May 15, 2022
Multitasking: we all do it. For a feature of modern
computing multitasking has surprisingly old roots. It started out
as timesharing on vacuum tube based machines, reached ubiquity on
large computers, then hit a wall: the microcomputer. Multitasking
didn't smoothly transition over as soon as home computers hit the
scene. It took some time, and it took some adaptation. Today we are
looking at what made timesharing work, early changes to
microprocessors that paved the way for multitasking, and one of the
first operating systems to support timesharing in the
home.
Selected Sources:
https://www.roug.org/soren/6809/os9sysprog.html
- OS-9 System Programmer's
Manual
https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-01/page/n15/mode/2up
- Article on the development of
the 6809
https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/TEC.1962.5219356
- The One-Level Storage
System
