UNIX/370

UNIX/370 was the name adopted by two separate efforts to run UNIX on an IBM System/370 class machine.

The first, at Bell Laboratories, ran Unix Seventh Edition as a 'supervisor' to user processes, under the TSS/370 Resident Supervisor. This approach, instead of running it directly on the bare hardware, was taken because System/370 machines had characteristics which made doing so un-attractive. For one, the I/O system of the System/370 was quite complex, with a large number of channels, device controllers, and devices, which could be interconnected in multiple ways. For another, IBM field service expected the operating system to provide error logs in a particular format, which UNIX running on the bare hardware would have to provide. The TSS-based approach was successful, and Bell ran the result on a number of large System/370 machines.

The second, originally at Princeton University, proposed to run UNIX Sixth Edition under VM/370; this was made to run in a preliminary manner. The project then moved (along with its progenitor) to Amdahl, where it ran on an Amdahl 470V/6, under VM/370; the result was named 'Au'. (Amdahl later got UNIX Version 7, and then announced Amdahl UTS.)

External links

• Alternate Implementation Proposal for Unix/370 January 2, 1979
• UNIX/370: A Feasibility Study January 23, 1979
• A UNIX System Implementation for System/370 - the finished Bell system
• Multiprocessor UNIX Operating Systems - mostly general, but has some UNIX/370 content
• The Roots of UNIX for the IBM Mainframe (part 1)
• The Roots of UNIX for the IBM Mainframe (part 2)
• The Roots of UNIX for the IBM Mainframe (part 3)
• Notes on Au Performance or How to get the Pb out of Au