Network UNIX

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Network UNIX is the formal name for a version of UNIX produced in 1974-75 for use with the ARPANET. It was reportedly the first networked UNIX; it used the NCP protocol. Work started with UNIX V5, but it was initially distributed using UNIX V6.

The work was done at the Center for Advanced Computation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was originally written mostly by Gary R. Grossman and Steve F. Holmgren; many others later contributed fixes and improvements. The code rapidly spread among computer science centers which were connected to the ARPANET.

The code is divided into three main sections: code for the kernel, which handled sending and receiving ordinary user data (further divided into device drivers, and code common to all methods of interfacing to the ARPANET); a daemon which ran as a process, which handled the more complex, and rare, protocol operations (e.g. listening for incoming connection requests; the Initial Connection Protocol used to open a connection; closing connections); and programs (also run as processes) to implement applications such as FTP and TELNET.

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