Amoeba distributed operating system
Encyclopedia
Amoeba is an open source
microkernel
-based distributed operating system
developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum
and others at the Vrije Universiteit
. The aim of the Amoeba project is to build a timesharing system that makes an entire network of computers appear to the user as a single machine
. Development at Vrije Universiteit was stopped: the files in the latest version (5.3) were last modified on 12 February 2001. Recent development is carried forward by Dr. Stefan Bosse at BSS Lab.
Amoeba runs on several platforms, including SPARC
, i386, i486, 68030, Sun 3/50 and Sun 3/60.
The system uses FLIP
as a network protocol.
The Python programming language
was originally developed for this platform.
Recent development by Dr. Stefan Bosse at BSS Lab:
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
microkernel
Microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system . These mechanisms include low-level address space management, thread management, and inter-process communication...
-based distributed operating system
Distributed operating system
A distributed operating system is the logical aggregation of operating system software over a collection of independent, networked, communicating, and spatially disseminated computational nodes. Individual system nodes each hold a discrete software subset of the global aggregate operating system...
developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Andrew Stuart "Andy" Tanenbaum is a professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is best known as the author of MINIX, a free Unix-like operating system for teaching purposes, and for his computer science textbooks, regarded as standard texts in the...
and others at the Vrije Universiteit
Vrije Universiteit
The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch name is often abbreviated as VU and in English the university uses the name "VU University". The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern part of Amsterdam in the Buitenveldert district...
. The aim of the Amoeba project is to build a timesharing system that makes an entire network of computers appear to the user as a single machine
Single-system image
In distributed computing, a single system image cluster is a cluster of machines that appears to be one single system. The concept is often considered synonymous with that of a distributed operating system, but a single image may be presented for more limited purposes, just job scheduling for...
. Development at Vrije Universiteit was stopped: the files in the latest version (5.3) were last modified on 12 February 2001. Recent development is carried forward by Dr. Stefan Bosse at BSS Lab.
Amoeba runs on several platforms, including SPARC
SPARC
SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987....
, i386, i486, 68030, Sun 3/50 and Sun 3/60.
The system uses FLIP
FLIP (Fast-Local-Internet-Protocol)
The Fast-Local-Internet-Protocol is a Suite of Internet Protocols, which provide transparency, security and network management. -See also:*Amoeba distributed operating system...
as a network protocol.
The Python programming language
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
was originally developed for this platform.
See also
- MultikernelMultikernelA multikernel operating system treats a multicore machine as a network of independent cores -- in other words, as if it were a distributed system. It does not assume shared memory but rather implements inter-process communications as message-passing....
- MinixMinixMINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel....
- Distributed computingDistributed computingDistributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
- Operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
- Andrew S. TanenbaumAndrew S. TanenbaumAndrew Stuart "Andy" Tanenbaum is a professor of computer science at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is best known as the author of MINIX, a free Unix-like operating system for teaching purposes, and for his computer science textbooks, regarded as standard texts in the...
External links
Recent development by Dr. Stefan Bosse at BSS Lab:
- Overview
- VAM, The Virtual Amoeba Machine: distributed operating system based on Amoeba with virtual machine concepts and functional programming
- AMUNIX, Amoeba on the top of UNIXUnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
: Amoeba extension for UNIX-like opertaing systems - AMCROSS: Amoeba crosscompiling environment for UNIX
- VX-Kernel: the new VX-Amoeba Kernel
- VAMNET, The Virtual Amoeba Machine Network: a new hybrid distribute operating system environment