Does anyone still use Multics??

Chris Rende car at pte.UUCP
Wed Dec 7 00:52:43 AEST 1988


In article <32902 at think.UUCP>, barmar at think.COM (Barry Margolin) writes:
> In article <6392 at polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> steve at polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Steve DeJarnett) writes:
> >	With the recent discussions about old GE systems and where GECOS came 
> >from, I started to wonder if anyone still used Multics on any systems.  Are
> >there any sites out there that run Multics??
> 
> Honeywell Bull still has about 50 Multics customers, and a total of
> about 70 systems
> 
> There are still five Multics systems at the Pentagon, several each at
> Ford Motor Company and Electronic Data Systems (the computer
> subsidiary of GM, which also runs GM's internal computer systems), and
> about 40 systems in Europe (mostly in France).

Some of my info maybe a bit out of date since I left EDS over a year ago...

At the time I left EDS, they had 3 Multics systems located in Detroit. EDS
inherited them from GM. They were all medium to large sized systems running
GM applications. As an aside, EDS also had 2 simular mainframes running the
DTSS operating system. (DTSS Inc. has nothing to do with Honeywell). Managing
the DTSS systems was my job.

The university I attended, Oakland University in Rochester MI, has a small
Multics system which they still use. I still have an active Multics ID at
Oakland University; I login to see what's new now and then.

Ford Motor in Dearborn MI also has 3 Multics systems.

Other Multics sites that I've heard about include the University of Maryland,
University of Texas, a few sites in France, and Honeywell's central Multics
system called "System M".

Multics is based on a 36-bit architecture. Also, Multics requires some special
hardware to be added to Honeywell's computers in order to provide that top
of the line security. This hardware is called an "Appending Unit". DTSS and
GECOS runs on Honeywell's computers without an Appending Unit.

I'd be glad to (try to) answer any questions I can about Multics or DTSS.

car.
-- 
Christopher A. Rende                Multics,DTSS,Shortwave,Scanners,StarTrek
uunet!{umix,edsews}!rphroy!pte!car  Minix,PC/XT,TRS-80 Model I: Buy Sell Trade
Motorola VME1131 M68020 SVR2        Precise Technology & Electronics, Inc.



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