What is the AOS Operating System

AOS is a timesharing system. It can serve up to five people at one time -- each using a terminal and doing word processing or other operations. AOS also supports batch operations, running jobs without human interaction or attention.

AOS can do these things because it is a multiprogramming system: it can run many programs simultaneously. Each running program is called a process.

Each process is like a complete computer system. It has up to 64 Kbytes of main memory; it often has its own terminal; and it can use devices like a disk or printer. AOS can manage up to 64 concurrent processes.

AOS is a secure system. It allows only authorized people to log on to user terminals. An authorized person is one for whom a user profile has been created by the user profile editor program.

But AOS does not require multiple terminals. It can manage a single-terminal desktop system very well.

What Hardware Does AOS Support

• a Model 10/SP, 20, or 30 computer with at least 1/2 megabyte (1Mbyte) of main memory;
• a model 6271 15-Mbyte hard disk;
• a model 6267 single-slot or model 6268 dual-slot 368-Kbyte diskette unit; and
• a system console.

• a 16-color system console, on Model 10/SP systems;
• a multiplexor (USAM, model 4463) with up to four lines, to communicate with another system, a printer, a plotter, or user terminals;
• additional main memory, up to a total of 2 Mbytes;
• a second 15-Mbyte hard disk, for a total of 30 Mbytes of hard disk storage;
• a model 6301 38.6-Mbyte hard disk;
• a second model 6301 38.6-Mbyte hard disk, for a total of 77.2 Mbytes of hard disk storage;
• a dot-matrix serial printer, model 4434;
• a letter-quality printer, model 4518;
• a color plotter, model 4435;
• a cartridge tape unit;