ken@gvax.cs.cornell.edu (Ken Birman) (08/16/89)
This table lists machines on which ISIS runs and the status of ISIS V1.2
on them:
SUN3: ISIS seems very solid on the SUN 3 under all currently available
releases of SUN OS (3.4, 3.5, 4.0). We develop on SUN3's.
SUN4: ISIS seems very solid on the SUN 4 under all currently available
releases of SUN OS (3.4, 3.5, 4.0). However, we have run into
many problems in the optimizing phase of the C compiler and
had to disable optimization. We develop on SUN4's.
HP300: We have somewhat "indirect" access to machines of this type and
hence bang on them a bit less vigorously. ISIS runs solidly on
the HP300, but because the layout of the include files is very
non-standard, our newest software tends to have problems compiling
on this machine. Many ISIS users have HP300 and 800 systems and
we make a real effort to fix any problems that we are told about.
Of course, HP would probably claim that DEC, SUN, Apollo and everyone
else uses non-standard include files... thank god for OSF!
HP800: Again, our access is indirect but we have a community of users
who give us quick feedback. You shouldn't have trouble using ISIS
on an HP800. Don't use the optimizer.
APOLLO: We have erratic access to a single machine running Apollo's UNIX.
Whenever we get a chance, we check the system out on this, but
ISIS V1.2 was not checked on the Apollo and now seems to have problems.
MIPS: We have indirect access to MIPS machines running ULTRIX and have
checked ISIS V1.2 out on them. Seems very solid, and we have
users who would let us know if there was a problem.
GOULD: This is such an old ISIS port (and one that has been untested for so
long) that we we need to put some effort into getting ISIS running
again on a GOULD. Let us know if you wish to do so.
NEXT: NEXT uses a nonstandard set of system call interfaces but ISIS
has been tested out on version 0.9 MACH and runs without problems.
My guess is that release 1.0 will require further changes from us.
MACH: ISIS has recently been ported to the MACH version that will be
distributed by Mt. Xinu. Seems solid but we can't pound on this
yet, since our access to the Mt. Xinu systems is very indirect.
AIX: We have a port of ISIS to the IBM PC/RT under AIX, but this has
not been tested much at all.
LUCID: We have pounded on the Lucid LISP interface on SUN3/SUN4 systems
but not on anything else. Very solid on these machines.
ALLEGRO:We have pounded on the Allegro LISP interface on SUN3/SUN4 systems
but not on anything else. Very solid on these machines.
Within ISIS itself, it is helpful to understand that some parts of the
system are much more mature than others.
TOOLKIT: Almost everything in the "basic toolkit" is old and very solid now.
This code is widely used and extremely robust. Although we continue
to find and report bugs, this happens in any system, and we find
very few of them recently.
LISP: Both LISP ports are recent additions to ISIS, but have been tested
extensively and we are confident that they work well.
SPOOLER: This is new and available only as a "beta" release.
BYPASS: This consists of two new facilities that speed up ISIS enormously:
* isis_connect: a way to make direct channels between processes.
* -DBYPASS: a compile-time flag that allows direct broadcasts
Both of these facilities are still under development. We are
alpha-testing the -DBYPASS stuff at Cornell, and writing a paper
on it. isis_connect is a very small and simple piece of software,
but nonetheless had an error in it in ISIS V1.2.
META: Starting in the next release of ISIS (V2.0) we will provide a
very extensive collection of utilities for dealing with realtime
actuated rules and sensors and actuators. This is not included
in the V1.2 release and is now being beta-tested by us at a limited
number of external sites.