Jump to UNIX history continues……

1950s

Some operating systems from the 1950s include: FORTRAN Monitor System, General Motors Operating System, Input Output System, SAGE, and SOS.


SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment), designed to monitor weapons systems, was the first real time control system.

Batch systems


Batch systems automated the early approach of having human operators load one program at a time. Instead of having a human operator load each program, software handled the scheduling of jobs. In addition to programmers submitting their jobs,, end users could submit requests to run specific programs with specific data sets (usually stored in files or on cards). The operating system would schedule “batches” of related jobs. Output (punched cards, magnetic tapes, printed material, etc.) would be returned to each user.

General Motors Operating System, created by General Motors Research Laboratories in early 1956 (or late 1955) for thieir IBM 701 mainframe is generally considered to be the first batch operating system and possibly the first “real” operating system.

The operating system would read in a program and its data, run that program to completion (including outputing data), and then load the next program in series as long as there were additional jobs available.

Batch operating systems used a Job Control Language (JCL) to give the operating system instructions. These instructions included designation of which punched cards were data and which were programs, indications of which compiler to use, which centralized utilities were to be run, which I/O devices might be used, estimates of expected run time, and other details.

This type of batch operating system was known as a single stream batch processing system.

Examples of operating systems that were primarily batch-oriented include: BKY, BOS/360, BPS/360, CAL, and Chios.

 

Early 1960s


The early 1960s saw the introduction of time sharing and multi-processing.

Some operating systems from the early 1960s include: Admiral, B1, B2, B3, B4, Basic Executive System, BOS/360, Compatible Timesharing System (CTSS), EXEC I, EXEC II, Honeywell Executive System, IBM 1410/1710 OS, IBSYS, Input Output Control System, Master Control Program, and SABRE.
    The first major transaction processing system was SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business Related Environment), developed by IBM and American Airlines.