Idris is a multi-tasking,
Unix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
, multi-user,
real-time operating systemA real-time operating system is a multitasking operating system intended for real-time applications. Such applications include embedded systems , industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial control , and scientific research equipment.A RTOS facilitates the creation of a real-time system, but does not...
released by
WhitesmithsWhitesmiths Ltd. was a software company based in Westford, Massachusetts. It sold a Unix-like operating system called Idris, as well as the first commercial C compiler...
, of
Westford, MassachusettsWestford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,754 at the 2000 census.-History:Westford was first settled in 1635...
. The product was commercially available from 1979 through 1988.
Idris was originally written for the
PDP-11The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corp. from 1970 into the 1990s. Though not explicitly conceived as successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the PDP series of computers , the PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications...
by
P. J. PlaugerP. J. Plauger is an author and entrepreneur.He has written and co-written articles and books about programming style, software tools, and the C programming language....
, who started working on Idris in August 1978. It was binary compatible with
Unix V6Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs. It was released in May 1975...
on PDP-11, but it could run on non-memory managed systems (like LSI-11 or PDP-11/23) as well. The kernel required 31 Kb of RAM, and the C compiler (provided along with the standard V6 toolset) had more or less the same size.
Although Idris was initially available for the PDP-11, it later ported to run on a number of platforms, such as the
VAXVAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
,
Motorola 68000The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit
CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
,
System/370The IBM System/370 was a model range of IBM mainframes announced on June 30, 1970 as the successors to the System/360 family. The series maintained backward compatibility with the S/360, allowing an easy migration path for customers; this, plus improved performance, were the dominant themes of the...
and
Intel 8086The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit data bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM...
.
Idris is a multi-tasking,
Unix-likeA Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
, multi-user,
real-time operating systemA real-time operating system is a multitasking operating system intended for real-time applications. Such applications include embedded systems , industrial robots, spacecraft, industrial control , and scientific research equipment.A RTOS facilitates the creation of a real-time system, but does not...
released by
WhitesmithsWhitesmiths Ltd. was a software company based in Westford, Massachusetts. It sold a Unix-like operating system called Idris, as well as the first commercial C compiler...
, of
Westford, MassachusettsWestford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,754 at the 2000 census.-History:Westford was first settled in 1635...
. The product was commercially available from 1979 through 1988.
Background
Idris was originally written for the
PDP-11The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corp. from 1970 into the 1990s. Though not explicitly conceived as successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the PDP series of computers , the PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications...
by
P. J. PlaugerP. J. Plauger is an author and entrepreneur.He has written and co-written articles and books about programming style, software tools, and the C programming language....
, who started working on Idris in August 1978. It was binary compatible with
Unix V6Sixth Edition Unix, also called Version 6 Unix or just V6, was the first version of the Unix operating system to see wide release outside Bell Labs. It was released in May 1975...
on PDP-11, but it could run on non-memory managed systems (like LSI-11 or PDP-11/23) as well. The kernel required 31 Kb of RAM, and the C compiler (provided along with the standard V6 toolset) had more or less the same size.
Ports
Although Idris was initially available for the PDP-11, it later ported to run on a number of platforms, such as the
VAXVAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
,
Motorola 68000The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit
CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
,
System/370The IBM System/370 was a model range of IBM mainframes announced on June 30, 1970 as the successors to the System/360 family. The series maintained backward compatibility with the S/360, allowing an easy migration path for customers; this, plus improved performance, were the dominant themes of the...
and
Intel 8086The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit data bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM...
. In 1986, David M. Stanhope and Skip Tavakkolian at Computer Tools International ported Idris to the
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1985...
and developed its
ROMRead-only memory is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. Because data stored in ROM cannot be modified , it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM...
boot cartridge. This work also included a port of the X Window to Idris. Computer Tools and Whitesmiths offered it to
AtariAtari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Infogrames Entertainment SA ....
as a replacement for
Atari TOSThe Operating System is the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. This range includes the 520ST, 1040ST and the F, FM and E variations . Later, 32-bit machines were developed using a new version of TOS, called MultiTOS, which allowed multitasking...
, but eventually marketed it directly to ST enthusiasts.
A specific version of Idris (CoIdris) was packaged as a
.com fileIn many computer operating systems, a COM file is a type of executable file; the name is derived from the file name extension .COM. Originally, the term stood for "Command file", a text file containing commands to be issued to the operating system , on many of the Digital Equipment Corporation mini...
under
MS-DOSMS-DOS is an operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s. It was preceded by M-DOS , designed and copyrighted by Microsoft in 1979...
and used it for low level
I/OI/O may refer to:* Input/output, a system of communication for information processing systems* The input-output model, an economic model of flow prediction between sectors...
services. Idris was ported to the Apple Macintosh (as MacIdris) by John O'Brien (of Whitesmiths Australia) and remained available until the early 1990s.
MacIdris ran as an application under the
FinderFinder may refer to:* Finder , a core component of the Apple Macintosh operating system, is the graphical representation of the computer's file system* Finder , a comic book series by Carla Speed McNeil...
or
MultifinderMultiFinder was the name of an extension software for the Apple Macintosh, introduced in System Software 5 in 1988 and included with System Software 6. It added the ability to co-operatively multitask between several applications at once – a great improvement over the previous systems, which...
After Whitesmiths had been merged with
IntermetricsIntermetrics, Inc. was a software company founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1969 by several veterans of M.I.T.'s Instrumentation Laboratory who had worked on the software for NASA's Apollo Program including the Apollo Guidance Computer....
, Idris — along with its development
toolchainIn software, a toolchain is the set of computer programs that are used to create a product...
— was ported to the INMOS T800 transputer architecture.