This article relates the story behind the development of the UNIX operating system — how it became the world’s most popular OS, the visionaries and organisations behind its success, and how it is related to the open source world.
All of us know that UNIX is the world’s first operating system and was developed at Bell Labs. Till date, it is the most powerful, versatile and flexible server operating system in the computing world.
The development of UNIX
In 1960, the AT&T Bell Laboratories, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and General Electric started developing a time-sharing operating system called MULTICS (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) for mainframe computers. The project was ambitious, and development went on till early 1967. As it became very complex at this stage, the management at GE was dissatisfied with this system and decided to withdraw support to the project in the later part of 1967. In 1970, GE sold its computer business to Honeywell.
Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson were the programmers at the Bell Labs computing and research department who worked on project MULTICS from start to end. Thompson found an old PDP-7 machine, and developed his own application programs and operating system from scratch, aided by Ritchie and others. This operating system was renamed UNIX.
In November 1971, the first version of UNIX was released along with a book called ‘The UNIX Programmers Manual’. This was the systematic development approach at that time – a product would be released with proper documentation so that researchers could read the manual and look at the OS details.
Denne historien er fra May 2019-utgaven av Open Source For You.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra May 2019-utgaven av Open Source For You.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Helgrind: Detecting Synchronisation Issues in Multithreaded Programs
Let's explore how Helgrind can be used to detect and debug multithreading issues with the help of a multithreaded C program.
The Perfect Process of Booting a PC
Booting a PC seems as simple as eating a cake. But are you aware of all that goes on behind-the-scenes to bake a delicious cake or seamlessly boot a PC?
Exploring eBPF and its Integration with Kubernetes
eBPF, a game-changing technology that extends the capabilities of the Linux kernel, offers significant advantages for Kubernetes networking. It also greatly improves Kubernetes observability by capturing detailed telemetry data directly from the kernel. Read on to find out how its integration with Kubernetes has immense benefits.
Deploying Generative AI LLMs on Docker
Built on massive datasets, large language models or LLMS are closely associated with generative Al. Integrating these models with Docker has quite a few advantages.
Containerisation: The Cornerstone of Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Cloud Success
Open source containerisation software provides the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and community support needed to build and manage complex multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. By leveraging this software, businesses can unlock the full potential of multicloud and hybrid cloud architectures while minimising vendor lock-in risks.
From Virtual Machines to Docker Containers: The Evolution of Software Development
Containerisation and Kubernetes have eased software development, making it faster and better. Let's see where these are headed, looking at trends that are making life easier for developers.
India's Leap in Supercomputing: Innovating for Tomorrow
As India strides towards self-sufficiency in supercomputing, embracing this evolution isn't just an option-it is pivotal for global competitiveness and technological leadership.
SageMath: A Quick Introduction to Cybersecurity
In the previous articles in this SageMath series, we delved into graph theory and explored its applications using SageMath. In this seventh article in the series, it is time to shift our focus to another crucial subfield of computer science: cybersecurity and cryptography.
Efficient Prompt Engineering: Getting the Right Answers
OpenAl's GPT-3 and GPT-4 are powerful tools that can generate human-like text, answer questions, and provide insights. However, the quality of these outputs depends heavily on how you frame the input, or prompt. Efficient prompt engineering ensures you get the right answers by designing inputs that guide the AI towards relevant, clear, and useful responses. Let's find out how to craft effective prompts with examples.
Analysing Linus Torvald's Critique of Docker
This article looks at Docker's security flaws, particularly its shared-kernel model, and contrasts it with traditional VMs for better isolation. It discusses Linus Torvalds' concerns, explores mitigation techniques, and proposes a roadmap for building a more secure containerisation platform using hardware-assisted virtualisation, true isolation, and a robust orchestration layer.
