Amiga Workbench was not the first multitasking OS

Fred the Fop · 16 December 2006, 22:20

Some guy posted an old video of the Apple Lisa and the OS used, in early 1984.

[ Show youtube player ]

You'll see multiple apps running at once.

Bloodwych · 16 December 2006, 23:13

Nice historic vid.

That was a $10,000 system at the time though, but it does have some nice first features like mouse driven GUI for such an old machine.

Its multitasking was co-operative, not pre-emtive like the Amiga, but again the idea is there and probably a first.

A machine that moved the whole computer scene forward in a big way.

Photon · 17 December 2006, 01:41

Fred: Of course it wasn't? I'm pretty sure before that, the Xerox Palo Alto had multitasking. And before that, probably some dodgy IBM mainframe had something like multitasking serving multiple terminals and print jobs. (But no WIMP though. The Alto was first with that.)

Mick_AKA · 17 December 2006, 01:47

Thats awesome! thanks for posting!!

rbelk · 17 December 2006, 04:09

I will agree that the Amiga was not the first computer with multi-tasking. The Multics MainFrame operating system was the first. The GUI Apple Lisa a flop, it had a price tag of around $10,000 dolars and Apple did not know how to promote it. But the Amiga 1000 was the first home computer to come standard with a multi-tasking GUI environment for under $1500. Still one of the best, to me a least.

P-J · 17 December 2006, 13:54

@Photon : I think Fred is trying to disspell a myth that you'd be surprised how many people believe! I used to believe it was the first pre-emptive multitasking OS, but the internet and magazines soon fixed that gap in my knowledge

adolescent · 17 December 2006, 17:25

@P-J

But, MacOS/System didn't have pre-emptive multitasking until the late 90s (MacOS 9 was realeased when, 1999?). So, he's just dispelling the myth with another myth.

P-J · 17 December 2006, 18:17

Well then, I sit corrected. Pre-emptive multitasking was my topic of conversation. If this Apple Lisa doesn't have it then the myth is not disspelled.

Fred the Fop · 18 December 2006, 02:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

Fred: Of course it wasn't? I'm pretty sure before that, the Xerox Palo Alto had multitasking. And before that, probably some dodgy IBM mainframe had something like multitasking serving multiple terminals and print jobs. (But no WIMP though. The Alto was first with that.)

I am not sayng the Lisa was first, only that the Amiga was not. Though Amiga scored first in the pre-emptive arena. I believe the OS Xerox used was called SmallTalk.

Jope · 18 December 2006, 07:49

The Amiga was the first HOME COMPUTER with pre-emptive multitasking.. Multitasking was already invented in big iron OSes decades before the Amiga.

rbelk · 18 December 2006, 10:00

I did a little digging, and here's the results. MicroWare OS/9 Level 1 was the first pre-emptive multi-tasking UNIX like OS for a home computer, the Tandy Color Computer 2. It was released in 1983! It did not have a GUI interface though, but that came latter and it was called DeskMate, and you could run OS/9 in less than 64K. The cost was around $50

P-J · 18 December 2006, 10:28

Did anyone else read the comment above as Microwave OS?

rbelk · 18 December 2006, 10:33

P-J, bet ya didn't know that MicroWare OS/9 was also ported to the Amiga also...

srg86 · 18 December 2006, 15:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by P-J

Well then, I sit corrected. Pre-emptive multitasking was my topic of conversation. If this Apple Lisa doesn't have it then the myth is not disspelled.

I'm afraid so, the first Apple OS to have pre-emptive multitasking was OS X.

P-J · 18 December 2006, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbelk

P-J, bet ya didn't know that MicroWare OS/9 was also ported to the Amiga also...

No, I just imagined a 1983 microwave cooking two things at once

Photon · 18 December 2006, 18:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred the Duck

I am not sayng the Lisa was first, only that the Amiga was not. Though Amiga scored first in the pre-emptive arena. I believe the OS Xerox used was called SmallTalk.

There were at least four programming languages for the Xerox Alto, Smalltalk was a verbose-ish object-oriented language.

The Alto was about as multi-tasking as the first Mac: It could do certain things like talk to I/O and screen while running code (due to its hardware), and you could have more than one app open, but when you switched apps, the former app would stop executing.

True multi-tasking is in book defined as being able to run several apps at one time; preferably as many as the memory can allow for. Two would do it for me - that's "multi" all right. It would also have to do that on a single processor - having one CPU for each task is just a matter of hardware configuration. To be a multi-tasking _OS_ also requires an environment the tasks use to let the user operate the computer.

The Alto was a revolution because it had these things:
1. WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointer)
2. Object-oriented programming (AND os!)
3. WYSIWYG (portrait screen, hires bitmap)
4. Networking (yes, Ethernet!)

It was never a personal computer though, since it wasn't commercially available - no person could buy it, only institutions. (I remember researching the First Personal Computer and coming up with a Very early French computer, but I can't remember its name right now... bah.)

I know IBM mainframes served dozens of users running their programs concurrently, before the Alto. But I don't know if more than one program was run on one CPU - what those mainframes looked like inside is unknown to me. And it probably wasn't an OS per se; probably just a main program switching time slots between more than one user.

Some site lists UNIX as the first multi-tasking OS - in 1969. Wouldn't surprise me.

boing_1000 · 18 December 2006, 18:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by P-J

No, I just imagined a 1983 microwave cooking two things at once

That's preemptive multitasking haha.

rbelk · 19 December 2006, 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by boing_1000

That's preemptive multitasking haha.

And true multi-user, and user friendly at the same time

shillard · 19 December 2006, 09:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred the Duck

Some guy posted an old video of the Apple Lisa and the OS used, in early 1984.

[ Show youtube player ]

You'll see multiple apps running at once.

NERD ALERT!!!!

Chuckles · 19 December 2006, 18:24

Pre-emptive multitasking OS's on the big boxes have been around for a very long time, and were sometimes also referred to as "time sharing" systems. The first programming job I ever had (in 1976) was on a proprietary OS that the company I worked for developed, and it did pre-emptive multitasking. Basically all pre-emptive multitasking OS's use a time-slicing model, with individual users yielding the remainder of their slices at any time that they need to wait on a system resource, such as an I/O to be completed.

The Amiga was the first home computer with pre-emptive multitasking though. The Lisa and the early Mac would allow you to have several tasks going at the same time, but only one could be active at the same time, and the OS wasn't capable of automagically switching back and forth between them. The Amiga's OS has much in common with Unix, and I'd be very surprised if Unix didn't influence the Amiga OS design, with the goal being to provide the best Unix features with a smaller set of hardware requirements. They succeeded brilliantly at that, IMHO.

16 December 2006, 22:20	#1
Fred the Fop flaming faggot Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Versailles Age: 55 Posts: 2,808	Amiga Workbench was not the first multitasking OS Some guy posted an old video of the Apple Lisa and the OS used, in early 1984. [ Show youtube player ] You'll see multiple apps running at once.

18 December 2006, 10:00	#11
rbelk an old bsd'er Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Rylos Age: 64 Posts: 58	I did a little digging, and here's the results. MicroWare OS/9 Level 1 was the first pre-emptive multi-tasking UNIX like OS for a home computer, the Tandy Color Computer 2. It was released in 1983! It did not have a GUI interface though, but that came latter and it was called DeskMate, and you could run OS/9 in less than 64K. The cost was around $50 Last edited by rbelk; 18 December 2006 at 10:32.

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16 December 2006, 23:13	#2
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	Nice historic vid. That was a $10,000 system at the time though, but it does have some nice first features like mouse driven GUI for such an old machine. Its multitasking was co-operative, not pre-emtive like the Amiga, but again the idea is there and probably a first. A machine that moved the whole computer scene forward in a big way.

17 December 2006, 01:41	#3
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,628	Fred: Of course it wasn't? I'm pretty sure before that, the Xerox Palo Alto had multitasking. And before that, probably some dodgy IBM mainframe had something like multitasking serving multiple terminals and print jobs. (But no WIMP though. The Alto was first with that.)

17 December 2006, 01:47	#4
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	Thats awesome! thanks for posting!!

17 December 2006, 04:09	#5
rbelk an old bsd'er Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Rylos Age: 64 Posts: 58	I will agree that the Amiga was not the first computer with multi-tasking. The Multics MainFrame operating system was the first. The GUI Apple Lisa a flop, it had a price tag of around $10,000 dolars and Apple did not know how to promote it. But the Amiga 1000 was the first home computer to come standard with a multi-tasking GUI environment for under $1500. Still one of the best, to me a least.

17 December 2006, 13:54	#6
P-J Registered User Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Moorpark, California Age: 44 Posts: 1,153	@Photon : I think Fred is trying to disspell a myth that you'd be surprised how many people believe! I used to believe it was the first pre-emptive multitasking OS, but the internet and magazines soon fixed that gap in my knowledge

17 December 2006, 17:25	#7
adolescent Powered by Motorola Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Age: 52 Posts: 1,065	@P-J But, MacOS/System didn't have pre-emptive multitasking until the late 90s (MacOS 9 was realeased when, 1999?). So, he's just dispelling the myth with another myth.

17 December 2006, 18:17	#8
P-J Registered User Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Moorpark, California Age: 44 Posts: 1,153	Well then, I sit corrected. Pre-emptive multitasking was my topic of conversation. If this Apple Lisa doesn't have it then the myth is not disspelled.

18 December 2006, 07:49	#10
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,876	The Amiga was the first HOME COMPUTER with pre-emptive multitasking.. Multitasking was already invented in big iron OSes decades before the Amiga.

18 December 2006, 10:28	#12
P-J Registered User Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Moorpark, California Age: 44 Posts: 1,153	Did anyone else read the comment above as Microwave OS?

18 December 2006, 10:33	#13
rbelk an old bsd'er Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Rylos Age: 64 Posts: 58	P-J, bet ya didn't know that MicroWare OS/9 was also ported to the Amiga also...

19 December 2006, 18:24	#20
Chuckles The Ancient One Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas City/USA Age: 69 Posts: 685	Pre-emptive multitasking OS's on the big boxes have been around for a very long time, and were sometimes also referred to as "time sharing" systems. The first programming job I ever had (in 1976) was on a proprietary OS that the company I worked for developed, and it did pre-emptive multitasking. Basically all pre-emptive multitasking OS's use a time-slicing model, with individual users yielding the remainder of their slices at any time that they need to wait on a system resource, such as an I/O to be completed. The Amiga was the first home computer with pre-emptive multitasking though. The Lisa and the early Mac would allow you to have several tasks going at the same time, but only one could be active at the same time, and the OS wasn't capable of automagically switching back and forth between them. The Amiga's OS has much in common with Unix, and I'd be very surprised if Unix didn't influence the Amiga OS design, with the goal being to provide the best Unix features with a smaller set of hardware requirements. They succeeded brilliantly at that, IMHO.

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