iMAX 432 (Intel Multifunction Applications eXecutive for the Intel 432 Micromainframe) was an

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

developed by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

for

digital electronic computer In computer science, a digital electronic computer is a computer machine which is both an electronic computer and a digital computer. Examples of digital electronic computers include the IBM PC, the Apple Macintosh, and modern smartphones. When ...

s based on the

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

Intel iAPX 432 The iAPX 432 (''Intel Advanced Performance Architecture'') is a discontinued computer architecture introduced in 1981. It was Intel's first 32-bit processor design. The main processor of the architecture, the ''general data processor'', is imp ...

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32-bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculation ...

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

. The term ''micromainframe'' was an Intel marketing designation describing the iAPX 432 processor's capabilities as being comparable to a

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

. The iAPX 432 processor and the iMAX 432 operating system were incompatible with the

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introd ...

architecture commonly found in

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s. iMAX 432 was implemented in a subset of the original (1980) version of the

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

, extended with runtime

type checking In computer programming, a type system is a logical system comprising a set of rules that assigns a property called a type to every "term" (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Usually the terms are various constructs of a computer progra ...

and dynamic package creation. As of 1982 in iMAX version 2, iMAX was aimed at programmers rather than application users, and it did not provide a command line or other human interface. iMAX provided a runtime environment for the Ada programming language and other high-level languages, as well as an incomplete Ada

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

which was to be extended to cover the full Ada programming language in a later iMAX version after Version 2. There were at least two versions of iMAX as of 1982, Version 1 and Version 2. Version 1 was undergoing internal Intel testing as of 1981 and was scheduled to be released in 1982. Version 2 was modular and the programmer could choose what parts of the iMAX operating system to load; there were two standard configurations of iMAX version 2 named "Full" and "Minimal", with the minimal configuration being similar to Version 1 of iMAX. As of 1982, a Version 3 of iMAX was planned for release, which was to add support for

virtual memory In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very l ...

References

Bibliography

* * Capability systems Discontinued operating systems Intel software {{operating-system-stub

See also

References

Bibliography