iMAX 432

In the history of computer operating systems, iMAX 432 (Intel Multifunction Applications Executive for the Intel 432 Micromainframe)[1] was an operating system developed by Intel for digital electronic computers based on the 1980s Intel iAPX 432 32-bit microprocessor.[2] The term micromainframe was an Intel marketing designation describing the iAPX 432 processor's capabilities as being comparable to a mainframe. The iAPX 432 processor and the iMAX 432 operating system were incompatible with the x86 architecture commonly found in personal computers in the 1980s-2010s. iMAX 432 was implemented in a superset of the Ada programming language.[3]

As of 1982 in iMAX version 2, iMAX was aimed at programmers rather than application users, and it did not provide a command line or other human interface.[1] iMAX provided a runtime environment for the Ada programming language and other high-level languages, as well as an incomplete Ada compiler which was to be extended to cover the full Ada programming language in a later iMAX version after Version 2.[1]

There were at least two versions of iMAX as of 1982, Version 1 and Version 2.[1] Version 1 was undergoing internal Intel testing as of 1981 and was scheduled to be released in 1982.[3] Version 2 was modular and the programmer could choose what parts of the iMAX operating system to load; there were two standard configurations of iMAX version 2 named "Full" and "Minimal", with the minimal configuration being similar to Version 1 of iMAX.[1] As of 1982, a Version 3 of iMAX was planned for release, which was to add support for virtual memory.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "iMAX 432 Reference Manual" (PDF). Intel. May 1982.
  2. ↑ Pollack, Fred J.; Kahn, Kevin C.; Wilkinson, Roy M. (December 1981). "The iMAX-432 object filing system". ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review (Association for Computing Machinery) 15 (5): 137–147. doi:10.1145/1067627.806602.
  3. 1 2 Kahn, Kevin C.; Corwin, William M.; Dennis, T. Don; d'Hooge, Herman; Hubka, David E.; Hutchins, Linda A.; Montague, John T.; Pollack, Fred J. (December 1981). "iMAX: A multiprocessor operating system for an object-based computer" (PDF). ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review 15 (5): 127–136. doi:10.1145/800216.806601.

Bibliography

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