File servers and protocols used with PDP-10 and Lisp machines

[larsbrinkhoff]

Server	Protocol	Timespan
AI/ML/DM/MC (ITS)	MLDEV (NCP, Chaosnet, TCP)	1972-1990
AI	10-11	1977-1978
AI	FILE (Chaosnet)	1979-
OZ (Twenex)	FILE (Chaosnet)	1980-
FC (CADR)	LMFILE (Chaosnet)	1982-
PI=MIT-CRACKERS (Symbolics)	?	1983-1988
REAGAN (Symbolics)	?	1984-
OZ, SPEECH	RMTDEV (Chaosnet)	1985-
"ITS"	NFILE (Chaosnet)	1988-

[larsbrinkhoff]

The ITS "FILE" server is interesting. It started as RG;FILE in 1977, using the Rubin 10-11 interface to serve the CONS. In 1978 it was updated to add CADR as Unibus 3. HIC rewrote it in 1979 to use Chaosnet instead. In 1980 it was updated to also run on Twenex.

[larsbrinkhoff]

The MLDEV server was first called ATSIGN OTHER and appeared in 1972.

NCP support was dropped, and replaced with Chaosnet and TCP, in MLSLV 76 from 1983.

[larsbrinkhoff]

@ams please flesh out the Lispm perspective.

[ams]

FC was running a LMFile file system, and FS was running a LOCAL-FILE file system. FC and FS were the same machines (LISPM27).

From the Lisp Machine manual:

The Local-File system on the filecomputer at MIT has the host name FS.

The LMFILE system is primarily for use as a file server, unless you have
512k of memory. At MIT it runs on the filecomputer and is accessed
remotely with host name FC.

Local file systems there where at least:

LMFile (which got flushed at some point)
LOCAL-FILE (which was used by MIT/LMI)
LMFS (Symbolics)

On the remote file protocol:

FILE-SERVER was the system that served files over the FILE protocol described in the Amber document.

I am unsure what remote protocol was used to access LMFile (e.g. FC).

AI, MC hosted the initial source code, which then was moved to OZ. PI seemed to keep a backup or mirror of it.

[ams]

The remote protocol name for LMFile was "LMFILE", as can be seen in source code. https://tumbleweed.nu/r/sys/file?ci=tip&name=file2/server.lisp&ln=46-57