The CDC 6000 series was a family of mainframe computers designed by Seymour Cray and James E. Thornton and manufactured by Control Data Corporation in the 1960s. The computers in the series were extremely fast for their time and considered to be the first supercomputers.
The Living Computer Museum has recently refurbished and put on-line a CDC 6500 supercomputer. The system was originally used at Purdue University from 1967 to 1989.
This document is a short guide for those interested in exploring the 6500's interactive command environment.
tty.livingcomputermuseum.org port 6500.USER NUMBER prompt type slowly over line of Xs: STEPHENPASSWORD prompt, type over line of Xs: JONESRECOVER /SYSTEM: prompt, type RECOVER to recover previously interrupted session, or IAF command.
On the 6500, functionality is presented to the user through several subsystems, which play a similar role to applications or programs on other computer systems. However, the concept of 6500 subsystems differs from other systems' application and programs in certain ways. Expecting 6500 subsystems to work the same way as more familiar system applications can lead to great confusion when exploring the 6500.
On most computer systems, form those contemporary with the 6500 to the present, regardless of size, when the user begins a session with the system, he is first presented with a general purpose environment (variously called "shell", "command line", "window manager", ...) where the he can access utilities such as system status, file system, and user environment settings. When more specialized functionality is required, the user invokes an application or program implemented for that purpose, and interacts with the application independently of the general system environment. Afterward, the user leaves the application and returns to the general purpose environment to again access system utilities or to invoke other specialized applications. The focus is on the functionality desired by the user at the given moment and invoking the enviroment to provide that functionslity
By contrast, when using the 6500 the focus of a user's interaction is the current file selected by the user. Most 6500 subsystems are associated with a particular file type, and when the user selects a file to work with, the 6500 automatically loads the corresponding subsystem, which controls the user environment until the user selects a file of a different type, or explicitly invokes another subsystem.
Transitions between subsystems are partially obscured from the user by making a number of subsystem command names common to several subsystems, and by making a number of general utility programs accessible from multiple subsystems. 6500 subsystems are well-enough integrated that it is usually not necessary fo the user to exit his current subsystem and return to the general purpose environment (the "NULL" subsystem).
Ctrl-C.