Distributed operating system: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:11, 18 March 2010

Revision as of 06:58, 19 March 2010

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{{quote|Each member of such an interconnected group of separate computers is free at any time to initiate and dispatch special control orders to any of its partners in the system. As a consequence, the supervisory control over the common task may initially be loosely distributed throughout the system and then temporarily concentrated in one computer, or even passed rapidly from one machine to the other as the need arises. …it should be noted that the various interruption facilities which have been described are based on mutual cooperation between the computer and the external devices subsidiary to it, and do not reflect merely a simple master-slave relationship.|ALAN L. LEINER|''System Specifications for the DYSEAC''}}

There you have it. One of the earliest examples of a computer with capacity for distributed operation. Given the system and its distributed operating system potential is primitive – almost ethereal at points – this was a [[Supercomputer|super-computer]] in its day. [[United States Department of the Army|Dept. of the Army]] reports<ref>Martin H. Weik, "A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems," Ballistic Research Laboratories Report No. 1115, pg. 234-5, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, March 1961</ref> show it was certified reliable and passed all acceptance tests in April of 1954. It was completed and delivered on time, in May of 1954. In addition, was it mentioned that this was a [[portable computer]].? It was housed in [[Tractor-trailer#Types_of_trailers|tractor-trailer]], and had 2 attendant vehicles and [[Refrigerator truck|6 tons of refrigeration capacity]] capacity.