Jnc: Better than a stub - but not by much

2026-09-13T21:26:11Z

Better than a stub - but not by much

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The '''General Comprehensive Operating System''' (usually given as the acronym, '''GCOS''') was the most common [[operating system]] for [[Honeywell 6000 series]] [[mainframe]]s and descendants, from [[Honeywell]], and then [[Groupe Bull]] - themselves descendants of earlier machines ([[GE 600 series]]) from [[General Electric]] (GE). It was still in use recently (in its most recent versions - GCOS 7 and GCOS 8) on follow-on machines from Groupe Bull.

GCOS itself was an evolution of the earlier GECOS (General Electric Comprehensive Operating Supervisor) from GE, from before Honeywell bought GE's mainframe computer business, when GE decided to leave that market (although early Honeywell documentation continued to call it GECOS). Groupe Bull, in turn, inherited GCOS when Honeywell in turn decided to exit the large-scale computer business.

GCOS did mot initially support [[virtual memory]]; the machines on which it then ran only had [[base and bounds]] [[memory management]] [[hardware]].

It was originally developed by GE for the GE 600 series in 1962–1964; GE released GECOS I in April, 1965, on the [[GE-635]].

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==External links==

* [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/GE-6xx/GECOS/ GECOS] - for the GE-6xx
** [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/GE-6xx/GECOS/CPB-1002_GECOS_Jul64.pdf GE-635 Comprehensive Operating Supervisor] (July 1964)
* [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/ge/GE-6xx/GECOS-III/ GECOS-III]
* [https://bitsavers.org/pdf/honeywell/large_systems/ Large Systems] - numerous GECOS sub-folders
* [https://multics-wiki.swenson.org/gcos GCOS] - at the Multics Wiki; contains much information about GCOS
* [http://www.feb-patrimoine.com/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_2.htm From GECOS to GCOS8: Part II - The Honeywell years]

[[Category: Operating Systems]]

General Comprehensive Operating System - Revision history

Jnc: Better than a stub - but not by much