V, MACH and other multi-unix implementations

[Michel Gien]

>From article <19403 at adm.BRL.MIL>, by RUSOFFMH at ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu:

> I have been looking into operating systems that might be suitable for
> implementation on a bunch of transputers that *do* have shared memory...
> It seems like the best choices might be a variation on MACH or
> perhaps V or maybe even AMOEBA, even though SYSV compatibility migh
> be tough. I am looking for small and fast and modular... could anyone
> out there render an opinion... ? 

You could look at the CHORUS Operating System. It is based on a
"minimal" kernel that provides real-time scheduling, network
(multi-processor) transparent IPC and "generic" virtual memory support
(optional if there is no MMU, as on current Transputers). An extended
(to real-time, multi-threads, and distribution) version of UNIX SYSTEM V 
runs on top of that kernel, as a set of independent servers (Process
Manager, File Manager, Device Manager, Socket Manager, Network
Manager, Pipe Manager, etc...). Those can be transparently distributed
over the processors of a multiprocessor machine or a network.  The
UNIX interface can be made binary compatible with a "native" System V
implementation on a given processor.

Current implementations support AT/386 and 68020-30 based
configurations. There is interest for a port on Transputer based
hardware.

A "reference" paper on CHORUS entitled "CHORUS Distributed Operating
Systems" appeared in the Fall 1988 issue of the Computing Systems
Journal, Vol.1 No. 4, published jointly by the Usenix Association and
the University of California Press.

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