More IBM-tans

[stewartsage]

Look, some more vintage-tans.  Feel free to inform me if this is old ground and I'll stop.  But if not, please add your own input!

GMOS-heika
Enigmatic mother of all IBM-tans directly, and all others in the sense she was perhaps the first true OS.  I imagine her style to be similar to that of Queen Elizabeth the II in the 1950's, probably remembered as wearing a tiara and gown and being a kind, just, maternal figure to her IBM mainframe children.  Her true appearance and personality are lost to the mists of time since no living OS-tan ever knew her.  Perhaps she's venerated as a deity by the Mainframe/supercomputer-tans?

SHARE OR IBM 7090/94 IBSYS-san
Small, quiet, dresses in a conservative/subdued manner.  Old fashioned dress with a high collar, usually a stern expression.  Behavior similar to a librarian, obsessed with sorting and filing things (it was essentially a monitoring program, to match punch card images to the right utility) and can usually be found doing just that. An early rocket scientist, she helped NASA with the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo missions (including the first moon landing) an accomplishment of which she is quite proud (maybe a NASA theme to her clothing? Perhaps carrying a slide rule?).  Has always had gray hair. Also surprisingly good at card tricks (sorry, decks of programs, couldn't help myself).  Daughter of GM-NAA I/O-denke

University of Michigan Executive System(UMES)-tan
MTS-tan's predecessor and sister to 90/94 IBYSYS-tan.  Similar in appearance but probably a blond as opposed to her gray haired, and more obsessive, sister.  She prefers to focus on smaller tasks one at a time (UMES was designed for smaller student tasks).  Less flashy then her younger sister MTS-tan, UMES-san didn't travel as much or receive as widespread attention either (perhaps some resentment about her replacement?).  Her style of clothing is probably also divergent from IBSYS-tan, having a more northern/cold weather flavor. A contemporary of CTSS-sama, the two worked closely together on joint MIT/UM projects throughout the early sixties. Possessed of a subtle sense of humor directed at her operators (MAD was descended from ALGOL 58: it had block structure and a fast compiler, and if your compilation failed, the compiler used to print out a line printer portrait of Alfred E. Neumann. {MIT took that out to save paper.}) <quoted from Tom van Vleck> Maybe UMES-tan herself indulges in some lighter reading?

Music/SP-tan (prior development?)
The extremely adaptable education OS put out by IBM in 1972 (and the first OS my dad ever used).  An able multitasker, in her younger days she had problems working with more then one person at a time.  Likes to think she's at the forefront of technology, although she really isn't (maybe she dresses in contemporary professional clothes to stay "hip").  Has internet access since the early 90's. A native Canadian from Montreal, she's a fan of her home school (McGill University) even though they've pretty much abandoned her.  Somewhat UNIX-like, she has a limited ability to project an image of herself (capable of being emulated on a PC). Patient, she loves to help out anyway she can, especially students.  A talented classical musician, preferring the harp especially.  Probably of average height, naturally gray hair like 70/90 IBSYS-san.  Of all of these, she's the only one still alive.  Willing to talk to the more modern OS's, even if she does resent them for largely supplanting her.

Added a couple I forgot to put here.  I know Siya already drew one of them and Bella just did the other:


Apollo's Domain/OS-tan: A fairly short woman or teenaged girl. Simpler then Multics-sama and runs from a much smaller CPU powering generally smaller networks. Friends with BSD-tan, Unix System V-tan(?) (systems were interoperable). Stylishly and modernly dressed (workstations resembled modern PCs). Easily distracted and doesn't multitask well (Ethernet was prone to failure, could be overloaded by too many workstations.)  Generally could be described as 'spacey'. Her relationship with Multics is one of lackadasial admiration, in that she respects the system that inspired her but doesn't feel particularly motivated to display her affection.


Michigan Terminal System-tan/sensei (MTS-tan): Of course, she speaks with a Michigan and is a serious fan of the U of Michigan Wolverines. She has a warm and cheerful personality. Loves cold weather since she is prone to heat exhaustion (oil cooled CPU, to cool 30,000 BTU). MTS-tan has an extreme affinity for paper products and books (IBM manuals were gigantic). Sort of an international traveler, mostly to Canada and France. Her eyes are two tone sulfur green (the MTS terminals had an odd refresh, from top to bottom, then left to right in addition to being phosphor green). Tall (~6ft) and solidly built. MTS-tan is easily distracted by bright or flashing lights (According to some sources, IBM went overboard with the indicator lights). She almost always wears a necklace with a light bulb on it, symbolizing 'the only important light', the WAIT indicator that showed the system was not in use. Instead of Multicians, she has a dedicated following of former students/professors/engineers from Canada and Michigan. Likes to talk, a lot (pioneering electronic conferencing and instant messaging programs).

[NejinOniwa]

You sure are a hard working fellow, aren't ya. -w-;

[Aurora Borealis]

That all sounds good. Do you have reference pictures for the machines they run on? I'd like to draw them, but it would help if there were more design cues.

Siya drew a concept sketch of GMOS-tan, and she fits the description of wearing a gown:

[stewartsage]

Working on some more designer type stuff as we speak.

Ahhh, now I remember seeing that sketch! Another pre-existing design search failure on my part.

[Bella]

This is awesome! Long ago I tried tackling the topic of early IBM-tans, but I didn't get very far (aside from TSS/360-tan and CP/CMS-tan).

I really like you ideas for GMOS-tan, because it seems to match up rather well with Siya's design for her. IBSYS-tan sounds about right, I actually hadn't heard of UMES until I read this, and MUSIC/SP-tan matches up with most of my old concepts for her (friendly, student-oriented, still in commission today, etc).

It's not an official IBM OS, but what do you think of BESYS? Apparently, it was some sort of OS developed and used internally at Bell Labs, this site sort of makes the case that it could be a Multics-ancestor... sort of... http://www.geekcomix.com/cgi-bin/classnotes/wiki.pl?UNIX01/From_BESYS_To_UNIX

[stewartsage]

Well those are both quite well done.  To be fair, there isn't really much on either 7090/94 IBSYS-tan or UMES-tan....

Perhaps I subconsciously remembered seeing it? UMES-tan is a master of secrecy perhaps... good to hear Music/SP-tan matches up.

Hmm, BESYS is indeed interesting.  Seems like in the same way UMES & MTS-tan would be related.... however that is.... This also raises a question: Now I have seen places mentioning both the IBM 7090 and IBM 704  as the computer used for the Daisy Bell vocorder experiment.  It seems it was programmed on a IBM 7094 or IBM 704 in 1961, 1962, or 1963.  It seems to me that perhaps it was some sort of copying error one way or the other.  

http://www.switched.com/tag/bell+labs/
This one indicates the correct info is an IBM 704 in 1962  ;100

For now, here's one more non-IBM system, in fact a Burroughs creation.

Back Up Intercept Computer-chan (BUIC-chan):  Late teens in apparent age, red hair (Burroughs' color) worn with plain metal barrettes, doesn't wear glasses, her clothes are much plainer then SAGE typically wears, usually sporting plain fatigues or coveralls with a coat (she's a basic system).  SAGE-sama's daughter, operational security keeps the two apart (SAGE and BUIC stations were kept separate to prevent them from being simultaneously taken out) except for the occasional visit SAGE insisted upon and her letters. Not very active, she spends most of her time tinkering about with spare equipment around the base (again, as a back up she doesn't do much).  Growing up in a different era has affected BUIC-chan, she isn't quite the proper officer her mother acts like.  Not to say that she's incapable of acting like SAGE-sama if the need arises.  Much more prone to emotional displays, she is genuinely fond of her mother despite rarely seeing her.  Capable of rapidly assimilating the details of her surroundings, BUIC-chan has equally fantastic reflexes.  She has been known to complain from time to time of the isolation of her assignment.

Okay, one more preliminary one:

Bell Operating System (BESYS)-tan: Half sister to IBSYS-tan and UMES-tan, she doesn’t really take after them personality wise.  Apperance wise, similar height (mid five feet range), dark blue hair, eyes similar to UNIX-sama’s with the Bell logo. due to her wide variety of jobs at Bell Labs her wardrobe varies greatly but nothing fancy, has an equally large variety of name badges to indicate what job she’s doing at the moment.  Self starter she’ll take on any task, can be hard to get along with though (no support was offered, but it was used widely internally at Bell Labs), New Jersey native,   Excellent singing voice, which she doesn't try and hide leading to her singing sometimes while she works (might have been the Daisy Bell computer's OS), resented the attempts to replace her with Multics.  She likes to imagine a rivalry with CTSS-tan at MIT.

[Bella]

One site I found called BESYS the ancestor of IBSYS, but I couldn't find any other evidence to support that... so I guess it's about right that they're sisters. *shrugs*

Hmm, your story seems to have solved who did the Daisy Bell experiment first. xD I dunno, maybe IBSYS and BESYS-tan would both both lay claim to being the first? (After years had gone by and few were around to refute their claim, that is to say).

Yey, BUIC-chan! We really need moar Burroughs-tans. That's one area of computer history I haven't gotten into and maybe this'll motivate me to do a little research on it.

The character ideas for BUIC-tan sound pretty well though-out; I totally approve of the redheadedness (I always do), and I dunno, she just sounds really interesting (who would have thought SAGE-sama's daughter would be a bit idle and have catlike reflexes?)

The relationship is especially sad, but at least there was a reason they couldn't be together, called national security. -___-

You pretty much pegged my initial thoughts for BESYS-tan; though somehow I think she might dress with a slightly Indian flare (no real literal reason for this; mostly a throwback to Multics-sama's exotic fashion and some sort of reference to IBM 1401s being popular in India). I guess she wouldn't be very good with Multics-sama, though.

[Red-Machine]

Yey, BUIC-chan! We really need moar Burroughs-tans. That's one area of computer history I haven't gotten into and maybe this'll motivate me to do a little research on it.

The character ideas for BUIC-tan sound pretty well though-out; I totally approve of the redheadedness (I always do)

^^ These automatically make you full of win!  :beer:

[stewartsage]

IBSYS started out as SHARE OS in '59 so yes she is two years younger, but both were early time sharers so I just decided to make her sort of an older sister to her and UMES-tan. *return shrug*

Yeaaah, I figured it was probably BESYS-tan who'd claim that accomplishment (I kept wanting to do a story to submit to the group, and that sort of became it).  Well, she did outlive BESYS so I suppose she could put her claim in after she wasn't around to refute it.  Although some important people might beg to differ....

Same here, I need to do a little moar research, I just happened to know BUIC-chan was  a Burroughs product, since most SAGE hardware was.  Off the bat, I know there's at least one other I want to do (Pick OS-tan, if she hasn't already been created).

Hooray for redheads!  BUIC-chan's traits just seemed natural, to be honest she was probably the easiest of all of them.  Maybe since SAGE had already been completed.

National security means its time for Executive Order hugs.

Hmm, interesting.  Sounds fine by me.  Insert your own Multics-BESYS "The Devil went Down to Georgia" joke here.

[Bella]

Yey, BUIC-chan! We really need moar Burroughs-tans. That's one area of computer history I haven't gotten into and maybe this'll motivate me to do a little research on it.

The character ideas for BUIC-tan sound pretty well though-out; I totally approve of the redheadedness (I always do)

^^ These automatically make you full of win!  :beer:

I stayed up until, like, midnight last night reading about Burroughs. Fascinating stuff there-- I've never researched the company before (despite a family connection to it; my great aunt was secretary to the president of Burroughs in the 1960s).

Same here, I need to do a little moar research, I just happened to know BUIC-chan was a Burroughs product, since most SAGE hardware was. Off the bat, I know there's at least one other I want to do (Pick OS-tan, if she hasn't already been created).

IIRC, C-chan *may* have proposed an concept for PickOS-tan. You might want to drop his newest incarnation (C-quel) a line about that.

But wait, Pick isn't an OS is it? I thought it was some sort of database program. That shouldn't stop you from making one (the line between OS, hardware and program-tan gets blurred often), that was just an observation on my part.

Speaking of old mainframe-tans, what about Master Control Program (MCP)-tan? Some initial thoughts (mostly based on this brochure):
-Born 1961, matured into her current self in the 1970s
-MCP-tan would be friendly but to-the-point
-A very independent worker, sometimes to the point of snubbing co-workers who want to help out (MCP was hailed as being highly automated)
-Can't stand an idle moment, might be considered a bit of an a-type personality by some
-Practised some type of primitive "open sourcery" (MCP source was provided to all licensees, many of whom contributed to MCP's programming)
-Ahead of her time (MCP implemented features only now becoming widespread)
-Still alive today (MCP's latest stable release was in 2008)
and Unisys/Univac

Physically I'm not sure what she might be like; I imagine she's tall and heavily built (because MCP ran on some or the largest Burroughs mainframes, and it'd serve as a contrast to all the waifish, delicately built OS-tans). I think her dress style would change from era to era.

Next up, an EXEC-sama relative (daughter?)OS 2200-tan. Some initial thoughts:

-I have no friggin idea.

Hooray for redheads! BUIC-chan's traits just seemed natural, to be honest she was probably the easiest of all of them. Maybe since SAGE had already been completed.

National security means its time for Executive Order hugs.

Hmm, interesting. Sounds fine by me. Insert your own Multics-BESYS "The Devil went Down to Georgia" joke here.

It's always fun when a character just sort of falls together into place. Yey for executive order hugs! Hmmm, a fiddlin' contest where the loser has to sell her source to Microsoft?

[Red-Machine]

Hmmm, a fiddlin' contest where the loser has to sell her source to Microsoft?

That's akin to prostitution for an independent OS, ya know...

[stewartsage]

Hmmm, a fiddlin' contest where the loser has to sell her source to Microsoft?

Perhaps the loser gets exiled to Southern Bell?

IIRC, C-chan *may* have proposed an concept for PickOS-tan. You might want to drop his newest incarnation (C-quel) a line about that.

But wait, Pick isn't an OS is it? I thought it was some sort of database program. That shouldn't stop you from making one (the line between OS, hardware and program-tan gets blurred often), that was just an observation on my part.

Will do.

It seems that its core component is a database and that it's primary function is data processing but you're right, if it is an application that doesn't stop me.  Although I'm not "feeling" it right now

MCP-tan sounds interesting for sure.  I think you pretty much covered it.  Sounds like she could have her own editor program companion a la OpenVMS? To tell the truth there don't seem to be a lot of Burroughs OS's, just her and BTOS.  A Burroughs PC, that was surprising.

Ah, OS 2200..... yeah, nothing.  Such a wall of text even for the Wiki article.

An interesting bit of memorabilia, at least in my opinion, is this button from the UVA computer history collection.  "The Computer Everyone Loved but No One Wanted to Buy"

Back to IBM for a moment, trying to decide whether to do a -tan for MVS, since MVS may or may not just be OS/360 wearing a pretty hat for OS-tan purposes.  But, here's OS/360 at least:

OS/360-tan:
-Mildly schizophrenic (large number of sub-products)
-Generally finds it difficult to multitask (Not naturally a time sharing OS)
-Secure in her belief in IBM's superiority over their competitors, prone to spouting company rhetoric
-Easier to get along with then her older sisters though (OS/360 was the end result of a series of stop gap OS's)
-Almost immortal (OS/360 has sort of morphed and changed into systems still used today)
-Don't let her near anything breakable, extremely clumsy (Prone to fragmentation)
-Very popular with other -tans (OS on some of the best selling mainframes IBM has made)
-Skilled at a variety of governmental and scientific functions
Status: Alive? Sort of?
-Sworn enemy of MTS-tan and all other third parties who wish to run on her equipment (IBM System/360 mainframes)
-Strangely enough, got along alright withTSOS-tan
-Leader of the IBM forces during part of the Mainframe Conflict
-Learned how to do card tricks from IBSYS-sama (Sorry, large racks of data cards)
-Good at talking with the modern PC-tans (OS/360 had ease talking to terminals, that's a translatable skill)

Physical: Large breasted (Required large amounts of memory, perhaps the spiritual predecessor of XP Pro-tan?), likes to wear IBM themed clothing, still caries her cutlass mainly for show, decently tall and well built (she is a mainframe-tan), gray eyes, black-gray hair



Okay, here's the RCA-tan who also happens to also be a Unisys-tan, I don't think she's been done but I've been wrong before:

RCA TSOS  AKA VS/9-tan (BS2000-tan?):
-Patient (system waited for the enter command as opposed to one character at a time)
-Enjoys TV & Radio programs and listens to 8-track tapes, has expansive entertainment industry trivia knowledge (RCA origins)
-Polite (Start up message struck me "Welcome to the VS/9 terminal system. Please logon.")
-Time conscious, always watches the clock (user accounts could be time limited)
-Use of Exec-8 brought about her downfall in Unisys use
-Insecure with her identity, not sure where she belongs (RCA sold her, but she misses her time there. Unisys improved her, then abandoned her. As BS2000/OSD she was sold overseas, and to her last remaining market)
-Friendlier then most IBM-tans (more user friendly then its contemporaries) but demonstrates passive aggressive behavior towards them, especially OS/360 (wants to show them up, at the same time OS/360 and her are quite...... compatible *cough* Plan 9/Slackware *cough*)
-Has threatened Unisys with revenge numerous times since the late 80s, but hasn't shown any dislike towards OS 2200 for some reason
-Speaks German & Japanese (sold to a German company, then a Japanese one)
-Status: Alive? BS2000 which was/is a version of TSOS that is still used, sooo *shrug*

Physically:  Wears clothing with a red & white color scheme usually, probably featuring lightening bolts prominently.  Somewhat of a Japanese and German influence too, so the actual clothes themselves would be of varying styles.  Average height and weight for the most part (Spectra series was considered decidedly average).  Occasionaly wears an IBM pin.  Black hair (for magnetic tape?).


Okay, these took a while but since Bella wrapped up the Burroughs-tan(?), I went after one of the other dwarfs.  So, here's a rather complete (I think) list of Control Data Corporation-tans:

Chippewa Operating System (COS) AKA SCOPE-sama:
-Shown very little love or respect by her CDC family (COS was originally a stop gap OS until better ones came along)
-Has an inferiority complex that wasn't entirely unjustified, feels the need to prove herself (was indeed initially inferior to other operating systems)
-Likes to test and mess around with experiments, and is quite good at it (initially designed to test systems, not for delivery)
-Greatly satisfied by her defeat of the rival/usurper SPIROS-tan
-A great beliver in "the right to rise" and prone to giving motivational speeches (was developed further into a successful OS)
-Leader of the CDC family and the most successful, despite not being respected at all by any of her descendants
-Love/Hate relationship with her own employees, especially the field engineers (referred to as "Sunnyvale's Collection of Programming Errors" by them)
-Known for her speed, quite fleet of foot (Ran/runs on one of the most powerful computers of the 1960s, enjoys showing up the lumbering IBM-tans)
-Great at multitasking and good at delegating tasks to her assistants (the CDC 6600 could offload common tasks to external I/O processors to speed up more important work)
-Early associate of Seymour Cray (possibly related to the Cray-tans?)
-From Minnesota, thus has an accent
-Status: Alive? (Run by some companies to this day apparently)

Physically: appears to be stitched together (thrown together quickly out of existing OSs in the beginning), dresses simply but well (succeeded but doesn't like to show off), her hair is often messy or tangled and is several different colors, her wide open eyes make her look almost permanently surprised (look at the pictures on Wiki of the CDC 6600), a bit tall


MACE-kun:
-Loose cannon of the CDC family (an unauthorized development of COS)
-Intense personality; loud, boisterous, self assured.  The opposite of his sister(?) SCOPE-sama.
-Arrogant (Asked for by customers even though not technically a product)
-Adaptable, takes change easily and willing to help others understand whats going on.
-Proud of his roots as a single programmer's off hour project, considers his accomplishments superior to the others.
-"Working Man's OS", created at an assembly plant, not a lab.  Despite this, he isn't as hands on as SCOPE-sama
-Status: Alive?

Physical: Likes to wear work clothes, blond hair, bright shiny teeth, almost always grinning (imagine a slightly sleazy politician), medium height and stocky (doesn't necessarily do much).  

CDC KRONOS-kun:
-Direct son of MACE-kun, but not very similar personality wise
-More modest (incorporated parts of COS in addition to MACE)
-Tries to keep the peace amongst the others, SCOPE-sama considers him her second in command
-Extremely time conscious, doesn't put up with tardiness (named after a god of time, so its normal right?)
-A shrewd businessmen, quite popular with the customers, who managed to secure his position within the family (both SCOPE and KRONOS remained popular for a long time with CDC customers)
-Status: Alive?

Physical: Usually wears a conservatively colored three piece suit, glasses (for effect, not because he needs them), another blond, blue eyes.  Closer to SCOPE-sama's height then his father's.

Network Operating System (NOS)-tan:
-The second (and more successful) usurper of control from SCOPE-sama
-Sometimes attempts to mascaraed as SCOPE or oddly enough KRONOS (NOS was an attempt to combine SCOPE and KRONOS)
-Defeated by SCOPE-sama and Kronos-san in battle, forcing her to accept a lesser position in the family.
-Even more arrogant then MACE-kun, but not quite as personable
-Pretty much despised by the other CDC-tans
-Status: Alive?

Phsyical: Medium height and a bit of a light weight, somehow the only brunette of the bunch but may wear wigs as part of a disguise, has stitching similar to SCOPE but less noticeable (combination of KRONOS and SCOPE), almost always frowning, dresses typically in a more flamboyant style unless impersonating SCOPE or KRONOS

NOS/VE-tan:
-Mysterious daughter of NOS-tan
-The last CDC-tan
-Quiet, makes more attempts to ingratiate herself with the SCOPE-sama
-Known admirer of Multics-sama (similar in some ways to Multics?)
-Not as capable a fighter as any of her predecessors (CDC was failing by her time)
-Status: Alive?

Physical: small pale girl, average height and thin, blond haired, likes to dress like Multics, but usually much plainer due to budget and cultural restraints.

SMM-tan:
-CDC Repairman
-Keeps the hardware in working order
-MACE-kun's chief lieutenant
-Rarely leaves the Arden Hill plant.
-Status: Deceased?

Physical: Wears CDC coveralls and a hard hat, black haired, tall and thin, pale from lack of sun, usually carries a tool box.

KALEIDOSCOPE-tan:
-CDC software tester
-Responsible for making sure software is reliable before deployment
-SCOPE-sama's agent inside Arden Hill
-Nervous personality, brought on by stress
-Excellent eye sight
-Skilled diagnostician and chief medical specialist of the CDC family
-Status: Deceased?

Physical: Wears jeweler's glasses, short and sturdily built, has multicolored hair a la SCOPE-sama, prefers simple business clothes and a lab coat

MALET (Maintenance Application Language for Equipment Testing)-kun:
-Field scout for CDC
-Assists KALEIDOSCOPE-tan upon occasion
-The only CDC-tan that actually gets along with the field engineers
-Enjoys taunting and teasing the CDC OS's (MALET's job was to help engineers test for system errors)
-Plays pranks on SCOPE-sama frequently, but often serves as an emissary for her nonetheless

Physical: Dress a bit stereotypically, usually a button up shirt, tie, and slacks, about 6'0 but heavily built, black hair

That's enough for today I think.  Maybe I'll hit NCR tomorrow?

[NejinOniwa]

Uwah, you're really a Sage here, aren't you. >.<

[Chocofreak13]

oh wow i miss alot when i'm gone!! @_____@!

this is so cool. i love it when people start making new -tans, it gets so inspire-ey. :3

lemme know if artz is needed, but it looks like bella and aurora got it covered. :3

[Aurora Borealis]

I'm coming up with some concept sketches for these new characters.  

That NOS-tan sounds like a total jerk! Poor SCOPE-sama.

With SCOPE-sama being an associate of Cray, I imagine that she'd be friends with Cray-1-tan.