mwette@gauss.ucsb.edu (Matt Wette) (04/02/88)
In answer to the growing effort in Japan's 5th generation computing project we have the following: Announcing the 5th dimension in computing. Yes, this is SMOS, the Shirley Macla*ne Operating System. The user-friendly system includes commands such as lv - list past lives, -l gives more detail eltalk - talk to Elvis rworld - remote login to another world For many years the BSD ``socket'' and the SysV ``stream'' have been shown to be quite useful. However, in many applications these do not suffice. We have developed the SMOS ``channel''. Channeling allows communication across any network. How does this work? The innermost layer of the kernel creates for the outer layers a virtual crystal. This allows portability. Many implementations come with many standard devices (e.g., /dev/elvis, /dev/ramtha, etc.) The popular eltalk program, for instance, merely opens a channel between the user's terminal, /dev/tty, and elvis, /dev/elvis. Of course this system has irritated other competitors in the field; for instance the Determined Euphoric Coalition, developers of Virtual Medium Systems. This system is still in development. Any creative contributions will be welcomed. _____________________________________________________________________________ Matthew R. Wette | ARPA: mwette%gauss@hub.ucsb.edu Scientific Computation Lab | UUCP: ucbvax!ucsbhub!gauss!mwette Dept. Elec. and Comp. Eng. | University of California | Santa Barbara, CA 93106 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------