On Mon, Aug 28, 2023 at 12:32:55PM +0000, G B via 9fans wrote: > Windows and Linux began on single-core single processor machines. > Multiprocessor had been around for some time--IBM's System 360 began using > multi-processors in 1968--but not for x86. Plan 9 first edition came out in > 1992, at a time when multicore didn't exist, and multicore was released with > IBM's Power 4 in 2001. > I can see why someone would ask if Plan 9 supports multicore. Plan 9 3rd > edition was released in 2000 and 4th edition was released in 2002. In each > case, going from single core-single processor to multiprocessor and then from > multiprocessor to multicore would require changes in the operating system to > recognize the extra processors and then the cores.
Symmetric multiprocessing was available in 1992, even on x86 machines. Multics, tops-10, and various unixes all supported it by then. Once you have shared-memory SMP there's little difference between multiprocessor and multicore. Plan 9's implementation is imo cleaner than most of what came before, but by 1992 there was a lot of multiprocessing going on in the world. khm ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/T912e4838cb1a371f-M782fd3f6b87a6f36612c7cfd Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
