A Local Network Based on the UNIX Operating System

Abstract

The design and implementation of a local network operating ystem based on the UNIX <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> operating system is described. UNIX has been extended to allow existing programs to access remote resources with no source program changes. Programs may access remote files, have a remote working directory, execute remote programs, and communicate with remote processes using the standard UNIX interprocess communication mechanism (pipe's). An efficient message-oriented interprocess communication mechanism and asynchronous I/O were added to the system to support the development of distributed applications and to make it easier to connect the local network to packet-switched networks.