The design and production of operating systems

Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Systemware : a technique for digital emulation and interfacing

This paper identifies some of the problems of digital equipment interfacing. A new application of the technique of microprogramming, called Systemware, is described. Systemware is an approach that resolves hardware design problems by using conventional stored program techniques. The combination of both high speed digital signal processing and parallel arithmetic facilities under program control, together with application specified logic level provide a system of variable architecture, facilitating the design and construction of devices in all application areas where digital techniques are used. Systemware allows the ready design or emulation of digital communication equipmnnt (e.g. message switching system), process controllers, peripheral controllers, digital computers, digital interfaces, equipment testers and exercisers etc. The paper describes a virgin (i.e. unprogrammed) systemware device known as LSP (Logical Signal Processor), and describes the corresponding process of system architecture using this device