Data General Eclipse MV/8000
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1968 |
| Products | Eclipse MV series of minicomputers |
The Eclipse MV/8000 marked the introduction of a series of 32-bit minicomputers developed by Data General throughout the 1980s. Known internally as Eagle during its creation, this system introduced a novel 32-bit architecture that maintained compatibility with the earlier 16-bit Eclipse lineup. The project's development and team dynamics were documented in Tracy Kidder's work The Soul of a New Machine. Subsequent iterations in this product line included the MV/6000, MV/8000-II, MV/2000, MV/2500, MV/4000, MV/10000, MV/15000, MV/20000, MV/30000, and MV/40000 models. Advanced versions such as the MV/40000 incorporated SMP capabilities alongside hot-swappable hardware components.
The architecture of the Eclipse MV was based on a 32-bit CISC design featuring a 4 GB addressable memory space. This space was segmented into eight distinct protection levels or rings of 512 MB each, establishing a privilege scheme from ring-0 (highest privilege) to ring-7 (lowest privilege).
Its operating system, AOS/VS, introduced the concept of lightweight "tasks" in addition to conventional processes. These tasks operated within a shared global address space, akin to contemporary threads, allowing for rapid context switching and straightforward utilization via Data General's FORTRAN compiler. The system also offered support for subtasks known as "Son" batch processes through the command-line interface (CLI), effectively enabling interactive batch jobs that terminated upon user logout. The MV/8000 restricted true batch processes to a maximum of two to preserve the responsiveness of online processes. These interactive batch tasks were assigned equal priority to standard user processes.