Which operating system were the hackers at the MIT AI Lab using in 1971?
score:9
On the About GNU page of the GNU project, Richard Stallman himself states that the operating sysytem in use when he joined the MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab in 1971 was the Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS):
When I started working at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years. Sharing of software was not limited to our particular community; it is as old as computers, just as sharing of recipes is as old as cooking. But we did it more than most.
The AI Lab used a timesharing operating system called ITS (the Incompatible Timesharing System) that the lab's staff hackers (1) had designed and written in assembler language for the Digital PDP-10, one of the large computers of the era. As a member of this community, an AI Lab staff system hacker, my job was to improve this system (...)
(1) The use of “hacker” to mean “security breaker” is a confusion on the part of the mass media. We hackers refuse to recognize that meaning, and continue using the word to mean someone who loves to program, someone who enjoys playful cleverness, or the combination of the two. See my article, On Hacking.
- (my emphasis)
For more information about why the 'hackers' at MIT's AI lab felt they needed to invent a new time-sharing operating system, rather than using the CTSS system, or the Multics system then being developed by MIT's Project MAC, take a look at Chapter 6 in Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, especially from p112.
More post
- 📝 Did medieval armies cultivate resources during their campaigns?
- 📝 What kind of building materials did Cavendish use in determining the density of the earth?
- 📝 Why were schoolchildren in the USA taught virtually nothing about the Holocaust during the fifties and sixties?
- 📝 What was Martin Luther's incentive for reformation?
- 📝 What did ancient Romans use instead of shampoo?
- 📝 What was the status of peasants who left to join the People's Crusade?
- 📝 When was Nazi paramilitary organisation Waffen-SS liquidated in the legal sense?
- 📝 Help identify this (probably Confederate) sword?
- 📝 To what extent does the dictionary of Samuel Johnson represent English as it was spoken in his day?
- 📝 Were the arches on medieval bridges large enough to permit river traffic?
- 📝 Did the Finns have aluminum screw caps in 1939?
- 📝 Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?
- 📝 How was body temperature checked before thermometers?
- 📝 Did the apartheid South Africa leaders seriously plan to make the bantustans be independent countries?
- 📝 How did the use of tanks differ in the Pacific war from the European war?
- 📝 Plate armour worn by men-at-arms fighting on foot 1380-1415
- 📝 What's the origin of the movement to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union?
- 📝 How can a diamond shape be a reference to Napoleon?
- 📝 How did Mao Zedong's policy abuse affect those in the Five Black Categories during the Cultural Revolution?
- 📝 What place was called [in Latin] Audomaropolitanus?
- 📝 Are there wars still going on, but officially ended? (found two)
- 📝 What was the earliest professional recording of "Happy Birthday to You"?
- 📝 What was the first assassination/murder recorded on film?
- 📝 Were the Japanese aware of Desmond Doss's actions?
- 📝 What is the most important historical theme of Bronze age society
- 📝 Was WWII Systemic Drug Use by Axis and Allies Supported By Scholarship?
- 📝 Why is the name of King Lucifer used by Christians as that of Devil?
- 📝 Did Woodland period Native Americans seek/value gold prior to European Colonization?
- 📝 How did Qing China keep in contact with other places?
- 📝 Did Andrew Jackson think the earth was flat?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Which operating system were the hackers at the MIT AI Lab using in 1971?
- 📝 Which kingdoms were using WWI weapons at the time of the second world war?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 Which undeciphered writing system has the largest corpus of text?
- 📝 What were the thoughts of the Celts, Romans and other ancient European people about the standing stones which survive from prehistoric times?
- 📝 Which were the last castles to be besieged and fall in the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Were there any Roman villas in Britain which were used rather than destroyed after the Romans left?
- 📝 What were the operating principles of Japan's MITI during the 1950s and 60s?
- 📝 What weapons were manufactured in India by the British forces which were used during world wars?
- 📝 Have there been any nuclear accidents in the US at nuclear facilities which were not "commercial"?
- 📝 Which were the continent-wide common languages in human history?
- 📝 Were there any other systems which resemble the complex election procedure for the doge of Venice
- 📝 Which texts/works were lost due to the Mongol invasions of Baghdad?
- 📝 Which days in the Mayan calendar were most auspicious for performing sacrifices?
- 📝 Which parts of the Townshend Act were repealed in 1770?
- 📝 Which of LBJ's fellow representatives were less active than him in the House?
- 📝 Which personal weapons, if any, were carried by the 1606 Janszoon expedition when it landed in Australia?
- 📝 How realistic were von Papen's plans to invade Canada using "German cowboys" during the Great War?
- 📝 Were Egyptian monarchs referred to by the title "pharaoh" alone, without using their proper names, from around 1500 BCE until the 10th century BCE?
- 📝 Which calendar numbering system did the Franks use?
- 📝 Which native groups were hostile to the fur trade in North America?
- 📝 Which tools were available in 1933 for the Chinese government to intervene in the money market?
- 📝 Which months were added during the Roman Empire?
- 📝 Which were the four villages in Attica affected by Cleisthenes' reforms? What happened to them?
- 📝 Which technologies/commodities were available during the 30s on USA?
- 📝 Does U.S. law still apply to persons who were deported to Russia in 1919 using the "Soviet Ark"?
- 📝 In what ways were the creators of the USA's system of government inspired by Roman government?
- 📝 Why were countries which were clearly aligned to one of the two power blocs during cold war a part of the non-aligned movement?
- 📝 Why were businesses operating as trusts at one point, and why did the practice fall out of favor?
- 📝 Were any tactical missiles used during the 1971 Indo Pakistan war?