The Arachne Distributed Operating System
Raphael A. Finkel, Solomon,M. H. · Minds at UW (University of Wisconsin) · 1981
Arachne is multicomputer operating system implemented at the University of Wisconsin that allows a network of microcomputers to cooperate to provide a general-purpose computing facility. After presenting an overview of the structure of Arachne, this paper reports on experience with Arachne, compares it to other multiprocessor and multicomputer operating systems, and indicates our future plans. The essential features of Arachne are: (1) The network appears to the casual user to be a single powerful machine; (2) All processors are identical; (3) No memory is shared between processors; (4) No assumptions are made about the topology of interconnection except that the network is connected (that is, there is a path between each pair of processors); (5) Control is not centralized, either physically or logically; (6) The network is constructed entirely from hardware components commercially available at the time of construction (January, 1978); and (7) Everything described in this paper is functional.