried to focus on the stuff visible to users, sysadmins, maybe techie-minded gamers. Filenames, commands, and so on. The 1970s computer industry was factiously described as "IBM and the Seven Dwarves". The minicomputer makers were called "the BUNCH": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUNCH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUNCH Of the BUNCH, DEC were by far the biggest and most influential. DEC's range of minicomputers ranged from de-facto microcomputers -- single-user desktop minis built into terminals -- to massive multi-cabinet minicomputers that competed directly with mainframes. Really, the lines blurred together. But DEC's fatal flaw was that its senior management thought cheap single-user micros, and UNIX, were passing trends of no real importance. It feared micros cutting into its lucrative minicomputer profit margins, and thought its proprietary OSes were better than UNIX. Both of these statements were arguably true but even an industry giant can't change the course of a whole industry. So, ironically, in the end, IBM designed the IBM PC using ideas and concepts from DEC (and Apple), not from IBM's own big hardware. The PC was a huge success and changed the industry... but IBM itself lost control of the PC industry and ended up quitting it. DEC refused to embrace micros and UNIX until it was too late, so never gained decisive control of those markets... which doomed it. https://digital.com/digital-equipment-corporation/ https://digital.com/digital-equipment-corporation/

lproven 5y ago

Virtualisation on VMS? I don't recall that... tell me more? There was a ton more influence too. I was trying to highlight perhaps the most significant bits people who weren't yet born in the 1970s or 1980s might have seen, used, and know. As pointed out over on lobste.rs by David Chisnall: (https://lobste.rs/s/kmpnqd/historical_significance_dec_pdp_7_8_11_vax#c_wr98pr https://lobste.rs/s/kmpnqd/historical_significance_dec_pdp_7...) • The VAX memory layout is why modern OSes' memory layouts are the way they are. - The VAX block size of 512 bytes is why hard disks had 1/2 kB blocks until recently. - The VMS VM file was called PAGEFILE.SYS, which is why NT's has that name. - Unix first got virtual memory in the VAX version. The ordinary kernel was called `unix`, and to distinguish it, the VM version was called `vmunix`. That's why the Linux kernel was called `vmlinux` and later the compressed version `vmlinuz`. • The PDP-11 instruction set influenced the CPU designs of the Heathkit H11 (CP1600) & Intellivision (CP1610), Hitachi SuperH and Motorola 68000. • The VAX's protection rings influenced the protection rings of the Intel 80386, which is why x86-32 has 4 rings but almost all OSes use only 2 of them. There is a huge amount of low-level stuff in the designs of the Mac, Amiga, ST, the PC and x86 in general, in games consoles, even in late-1970s and early-1980s 8-bit home computers, that are that way because DEC were so totally dominant... but a lot of this stuff is only visible if you program in machine code, know the memory layouts and so on. So I tried to focus on the stuff visible to users, sysadmins, maybe techie-minded gamers. Filenames, commands, and so on. The 1970s computer industry was factiously described as "IBM and the Seven Dwarves". The minicomputer makers were called "the BUNCH": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUNCH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BUNCH Of the BUNCH, DEC were by far the biggest and most influential. DEC's range of minicomputers ranged from de-facto microcomputers -- single-user desktop minis built into terminals -- to massive multi-cabinet minicomputers that competed directly with mainframes. Really, the lines blurred together. But DEC's fatal flaw was that its senior management thought cheap single-user micros, and UNIX, were passing trends of no real importance. It feared micros cutting into its lucrative minicomputer profit margins, and thought its proprietary OSes were better than UNIX. Both of these statements were arguably true but even an industry giant can't change the course of a whole industry. So, ironically, in the end, IBM designed the IBM PC using ideas and concepts from DEC (and Apple), not from IBM's own big hardware. The PC was a huge success and changed the industry... but IBM itself lost control of the PC industry and ended up quitting it. DEC refused to embrace micros and UNIX until it was too late, so never gained decisive control of those markets... which doomed it. https://digital.com/digital-equipment-corporation/ https://digital.com/digital-equipment-corporation/