RSTS/E

RSTS () is a multi-user time-sharing operating system developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC, now part of Hewlett-Packard) for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers. The first version of RSTS (RSTS-11, Version 1) was implemented in 1970 by DEC software engineers that developed the TSS-8 time-sharing operating system for the PDP-8. The last version of RSTS (RSTS/E, Version 10.1) was released in September 1992. RSTS-11 and RSTS/E are usually referred to just as "RSTS" and this article will generally use the shorter form. RSTS-11 supports the BASIC programming language, an extended version called BASIC-PLUS, developed under contract by Evans Griffiths & Hart of Boston. Starting with RSTS/E version 5B, DEC added support for additional programming languages by emulating the execution environment of the RT-11 and RSX-11 operating systems.

==Acronyms and abbreviations== BTSS (Basic Time Sharing System – never marketed) – The first name for RSTS. CCL (Concise Command Language) – equivalent to a command to run a program kept in the Command Line Interpreter. CIL (Core Image Library) – A container file format used to hold one or more standalone (bootable) programs and operating systems, such as RSTS through version 6A. CILUS (Core Image Library Update and Save) – DOS-11 program to manipulate a CIL file. CLI (Command Line Interpreter) – See Command-line interface. CUSPs (Commonly Used System Programs) – System management applications like Task Manager or Registry Editor on Microsoft Windows. On RSTS-11, CUSPs were written in BASIC-Plus just like user programs. DCL (Digital Command Language) – See DIGITAL Command Language. DTR (DATATRIEVE) – programming language FIP (File Information Processing) – resident area for issuing file requests FIRQB (File Information Request Queue Block) – A data structure containing information about file requests. KBM (Keyboard Monitor) – Analogous to Command Line Interpreter. LAT (Local Area Transport) – Digital's predecessor to TCP/IP MFD (Master File Directory) – Root directory of file system. PBS (Print Batch Services) PIP (Peripheral Interchange Program) PPN (Project Programmer Number) – Analogous to GID and UID in Unix. RDC (Remote Diagnostics Console) – A replacement front panel for a PDP-11 which used a serial connection to the console terminal or a modem instead of lights and toggle switches to control the CPU. RSTS-11 (Resource Sharing Time Sharing System) – The first commercial product name for RSTS RSTS/E (Resource Sharing Timesharing System Extended) – The current implementation of RSTS. RTS (Run Time System) – Read only segment of code provided by the supplier which would be mapped into the high end of a 32K, 16-bit word address space that a user program would use to interface with the operating system. Only one copy of an RTS would be loaded into RAM, but would be mapped into the address space of any user program that required it. In essence, shared, re-entrant code, to reduce RAM requirements, by sharing the code between any programs that required it. RTSS (Resource Time Sharing System – never marketed) – The second name for RSTS SATT (Storage Allocation Truth Table) a series of 512KB blocks on every disk that indicated if the block, or cluster, on the whole disk was allocated on the disk. Bitwise, a 1 indicated a cluster was in use; a 0 indicated it was not in use. SIL (Save Image Library) – The OS container file format after the RSTS system generation procedure was switched from one using DOS-11 to one running natively on RSTS/E, called that by analogy to the CIL it replaced. SILUS (Save Image Library Update and Save) – The program to create SIL files, called that by analogy to the (unrelated) DOS-11 CILUS program it replaced. UFD (User File Directory) – A user's home directory. Root directory of a file system. XRB (Transfer Request Block) – A data structure containing information about other types of system requests that do not use FIRQBs to convey the information