3 Sep
2018
3 Sep
'18
1:29 p.m.
Was Algol 60 any kind of viable alternative at the
time?
The operating system for the Burroughs B5000 had been written in
Burroughs Algol. That punctured the widespread belief that OS's
were so particular to the hardware that they had to be written
in machine language. I don't recall how far Burroughs Algol
went beyond Algol 60, nor why Multics did not want to follow
that lead. ("Viable" is a slippery concept when choosing
among Turing-complete alternatives.)
Doug
3 Sep
3 Sep
11:41 p.m.
New subject: Public access multics
On Mon, 3 Sep 2018, Doug McIlroy wrote:
Call me memory-challenged (which I am these days), but wasn't Burroughs'
OS known as Master Control Program (MCP - Male Chauvinist Pig)?
-- Dave, who has fond memories of the B1500...
Was Algol 60
any kind of viable alternative at the time?
The operating system for the Burroughs B5000 had been written in
Burroughs Algol. That punctured the widespread belief that OS's were so
particular to the hardware that they had to be written in machine
language. I don't recall how far Burroughs Algol went beyond Algol 60,
nor why Multics did not want to follow that lead. ("Viable" is a
slippery concept when choosing among Turing-complete alternatives.) 
4 Sep
4 Sep
2:47 a.m.
New subject: Public access multics
Yes, correct - I don't want to bring the list too off-topic, but Unisys (UNIVAC +
Burroughs) still maintains those two platforms (OS 2000 from the UNIVAC line and MCP from
Burroughs), and they have a hobbyist program for both systems.
https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath-forward-produc…
and
https://www.unisys.com/offerings/clearpath-forward/clearpath-forward-produc…
Unisys has also released older versions of MCP (1970s) as well with less restrictive
licensing, and the community has built an emulator capable of running them on an emulated
B5500 system - http://www.phkimpel.us/B5500/
The Burroughs MCP name supposedly inspired the MCP villain in TRON as well.
I've never used Burroughs Algol nor Honeywell Algol, but I am aware you can use
Honeywell Algol on Multics via gcos_tss (the GCOS Time Sharing Simulator).
-- Jeff
On Sep 3, 2018, at 7:41 PM, Dave Horsfall
<dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
On Mon, 3 Sep 2018, Doug McIlroy wrote:
Call me memory-challenged (which I am these days), but wasn't Burroughs' OS
known as Master Control Program (MCP - Male Chauvinist Pig)?
-- Dave, who has fond memories of the B1500...
Was Algol
60 any kind of viable alternative at the time?
The operating system for the Burroughs B5000 had been written in Burroughs Algol. That
punctured the widespread belief that OS's were so particular to the hardware that
they had to be written in machine language. I don't recall how far Burroughs Algol
went beyond Algol 60, nor why Multics did not want to follow that lead.
("Viable" is a slippery concept when choosing among Turing-complete
alternatives.)
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days inactive
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2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Dave Horsfall -
Doug McIlroy -
Jeffrey H. Johnson