Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Porting OSes Message-ID: <2775@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> Date: 19 Oct 90 12:45:46 GMT References: <4462@trantor.harris-atd.com> <107038@convex.convex.com> <15007@hydra.gatech.EDU> <10734@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <10801@pt.cs.cmu.edu> Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) Organization: GE Corp R&D Center, Schenectady NY Lines: 19 In article <10801@pt.cs.cmu.edu> lindsay@gandalf.cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay) writes: | Since the somebody hasn't spoken up, I will point out that it was the | 286/386, not the 68K. The difference is that the Intel hardware | supports call gates and hence is the only recent hardware that could | give Multics its protection rings. I am amazed that someone hasn't done this. There is enough software for Multics to provide a rich operating environment, and if you could run it on a box which is no more costly than a small unix system there would be a mass market for it, as well. With the proven security you would have a lock on part of the military small system market. The nice thing is that for developers, educators, and just wierd people who have home unix systems, for the price of a disk drive you could have a Multics disk to use or play with. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) VMS is a text-only adventure game. If you win you can use unix.