Glossary of Multics acronyms and terms.
The glossary is divided into 26 files, one for each letter. (Non-letter entries are in the "A" file.)
Click on a letter to select a glossary file.
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Alphabetical list of 843 entries
- 103A Classic low-speed Bell asynchronous modem....
- 1050 First IBM terminal that used the Selectric mechanism....
- 1ISG US Air Force unit that operated the Pentagon AFDSC...
- 202C6 High-speed Bell asynchronous modem....
- 2741 IBM terminal with Selectric mechanism, came after the 1050....
- 6090 Model number on the first 6180 as it was...
- 6180 Second-generation Multics machine, with major architectural improvements over the...
- 635 General Electric's competitor to the IBM 7094 in the...
- 6.36 Simulation environment for the 645 machine (at first called...
- 645 Computer system that Multics first ran on, produced by...
- 645F (645 Follow-on) the name for the 6180 while it...
- 7094 IBM's most powerful scientific computer in 1963, the platform...
- 7punch Binary card format used by the I/O daemon for...
- abbrev Per-user command line abbreviation facility....
- ABR Address Base Register....
- absentee The Multics absentee facility is like traditional batch processing,...
- ABSI Asynchronous Bit Serial Interface (ABSI)....
- absolute (1) An absolute pathname descends from the root....
- absolute mode The hardware startup mode of the 6180 and 645...
- abs_seg An SDW used by supervisor routines to access absolute...
- abs-usable Main memory frame, part of the paging pool, in...
- abs-wired (1) Of a page....
- accept Of a physical volume....
- access class An access isolation mechanism attribute that denotes the sensitivity...
- access control Multics feature that checks if a user can do...
- accounting Multics comes with an elaborate accounting system, that summarizes...
- AccuRay Later name for Industrial Nucleonics...
- ACL Access Control List....
- ACS Access Control Segment....
- ACTC Software engineering solutions company in Calgary Alberta, Canada, formerly...
- activate To make a segment active....
- activation attributes Those attributes of a segment that are read from...
- active (1) Said of a segment: an active segment is...
- active device In the 635/645/6180 architecture, active devices are CPUs, GIOCs...
- active function A command, enclosed in brackets, inserted in a command...
- Ada Language specified by the US Department of Defense....
- additional names Segments and directories can have any number of entry...
- ADP Advanced Development Program....
- AED Algol Extended for Design....
- AEP Advanced Engineering Program....
- AFDSC US Air Force Data Services Center....
- AIM Access Isolation Mechanism....
- AI Tools Bull had a very good team, called CEDIAG, of...
- ALGOL 68 Done by HIS UK in the 1980s...
- ALM Assembly Language for Multics, which was supposed to be...
- Amber Amber was an operating system produced by the S-1...
- AML Author Maintained Library, stored in >aml....
- AN61 , Honeywell Order No....
- anonymous user User Control allows a project administrator to define an...
- answering service Facility in Multics that listens to all non-logged-in terminals,...
- AOS Add one to storage, opcode on 600 and 6000...
- APL Interpreted language, defined by Ken Iverson of IBM, that...
- appending mode Hardware mode of the 6180 and 645 processors where...
- Appending Unit Or APU....
- APT Active Process Table...
- APU See Appending Unit...
- archive Command that manages segments that consist of multiple subfiles....
- ARCS Academic & Research Computing Services, the application programming organization...
- ARDS Advanced Remote Display Station, an early graphics terminal....
- area PL/I data type that acts like a free storage...
- ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of...
- ARPANet Network first constructed by ARPA, which decades later became...
- ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange....
- ASEA Multics customer....
- associative memory Each 645 and 6180 CPU had a content-addressed memory...
- AST Active Segment Table....
- AST hash table Table, kept in active_sup_linkage, holding the heads of hash...
- AST pool There are four sizes of AST entries, those containing...
- AST trickle Supervisor mechanism that periodically and slowly traverses the lists...
- ASTE Active Segment Table Entry....
- ASU Multics site....
- attach The act of associating an I/O switch with another...
- audit (1) The process of peer code review practiced at...
- Avon Multics site....
- B2 Orange Book (US government TCSEC) rating achieved by Multics....
- backup Dumping files from disk to tape so they can...
- BASED PL/I storage class, meaning "found by following a pointer."...
- BASIC Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, a language invented by...
- Bath University of Bath, England...
- BCD Binary-coded decimal....
- BCE Bootload Command Environment...
- BCO Billerica Computer Operations....
- BCPL Bootstrap Combined Programming Language....
- Bell Canada Multics customer, Bell Canada....
- benchmark One part of most RFPs was a performance benchmark....
- binder Utility that combines program binaries, the output of compilers,...
- Birmingham Multics site: University of Birmingham...
- bisync Binary Synchronous Communication....
- bit count The file system stores a bit count for each...
- block "Block and wakeup" is one of two interprocess synchronization...
- bootload To load software into a system and start it...
- bootstrap1 First program on a Multics boot tape....
- boot tape Multics Standard Tape (MST) from which the three "collections"...
- BOS Bootload Operating System....
- branch Structure in a directory allocated for each segment or...
- Bristol University of Bristol...
- Brunel Multics site: Brunel University (Uxbridge, Middlesex, England)....
- BSA Bootstrap Assembler...
- BTL Bell Telephone Laboratories....
- Bulk Store Replacement for the firehose drum, this was a large...
- Bull Compagnie des Machines Bull (CMB), a French computer company...
- Bull System H Honeywell Bull system used to develop X25 in Hounslow...
- bump Involuntary logout....
- C In MR12.0 (1986), a C compiler was written for...
- cache (1) In 1974, the 6180 acquired an optional CPU...
- CACL Common ACL....
- calendar Multics provides a program to print wall calendars....
- Calgary University of Calgary...
- call bracket Range of rings that can call a given segment...
- call/save/return The machine language sequences for inter-subroutine call depend on...
- Cambridge Project An MIT-Harvard social science data management project....
- canonicalization Multics converts terminal input lines to a standard form,...
- card The 645 came with a card reader and punch....
- Cardiff Multics site: Cardiff Joint Computing Centre [CJCC] (Cardiff, Wales)....
- carry Originally a daily sneakernet between the Project MAC and...
- CCVR Multics site: Centre de Calcul Vectoriel pour la Recherche,...
- CEDIAG Bull AI group led by Jean Rohmer....
- CERAM Multics site: Centre d'Etude et de Recherche des Alpes...
- CICB Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de Bretagne, Universite...
- CICG Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de Grenoble, Universite...
- CICL Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Traitement de l'Information, Universite...
- CICRP Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de la Region...
- CICT Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de Toulouse, Universite...
- CiiHB See Bull...
- cipher Multics commands encode and decode implement a powerful file-encryption...
- CIRCE Multics site: Centre InterRegional de Calcul Electronique, Centre de...
- CIRIL See Nancy...
- CISL Cambridge Information Systems Laboratory....
- CISLian A Multician who worked at CISL...
- clock The original 645 shipped with a separate box that...
- clock algorithm Page-replacement algorithm (PRA) due to Corbató, whose variants and...
- CNET Multics site: Centre National d'Etudes sur les Télécommunications [CNET]...
- CNO Corporate Network Operations....
- COBOL COBOL compiler done at Honeywell Billerica in early 1970s....
- collection A Multics boot tape contains three logical groups of...
- COLTS Communications OnLine Test System run by TOLTS....
- combined linkage segment Per-ring segment that contains the LOT, the ring's STATIC...
- command Program designed to be invoked by typing its name...
- command language The Multics command language derives from the CTSS language,...
- command level Process state in which lines input from the user's...
- command processor See shell....
- compare_ascii Multics command: compares two ASCII files and prints differences....
- compose Multics text formatting command, successor to runoff....
- computer utility A computer, its software, and staff set up to...
- config deck An array of card images read by BOS and...
- connect Communication signal sent from one active device to another....
- connect time The accounting system metered and charged for "time logged...
- connection failure At segment activation time, segment control checks that the...
- Consistent System Social science data manipulation subsystem built by MIT's Cambridge...
- console Terminal device hard wired to the IOM and used...
- continuum Bulletin board program that ran on Multics in the...
- control argument An argument that controls how a command works....
- Control Unit That portion of the 6180 processor (the parallel component...
- copy switch Argument to hcs_$initiate that caused a copy of the...
- core Computer memory technology invented by Jay Forrester of MIT...
- core metering Memory usage metering was described by Bob Frankston in...
- cow's stomach The "Coreadd queue" of Release 6.1 and afterward....
- CP-6 Honeywell bought rights to the CP-V operating system from...
- CP/CMS IBM operating system for the 360/67, begun at the...
- CPU Central Processing Unit, or processor....
- crash An unplanned termination of system availability caused by problems...
- crawlout When a signal is raised in an inner ring...
- Cray Station Usually titled Multics Cray Station (although the acronym MCS...
- Credit Lyonnais Multics site: Credit Lyonnais (Paris, France)....
- CRF Camelback Road Facility....
- CS see Consistent System...
- CSC Computer Sciences Corporation, Moorestown NJ....
- csort Cygnus Sort, a more performant reimplementation of the standard...
- CST Copious Spare Time (CST)....
- CTSS Compatible Time Sharing System....
- CU See Control Unit...
- cu_ For "command utility"....
- CUESTA Simulated user driver for benchmarks....
- CURSES Implementation of Unix CURSES package....
- daemon A beneficent spirit....
- damaged switch Segment attribute set during crash recovery, if the volume...
- Data Management Large-scale project undertaken in the 1980s to add support...
- Datatran Cambridge Project feature?
- DBR Descriptor Base Register, sometimes Descriptor Segment Base Register, DSBR....
- DCC Data Communications Corporation, Memphis, TN....
- DCW Device Control Word....
- DDDS/ORAE Canadian DND Multics site....
- debug Multics source-level and process-level debugger, initially written by Steve...
- deciduous A neologism of Bernie Greenberg's for branches that lose...
- Decimal Unit Or "DU"....
- definitions Section of an object segment that defines the offsets...
- DELTA DEfinition des Langages et de Leurs Traducteurs par Attributs....
- Descartes Executable specification language based on data structuring methods proposed...
- descriptor (1) contents of an SDW...
- descriptor segment Array of SDWs (segment descriptors) that totally define a...
- development machine Any of several Multics machines at or near the...
- development run Testing of new software on the development machine at...
- DFAST FAST subsystem with Dartmouth conventions...
- dial The answering service connects a TTY channel to an...
- dialup_ Main event-driven dispatcher of the answering service...
- DIM Device Interface Module....
- DIPPER Code name for new hardware I/O system done in...
- Dir. Prevision Multics site: Ministère des Finances, Direction de la Prévision,...
- directory File system container for segments, links, or other directories....
- directory control Supervisor subsystem that provides the directory abstraction....
- Discourse Programming and simulation language based on a geographical data...
- Disk Rotating magnetic storage device with movable heads....
- disk quota Multics enforces disk usage quotas at page fault time....
- DL Assembler flag for "Direct lower", 18-bit immediate operand....
- DN30 Datanet-30 communications front-end processor, used by GECOS time sharing...
- DN355 Datanet-355 communications front-end processor, added to 6180 Multics to...
- DN6661 Datanet 6661 communications front-end processor....
- DN6670 Datanet-6670 communications front-end processor...
- DND Canadian Department of National Defence....
- DOCKMASTER Unclassified Multics system operated by the US National Security...
- dollar limits See resource limits...
- dope Address-independent descriptive material for argument data....
- dprint Delayed print....
- DPS Distributed Processing System....
- DPS6 Another name for a Level 6...
- DPS6plus Version of the Level 6 that ran a secure...
- DPS8 Honeywell early 80s name for its mainframe line....
- DPS88 Later name for the Honeywell ADP and Orion machines....
- DPS90 Even later Honeywell processor line....
- Drum See Librafile...
- DS 10 Early disk unit....
- DSA Honeywell Distributed Systems Architecture....
- DSEG Jargon for descriptor segment...
- DSS191 Disk unit, used on Multics in the early 70s....
- DSU170 Disk unit, used on Multics in the early 70s....
- DSU270 Disk unit, used on Multics in the early 70s....
- DTSS Dartmouth Time Sharing System....
- DU (1) Assembler flag for "Direct upper", 18-bit immediate operand....
- DUMP BOS command that prints an octal dump of selected...
- DVCP Deer Valley Computer Park....
- dynamic linking Actually two related concepts: the runtime location and initiation...
- dynamic reconfiguration Multics facility that allows the system to add and...
- EBCDIC Extended BCD Interchange Code....
- echo Command that prints its arguments on user_output....
- echo negotiation Scheme (1979) for conditional character echoing by MCS, echoing...
- EDA (1) CTSS editor written by Jerry Saltzer....
- edm Multics command for editing ASCII character stream files...
- EIS Extended Instruction Set....
- Elf Aquitaine Multics site: Centre de Recherche Elf Aquitaine (French oil...
- eligible Eligible for multiprogramming....
- Emacs From, "Editing MACroS", a video editor derived from David...
- EMCRB Executive Multics Change Review Board....
- enter Answering service command to log in an anonymous user...
- entry An item cataloged in a directory: segment, link, multisegment...
- entryname Name given to an item contained in a directory....
- entry point An address in an object segment referenced by a...
- EOP Executive Office of the President....
- EPL Early PL/I....
- EPLBSA EPL BootStrap Assembler....
- eppbp 6180 opcode 352, "effective pointer to pair BP ((utility)...
- EPSHOM Multics site: Etablissement Principal du Service Hydro-Océanique de la...
- equal convention Command argument convention that specifies the interpretation of equal...
- erase The # character in terminal input erases itself and...
- ERF Error Report Form Number - report of a system...
- error_output The standard process I/O switch that commands normally use...
- error_table_ Deciduous segment containing a table of distinct integers ("error...
- escape Multics terminal input supports several conventions to allow the...
- ESD Emergency ShutDown....
- ESL Electronics Systems Laboratory....
- event channel See IPC....
- eviction Opposite of paging-in, to remove a page from memory,...
- Excalibur Proposed I/O controller to work with Merlin CPU....
- exec_com Multics command that executed a script of commands from...
- EXECUTE Button on the 645 and 6180 CPUs that, according...
- execute bracket Range of rings that can execute a given segment....
- Explorer Program conducted by the Boy Scouts of America for...
- extended access The file system supports additional access control bits, not...
- F&T Restaurant in Kendall Square, Cambridge, where Project MAC Multicians...
- FAMIS Feature of MR11.0....
- FAST DTSS simulator, with command conventions made more like Multics....
- fatal error A Multics process can terminate for a number of...
- fault Processor generated exception causing a diversion of control through...
- fault vector Set of 32 instruction pairs in a fixed location...
- FDUMP BOS command that takes a core dump into a...
- Field Engineers FEs were Honeywell employees who installed the big iron...
- file See segment...
- File manager See vfile_...
- file map Data structure that lists disk record addresses for each...
- file system Multics was the first operating system to introduce a...
- FIM Fault Interceptor Module....
- finish PL/I condition signalled in a process at logout time...
- finjan See ZARF...
- Firehose drum See Librafile...
- FJCC Fall Joint Computer Conference....
- FL Function Language....
- Flag Day Any software change that is neither forward nor backward...
- Flexowriter Typewriter device made by Friden, which could punch paper...
- Flower Honeywell machine, planned as a Multics platform in the...
- flush Command that causes lots of paging by creating many...
- FNP Front-end Network Processor...
- Ford Ford Motor Company....
- format_document (Short name, fdoc.) Primitive Multics text formatting command....
- format_pl1 PL/I indenting program with many features, options, and control...
- FORTRAN Multics had three fortran compilers....
- forum (1) Bulletin board system....
- frame As in core frame, or page frame....
- FRED ARPANet interface board...
- FSDCT File System Device Configuration Table....
- FSIM File System Interface Module...
- FSO Federal Systems Operation....
- FT2 Fault Tag 2, a hardware indirection indicator that causes...
- FTP File Transfer Protocol....
- gate Segment that allows transfer of control between rings in...
- Gateway Hardware project to build an ARPANet gateway, done at...
- GCOS Formerly GECOS, General Electric Comprehensive Operating System....
- GCOS 6 Operating system for the Honeywell Level 6 minicomputer....
- GCOS simulator Also called the GCOS Environment Simulator, GES....
- GE General Electric Co....
- GEBUG Debugging facility for 6.36 programs....
- GEMSOS Gemini Computer's secure OS, influenced by Multics...
- Genstat Genstat, "A General Statistical Program," was developed at the...
- GESHUA GE Six Hundred series Users' Association....
- GIM GIOC Interface Module....
- Gimpelize To arrange the items in a PL/I data structure...
- GIMPSPIF GIOC to IMP Special Interface....
- GIOC Generalized I/O Controller....
- Glim Statistical stuff done by Douglas Clark at Bath?
- GM General Motors Corporate/EDS....
- GMCRB Greater Multics Change Review Board....
- graphics Multics graphics were heavily influenced by the Electronic Systems...
- GRTS GCOS remote job entry supervisor used in the 1970s....
- GTSS GCOS Time Sharing System....
- Guardian CISL/MITRE/USAF project that added AIM, the Access Isolation Mechanism,...
- hardcore (1) That portion of the Multics that is loaded...
- hardcore partition Partition, on the RPV, used for the pages of...
- hardware monitor See yellow submarine...
- HASP Houston Automatic Spooling Program....
- hcs_ Gate into the hardcore supervisor....
- HEALS Honeywell Error Analysis and Logging System....
- help The first Multics help facility simply printed out system...
- hierarchy The Multics file system names files (segments) with multi-part...
- HISCAN Honeywell Information Systems, Canada...
- HISLTD Honeywell Information Systems, Limited....
- HISUK Another name for HISLTD...
- HLR Multics site....
- HLSUA Honeywell Large Systems Users Association....
- home directory Each user on a project has a home directory,...
- Honeywell USA conglomerate....
- HOPL History of Programming Languages...
- hphcs_ Highly Privileged HardCore Supervisor, pronounced "h'putschkiss", after Greenberg....
- HRX Internal Honeywell codename for the DPS6plus...
- IACL Initial ACL....
- idiotic The EPL compiler produced spectacularly bad code for some...
- idle process Multics creates a dedicated process for every CPU, all...
- IFAD Integrated Firmware and Diagnostics....
- ifd Interpret FDUMP....
- illegal For a while, official Honeywell Multics documentation policy tried...
- IMFT Inter Multics File Transfer...
- IML Installation Maintained Library, stored in >iml...
- IMP Interface Message Processor....
- IMU Information Multiplexer Unit....
- IN Industrial Nucleonics....
- info seg The help command prints out information from segments with...
- inhibit Bit 28 (big-endian) of every 645 and 6180 instruction...
- initialization Software mechanisms by which the Multics supervisor is loaded...
- initializer First process created when Multics is booted....
- initiate Map into an address space and optionally assign a...
- INNPPP Multics site: "Institut National de Physique Nuclèaire et de...
- INRA Multics site: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique [INRA]...
- INRIA Multics site: Institut National de la Recherche en Informatique...
- INSEE The French Minestère of Finances had three Multics sites...
- Intellect Natural language database query product from Artificial Intelligence Corporation...
- interactive message Facility for sending one-line messages between users, including the...
- interlace Technique of placing alternate word-pairs or word-quads of the...
- interrupt The 645 /6180 CPU has a separate set of...
- ioa_ Standard Multics output formatter, ancestor to C printf, invented...
- IOCT I/O Command Translator....
- I/O daemon The I/O daemon process runs all the printers and...
- IOI (ioi_) I/O Interfacer....
- IOM Input/Output Multiplexer....
- I/O module Program that processes input and output requests directed to...
- ios_ I/O Switch....
- IOSIM I/O Switch Interface Module...
- I/O switch Path in the I/O system through which information is...
- IOTC I/O Table Compiler....
- iox_ I/O Exchange....
- IPC (1) Information Processing Center....
- IPR (1) Independent Project Review....
- IPS (1) Information Processing Services....
- IPTO ARPA Information Processing Techniques Office....
- IRIA Initial name of INRIA...
- IRT Multics site: Institut de Recherche des Transports, Arcueil, France,...
- ISL The ISL (InterSystemLink) hardware and software, by means of...
- ISOLTS Isolated OnLine Test System....
- ISOT Internal Static Offset Table....
- iteration The Multics shell supports iteration over command arguments....
- ITS (1) Indirect To Segment....
- Janus Relational data base management system developed as part of...
- jladdae (for "just logout and don't do anything else", pronounced,...
- KERMIT Protocol for transferring files to and from PCs over...
- kernel We didn't speak of the "kernel" of the system...
- kill The @ character in terminal input "kills" the whole...
- Kludge The ESL display, a feature of CTSS....
- known A segment is "known" in a process if that...
- KOOL Artificial Intelligence language created by CEDIAG, the Bull AI...
- KST Known Segment Table....
- LALR Compiler-compiler system, used for parser generation....
- LAPB Flavor of X...
- LCPD Honeywell Large Computer Products Division....
- LCS MIT Laboratory for Computer Science....
- LDBR Load descriptor base register....
- LDS Library Data Segment, another archive-like mechanism...
- Level 6 Honeywell minicomputer, built by Honeywell at BCO in Billerica,...
- Level 61 Honeywell minicomputer, designed and built by Bull...
- Level 62 Honeywell minicomputer, designed and built by HIS Italia...
- Level 64 Honeywell mid-range computer, designed in France by Bull....
- Level 66 Honeywell's designation for the large-scale computers that ran GCOS,...
- Level 68 Honeywell's designation for the large-scale computers that ran Multics....
- Librafile The "Firehose drum." A large, fixed-head (head per track,...
- Library tools Set of programs used by system maintenance staff at...
- LILA Query language accepted by LINUS...
- link (1) (As opposed to branch)....
- linkage section The output of a compilation is program instructions, in...
- linker Supervisor facility that implements dynamic linking....
- LINUS Logical Inquiry and Update System....
- LISD Large Information Systems Division....
- LISP List processing language invented at MIT in the 50s...
- listener User-ring program that loops reading a line of input...
- load control Multics has elaborate features to handle more user demand...
- lock 36-bit word used as a semaphore to protect data...
- Logica British consulting firm, produced Rapport RDBMS, ported to Multics...
- logical volume (LV) NSS term meaning "a group of disk packs treated...
- login Command interpreted by the answering service to create a...
- LOT Linkage Offset Table....
- LP Cambridge Project software done by R K Scott?
- LRK Compiler-compiler system, used for parser generation....
- LS TAC Large Systems Technical Assistance Center
- LSS Limited Service Subsystem....
- LUT Multics site: Loughborough University of Technology 1983-1991....
- LVT Logical Volume Table...
- MAC See Project MAC...
- MacAIMS A database research group at Project MAC in the...
- MacLisp Multics version of LISP....
- MACSYMA Symbolic mathematics subsystem written in LISP at MIT AI...
- MAD Michigan Algorithm Decoder....
- MADAM MacAIMS Data Management system....
- Magic6 Small scale Multics-like system done at the MIT Architecture...
- mail Quick and dirty unsecure mail was written by Tom...
- mailbox (1) The per-user file that mail is received in,...
- Mainz Multics site: Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz (Mainz, Germany)....
- man Multics had modules such as "ioam" (I/O Assignment manager)...
- mandatory access control Access controls that prevent a user from making information...
- master directory Master directories are quota directories that have a logical...
- master mode The 645 version of privileged mode...
- MATPAC ?
- MCB Multics Checkout Bulletin....
- MCC Multics Computer Center....
- MCHQ Canadian DND Multics site....
- MCOIN Maritime Command Operations Information Network....
- MCR Multics Change Request....
- MCR Board Group of software developers who met weekly to consider...
- MCS Multics Communication System....
- MDA Multics site....
- MDBM Multics Data Base Manager...
- MDBM Data Dictionary ?
- MDN Multics Design Note....
- MECR Multics Emergency Change Request....
- MED Honeywell Marketing Education....
- MEDAGRA Biomedical databank established at Rennes by the NMR laboratory...
- MegaCalc Third party spreadsheet package for Multics produced in 1986...
- merge_ascii Multics command: combines changes to files descended from a...
- merge-editor See MRGEDT...
- merger Honeywell bought GE's computer business in October 1970, according...
- Merlin Codename for the Flower CPU design....
- message coordinator Facility by Tom Van Vleck (1972) that defines and...
- message segment Ring-1 segment that contains individual messages, used to implement...
- metering Multics has many metering commands, such as file_system_meters, traffic_control_meters,...
- MGS (1) Multics Graphics System
- MGT Master Group Table....
- MHAT Multics Hardware Acceptance Tests....
- MIDS Multics Integrated Data Store....
- mini-GIM Small, simple, fast version of the GIM, introduced in...
- Ministere de la Culture Multics site: Ministere de la Culture....
- Ministerie van Sociale Zaken Multics site: Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid [SOZAWE]...
- Minitab Third party stat package for Multics by Minitab, Inc....
- MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
- MJDT MRDS to Janus Database Transfer: A windowed application providing...
- MME Master Mode Entry opcode, used by GCOS programs to...
- mmtu Graffiti file at MIT....
- MOLTS MPC OnLine Test System run by TOLTS....
- Monsanto Sale Multics didn't make?
- moo Game programmed for Multics by Jerry Grochow in the...
- MOOS Multics OLPARS Operating System, program developed at RADC for...
- Mosteller's Law Rule about meetings, attributed to Prof....
- motd Message of the Day....
- MOWSE Multics Online Work Station Environment....
- MPC Microprogrammed Peripheral Controller....
- MPM Multics Programmers' Manual....
- MPN Multics Planning Notebook....
- MPO Multics Project Office....
- MR Multics Release....
- MRDS Multics Relational Data Store....
- MRDSM Multics Relational Data Store Multibase....
- MRGEDT CTSS command that wrote a GECOS IMCV tape on...
- MRPG Multics Report Program Generator....
- MRX Internal Honeywell codename for the DPS6plus processor...
- MSB Multics Staff Bulletin....
- MSCR Multics System Change Request....
- MSP (1) Multics Special Projects; Minneapolis group responsible for marketing...
- MSP800 Disk unit...
- MSPM Multics System Programmer's Manual....
- MSS Multics Standard System....
- MST Either "Multics standard tape" or "Multics system tape", which...
- MST checker Stand-alone facility invented by Peter Schicker that checked a...
- MSU0400 Disk unit....
- MSU0451 Disk unit....
- MSU0500 Disk unit....
- MSU0501 Disk unit....
- MSU3381 Disk unit....
- MTB Multics Technical Bulletin....
- MTR Multics Task Report....
- mult I used "mult" to mean either "actively doing Multics...
- multer In general, anyone who multed, i.e., programmed (or even...
- MultiCalc We [at STC] showed Mike Pandolfo an Apple II...
- Multician Anyone who contributed to the development and success of...
- Multicious Stylistically consistent with the standards of Multics design and...
- Multics Multiplexed Information and Computing Service....
- Multics Company Olin Sibert's proposed company, intended to purchase rights to...
- multilevel (1) Multilevel secure: certified for use by users with...
- multilevel daemon ?
- multiplexer The ring-zero multiplexers provide a framework within the Multics...
- multiprocessing Running more than one CPU in the same system....
- multiprogramming Having more than one program ready to run in...
- multisegment file (MSF) One of the weaknesses of Multics is that data...
- name See additional names...
- Nancy Multics site: Centre Informatique Regional Interuniversitaire de Lorraine, Universite...
- NCP Network Control Program....
- NCSC National Computer Security Center....
- NEC Nippon Electric Company....
- new_proc Terminate the user session's process and create a new...
- nothing This command does nothing, as its name suggests....
- notify "Wait/notify" is one of two interprocess synchronization mechanisms used...
- notify timeout In some cases a process might wait forever for...
- NPS Standard GCOS DN355 software....
- NPT New Product Test....
- NSA (1) US National Security Agency....
- NSS New Storage System....
- NSW The National Software Works (NSW) was an Air Force...
- NTT Nippon Telephone....
- NWGS US Naval War Games System....
- object segment Segment containing executable machine instructions....
- octal Counting in base 8....
- OLPARS Pattern recognition software built at RADC by Pattern Analysis...
- ONERA Multics site: Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aéronautiques....
- Online T&D Online Test and Diagnostics....
- Operations Unit Or OU....
- operator Unsung heroes....
- Opus System proposed by CISL in 1986 to follow on...
- Orange Book Standards document produced by the NCSC, titled Department of...
- ORAS Operations Reporting and Accounting System....
- Orion 1970s Honeywell codename for a processor in the ADP...
- OU (1) Multics site: Oakland University [OU]....
- outer module I/O module intended for user stream attachment....
- Overlap Project MIT social-science project, a continuation of the Cambridge Project,...
- packed pointer Hardware feature on the 6180, and a much rarer...
- page Fixed size piece of memory....
- page control Ring 0, wired software responsible for managing the transfer...
- page fault Still called that, or "missing page exception." When an...
- page multilevel Scheme implemented in MSS 16.0 (1971? 72?) by Steve...
- page table Array of hardware control words (Page Table Words, or...
- page trace Ring-buffer in the first page of a process's PDS...
- paging (1) The division (by the 645 /6180 appending hardware)...
- paging device Device used as the intermediate level store in a...
- PAL (Pedagogic Algorithmic Language) Programming linguistics language created by MIT...
- Palyn Report Report prepared in 1978 by Palyn Associates for Honeywell...
- PARC (1) GE-speak acronym for "Purchased and Rented Computers." Not...
- partition Contiguous region of a disk volume....
- Pascal Grenoble wrote a Pascal compiler for Multics in the...
- password Secret character string used to authenticate the claimed identity...
- path name Multics segments are named by a sequence of entry...
- PC support Support for file transfer and terminal emulation between a...
- pdd (or PDD, process_dir_dir)....
- PDS Process Data Segment....
- PDT Project Definition Table....
- Perigon Multics site: A software engineering solutions company in Calgary...
- person Multics registers individual people in the Person Name Table...
- Phase One Integration milestone during Multics development....
- phcs_ Privileged HardCore Supervisor gate....
- PHM Page Has been Modified....
- Phoenician A Multician who worked in Phoenix...
- Phoenix City in Arizona, where LISD built large computers....
- photocomposition Feature of compose...
- PHU Page Has been Used....
- PHU1 "Page used in quantum (time since made eligible)"....
- physical volume (PV) NSS term meaning "a disk pack"....
- pipes Unix feature added to the Multics shell in the...
- PIT Process Initialization Table....
- PL/I Programming Language #1, invented by George Radin of IBM...
- pl1_operators_ Segment referred to by every compiled PL/I program, containing...
- pln Print with Line Numbers....
- PMDC Phoenix Multics Development Center....
- PMF Project Master File....
- PML MSS 16.0 and page control jargon for Page Multilevel....
- PNT Person Name Table....
- pointer register Register on the 6180 (or "pointer pair" on the...
- POLTS Peripheral OnLine Test System run by TOLTS....
- Port Logic That portion of the 6180 processor that takes absolute...
- post-purging To hasten the eviction of "a process's pages" from...
- PPR Procedure Pointer Register - a tripartite processor register defining...
- PRDS Processor Data segment....
- pre-paging Feature of the page control/ traffic control interaction which...
- prelinker (1) The Multics supervisor is pre-linked statically at system...
- PRHA Multics site: Puerto Rican Highway Authority....
- Primos Prime Computer's operating system....
- printer Multics supported the standard-issue GE and Honeywell line printers...
- privileged mode The GCOS versions of the Multics processors implemented a...
- probe Multics high-level PL/I source language debugger...
- process An address space and a locus of control....
- process directory Directory created when a process is created for exclusive...
- process overseer Procedure called at process initialization time....
- process preservation Multics can save a process across a communications interruption....
- profile (1) Facility to count the number of times each...
- program_interrupt After a QUIT signal or fault in an interactive...
- project Group of Multics users working together, for the same...
- project administrator Person who administers a Multics project....
- project directory Directory for a given project, always a subdirectory of...
- Project MAC MIT Project MAC, suggested by J.C.R....
- PRR Procedure Ring Register....
- PTL Page Table Lock....
- PTW Page Table Word....
- PUMA Proposal to Boeing (Multics as a document processing system...
- pure procedure Multics compilers all generate code that does not modify...
- PVT Physical Volume Table...
- pxss Process exchange, switch stack, the ALM-coded module which performed...
- QED CTSS editor written by Ken Thompson....
- queue (1) Scheduler queue....
- quit Method used to interrupt a running program....
- quota Usually referred to disk quota....
- RACE The initial 645 configuration shipped to MIT included an...
- RADC Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force Base, Rome...
- RAE Multics site: Royal Aircraft Establishment (Farnborough, Hampshire, England)....
- RAID GECOS machine-level debugger, like DDT....
- RALR "Ring alarm register"....
- Rapport Relational database produced by the British consulting firm Logica,...
- RAR (1) Read-alter-rewrite, an SCU operation needed by a class...
- RCCL Read Calendar Clock....
- RCI Renaissance Computing Incorporated....
- RCP Resource Control Package....
- read bracket Range of rings that can read a given segment....
- Read-Write Sequence (RWS) An internal operation of page multilevel which evicts...
- ready message The standard listener called cu_$ready_proc before reading a command....
- record stock An in-memory "stock" of records is withdrawn from the...
- reduce Symbolic algebra package written in LISP...
- reduction compiler Tool similar to YACC that generated a parser for...
- reference name Name supplied to hcs_$initiate when a segment is made...
- referencing_dir Search rule that looks for a segment in the...
- relative Pathname interpreted relative to the current working directory...
- Renault Multics site: Regie National des Usines Renault, Boulogne-Billancourt, France,...
- REPL Restricted EPL....
- reservation There is a way to reserve tape drives and...
- resource limits Multics supported spending limits per user and per project....
- RESTOR BOS command....
- retrieve Obtain a copy of a lost file from a...
- REWPUG Read, Execute, Write, Privileged, Unpaged, (not) Gate, the six...
- RFP Request for Proposal....
- ring Concentric level of privilege of user/supervisor distinction....
- ring 0 Most privileged ring of the Multics architecture....
- ring brackets Three numbers associated with every segment defining the highest...
- RJE Remote Job Entry...
- RLV Root Logical Volume....
- RNT Reference Name Table....
- root Top directory in the naming hierarchy of a Multics...
- RPV Root Physical Volume....
- RPVS Root Physical Volume Salvage....
- RSEXEC Resource Sharing EXECutive facility, funded by ARPA as a...
- run unit Introduced to support COBOL....
- RUNCOM BOS facility that allowed the execution of a script...
- RUNOFF CTSS command for text formatting written by Jerry Saltzer....
- RWS Jargon for Read-Write Sequence...
- safety switch Segment attribute that controls whether a segment can be...
- salvager Set of programs for reconstructing directory and file system...
- SCAS (for "System Controller Addressing Segment") A supervisor segment with...
- scavenger Program for finding records on a physical volume "lost"...
- scheduler Used ambiguously, as in today's operating systems, to denote...
- SCICONIC Mathematical programming facility produced by SCICON, Ltd....
- SCOMP Secure COMPuter....
- SCS (for "System Configuration Segment") A wired ring 0 data...
- SCSI Multics site: SCSI....
- SCU (1) System Control Unit, or Memory Controller....
- SDW Segment Descriptor Word....
- search rules The dynamic linking mechanism looks for segments in a...
- second system effect As described in The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks,...
- security Security was one of the basic design requirements for...
- security-out-of-service switch The "soos" switch is set if the salvager detects...
- SEDACS Support Equipment Data Acquisition and Control System, application hosted...
- segfault Jargon for "(missing) segment fault"....
- segment User-visible subdivision of a process's address space, mapped onto...
- Segment Loading Table (SLT)....
- segmentation Division of a process's virtual memory into a vector...
- segment control Ring 0 software responsible for the management of segmentation,...
- Selectric IBM mechanism for typewriters and computer terminals....
- SEP Multics site: Société Européenne de Propulsion, Vernon, France, near...
- Series 60, Level 68 Marketing name for a repackaged 6180....
- SET System Environment Test...
- SFEP Secure Front End Processor; original name of the machine...
- shell The Multics command processor used to be called the...
- shift The accounting system defines up to 8 shifts, which...
- shriek name Multics has a convention of converting unique IDs into...
- SIB Software Installation Bulletin....
- signal PL/I name for an exception....
- SIMPL Simulation language, descendant of OPS-4, compiled into Multics PL/I....
- SIPB MIT's Student Information Processing Board....
- Site Analysts Heroes of Multics....
- Site N US National Security Agency site, Ft....
- Site Security Administrator Designated security administration role at some sites....
- SJU Multics site: St John's University (Jamaica NY)...
- slave mode Unprivileged execution mode of the CPU....
- SLT See Segment Loading Table...
- SMM Segment Management Module....
- SNECMA Multics site: Société Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de...
- SNOBOL String processing language implemented for Multics by Olin Sibert...
- sort/merge Multics has a sort/merge facility that was done as...
- SOZAWE Multics customer...
- SRB Software Release Bulletin....
- SSA US Naval War Games System, Software Support Activity, Newport...
- SSS See Standard Service System...
- SST System Segment Table....
- STAC Store A (accumulator) Conditional (on memory operand being zero.)...
- stack Multics has a stack segment for the stack of...
- STACQ Store A (accumulator) Conditional on Q (quotient register) (being...
- standard service system Commands and subroutines provided with Multics, necessary for use...
- star convention Convention of representing the names of multiple entries in...
- Staran Attached associative processor, built by Goodyear Aerospace, used on...
- STATIC PL/I storage class....
- static section Region of the combined linkage segment where STATIC storage...
- STC Multics site: Standard Telephones and Cables (New Southgate, North...
- Stratus VOS See VOS...
- subsystem utilities Library of utility routines for programs that read requests...
- subverter Program written by the Project ZARF team to test...
- suffix The last period-delimited component of an entryname....
- SUNIST Service Universitaire pour l'Information Scientifique et Technique, Ministère de...
- supervisor That portion of the operating system which runs in...
- swapping Performance enhancement scheme implemented about 1977 for a Multics...
- SysAdmin Project name for system administrators, the people who registered...
- SysDaemon Multics project name that daemon processes runs under...
- SysMaint Project name for system maintainers, the people who installed...
- System M Multics system in Phoenix at CRF used by Honeywell...
- Systeme X Multics system in France used by Bull employees for...
- T&D Test and Diagnostic....
- Tague Project Another attempt to start a company to build Multics...
- tape Multics uses tape for file backup, for disk snapshots...
- tbl Table Building Language....
- TCB Trusted Computing Base...
- TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol....
- Tech Square Technology Square....
- TECO Tape Editor and Corrector....
- ted For "text editor", a powerfully enhanced qedx by Jim...
- Telefunken TR440 Telefunken Computer, for reasons known only to them, purchased...
- TENEX PDP-10 operating system developed at BBN in the late...
- terminal Interactive processes usually have a typewriter terminal (tty) attached...
- terminal operators CISL staff who typed in the Multics documentation written...
- terminal type Name for the kind of terminal device connected to...
- terminate Said of a segment....
- TeX Text formatting language invented by Donald K....
- Texto Full text indexing software, used at Rennes to implement...
- thrashing Condition in which the combined working set of the...
- timesharing Time-Sharing computer systems provide multiple simultaneous users a program...
- TMG TransMoGrifier....
- TN1200 TermiNet 1200....
- TN300 TermiNet 300....
- TOLTS Total OnLine Test System....
- Toshiba Multics customer...
- TP Transaction Processing....
- TPR Temporary Pointer Register - a tripartite processor register in...
- TR Trouble Report....
- traffic control Supervisor subsystem that performed the functions of controlling process...
- Trap Trap attribute....
- Trinity 1960s management group consisting of the leaders of MIT...
- Triumvirate Next-level 1960s management group, reporting to the Trinity, of...
- TRR Temporary Ring Register - the ring component of the...
- TSP Cambridge Project feature?
- TSS IBM's time-sharing system for the System/360 model 67....
- TSS-645 Time-Sharing system related to GCOS time-sharing, run on the...
- TTY Teletype....
- TTY DIM Device Interface Module for terminals....
- TTY35 Teletype Model 35....
- TTY37 Teletype Model 37....
- TYPSET Editing program for CTSS written by Jerry Saltzer....
- UBCC Multics site: University of Birmingham Computer Centre [UBCC] (Birmingham,...
- UC Multics site: University of Calgary [UC] (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)....
- udd (or UDD, user_dir_dir) Alternate names of the directory >user_dir_dir,...
- UID Unique identifier....
- UIM Universal Interface Module....
- UK file transfer & RJE ?
- UK mail & network addressing ?
- UK Transport Service ?
- unbundled Costs extra....
- unclaimed signal If a signal is raised, and the runtime cannot...
- UNCP Universal Network Control Program....
- underscore The character _, ASCII 137 (octal)....
- unique name See shriek name...
- university customers See Arizona State, Avon Universities (Bristol & Bath), Brunel,...
- Unix Operating system done at Bell Laboratories by Ken Thompson...
- UNSPEC PL/I language construct....
- upgraded directory Directory with a higher AIM classification than its parent....
- user (1) A person registered on a project....
- User Control Subsystem that handled login, user registration, projects, and so...
- user_input The standard process input I/O switch that commands normally...
- user_i/o The standard I/O switch that can be assumed to...
- user_output The standard process output I/O switch that commands normally...
- USGS US Geological Survey....
- USL University of Southwestern Louisiana [USL] (Lafayette, LA)....
- validation level Ring number used for access checking when inner ring...
- vfile_ Multics DIM that allowed users to access segments with...
- vform_ vform_ was a forms product that could define a...
- Video System Character based window system and real-time input editor much...
- VIP7760 Honeywell video terminal....
- VIP7801 Honeywell video terminal....
- virtual cpu CPU cycles used excluding overhead for multiplexing....
- virtual memory Addressing technique that provides uniform logical access to data,...
- VisiCalc Microcomputer spreadsheet developed by Multicians Bob Frankston and Dan...
- VLSI Design software ?
- VMM Virtual Machine Monitor....
- volume backup Storage backup of physical volumes while Multics operates....
- volume map Data structure with one bit for each allocatable record...
- volume pool RCP feature that allocates volumes for a generic ID...
- volume salvager Repair a physical volume....
- VOS Stratus operating system, influenced by Multics, developed by Multicians....
- VPI Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA....
- VTOC Volume Table of Contents....
- VTOCE VTOC Entry....
- VW Multics site: Volkswagen of America (Troy MI)....
- wakeup See IPC...
- WARMAPS Wartime Manpower Programing System....
- WATCHWORD Authentication device that looked like a pocket calculator, used...
- WHIRLWIND Early computer at MIT, begun during WW II and...
- wired Code or data that is fixed in physical memory,...
- WORDPRO Marketing package for compose plus Emacs, plus Speedtype, plus...
- working directory Directory used as the implicit prefix of relative path...
- working set Set of pages, at any time, required in core...
- write bracket Range of rings that can write a given segment....
- X.25 Communications protocol supported by Multics in MR 10...
- xforum, xmail "Executive" versions of the forum and mail commands....
- XR Index Register....
- XRAY Jerry Grochow's tool for debugging 645 Multics....
- XTS200 Honeywell product name for a "second generation SCOMP"....
- XTS300 Wang Government Services (later known as Getronics (later known...
- XTS400 2002-2003 outgrowth of the XTS300, produced by BAE Systems....
- yellow form Workflow form used at Honeywell to submit system changes....
- yellow submarine Hardware Engineering measurement device that hooked into the backplane...
- ZARF Code name for Air Force/MITRE tiger team project that...
- Zero Six Dog Field Engineers' jargon for "PRG06D", the 6080/6180 T &...
- ZWERG BOS program that was a diagnostic for the ABSI....