MagicSix

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Inspiration for MagixSix name

MagicSix was an operating system similar to Multics, developed at the MIT Architecture Machine Group for Interdata/Perkin-Elmer 32-bit machines. The name means "Mockapetris and Gregory's Interactive Computer".

It hosted a LISP dialect called MagixSixLisp, in which the graphics software ASAS was first written.

It also hosted SINE ("SINE is not EINE"), perhaps the second Emacs clone after EINE.

There were some Imlac workstations, and Maze War was ported over from the Dynamic Modeling group.

Chaos was the only networking option.

Timeline

  • "Magic 1.0 allowed basically a user per machine with a shared fail system." "I believe this was the summer of 69 or maybe 70."
  • In 1973, "a couple of model 5's and a model 3".
  • "we soon thereafter got an (amazing to me) model 70."
  • "Later we got a Model 85".
  • ~1974, Maze War running.
  • 1974, M.A.G.I.C. 4.
  • "By 1976 we had a couple of 7/32's".
  • 1976, MagicSix, rewrite in PL/1.
  • 1977, SINE and TVMacs.
  • 1978, MagicSix ported to Interdata 8/32.
  • 1979, Aspen Movie Map.
  • In the 80s, host tables show some PerkinElmer 3230 machines.
  • 1987, ArchMach disconnected from Chaosnet.

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