Talk:GEORGE (operating system)

Suggested rewrite
I've been working on a new version of the ICT 1900 page and my section on GEORGE grew larger than what is here. I'd like to suggest replacing the existing GEORGE section by User:HughesJohn/Sandbox/George (Operating system).

If anyone has any comments or suggestions please write here. HughesJohn (talk) 17:49, 20 March 2011 (UTC)
 * It's more coherent and detailed than the current article. Hopefully someone will add an example George 3 batch job for contrast with the George 2 example, but on the other hand maybe there's already too much code in the article. I suggest retaining this paragraph
 * With the launch of ICL's "New Range", the 2900 Series, the ICT 1900 line and GEORGE became obsolete, but the legacy of investment in software for GEORGE meant that the 2900 series had options to run existing GEORGE based workloads in an emulation mode, e.g. using the Concurrent Machine Environment (CME).
 * Can all the material be verified in the sources you mention? --GeorgeMacro (talk) 22:04, 20 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I have a G3 equivalent of the G2 job to add (I'll also add that these are somewhat atypical examples as they make no use of macros).
 * I'll add back the para about obsolescence
 * I'm pretty sure all the material is verifiable (I've gone with the sources everywhere the sources conflict with my memory). I have a copy of all the sources referenced (notably Campbell-Kelly due to the wonders of just-in-time printing).
 * HughesJohn (talk) 06:49, 21 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I've added a G3 batch job, will add an example G3 MOP session.
 * Done.HughesJohn (talk) 21:43, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I've added a section on end-of-life
 * I'm going to add a few more references.
 * HughesJohn (talk) 11:04, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

I think I've finished my rewrite. The only question I have is about the use examples I have which are somewhat long. I propose that I install my new page next week, with the examples. If anyone wants me to remove them, or wants me to hold off on installing the new page please let me know. HughesJohn (talk) 16:02, 22 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I support the change. I agree, though, that the examples are somewhat long. The important thing is the contrasts between them and how they reflect developments in programming languages and JCLs in general, but maybe that's a future piece of work. The proposed article is better than the existing one IMHO. --GeorgeMacro (talk) 20:49, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

George - the Autopilot
I wonder whether anyone could confirm that the use of the nickname George for the autopilot in aviation cikrcles was also a contributory factor in the choice of the name for the OS. It seems plausible. --TraceyR (talk) 07:38, 4 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Added quote from George Felton that points out the use of "GEORGE" for autopilots. HughesJohn (talk) 09:54, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Dump and Restore
One of the most important features of George 3 environment was the dump and restore facility where 2 magnetic tape drives were continuously used to take copies of modified files. This meant that background jobs could call for files which were not currently available on an EDS and the tape on which they were resident would be called for and the relevant file loaded, without user intervention. Our filestore was about 54Gb in size, running on a series of discs about 360Mb.

In the event of machine failure, not uncommon on these disc drives for George happily beat them to death, the entire system could be reconstructed from the latest dump. Restoring a big system took some time, and because every job then needed its files restoring from tape activity in and around the tape store became a blur.

The nature of the dump system, however, meant that we were able to buy time on other machines with suitable security rating and trawl the country in a lorry with a copy of a full dump on board, running our work all weekend on someone else's machine, whilst work carried on our machine. As long as no record of the programme other than a printed result was required so that the task was avoided of attempting to merge back two filestores was avoided the method was brilliant.

As a measure of the success of George 3, I was rung up out of the blue by the IBM Marketing Director for the UK who was keen to find out what the relative throughput of our machine was relative to the largest 360, as he had heard extremely unpleasant stories (for him) emanating from BAC at Weighbridge. When I began to list the number of jobs we were forcing through the 1900 system (which was even more than BAC because we had a dual 1904S and they only had a 1906) and compared it to our 360 he grew very soggy and hard to light. drg40@outlook.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.77.173.74 (talk) 14:19, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

GEORGE in MCP
Burroughs also used this name to refer to the central task of its operating sytem 76.180.168.166 (talk) 21:09, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

"XPCK is the linker"
I think George used the word "consolidator" instead of "linker". The error message potentially displayed by the example macro also suggests this to be the case. I have no evidence though beyond personal recollection from too many years ago. GeorgeMacro (talk) 21:01, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
 * That's my recollection too. But "linker" I think is the word that tended to be used by other manufacturers for the same function, so is perhaps the term more likely to be understood without explanation by those unfamilar with George. JH (talk page) 21:09, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
 * OK. GeorgeMacro (talk) 12:05, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I've changed it to "#XPCK was the linker, or consolidator in ICL terminology".HughesJohn (talk) 13:44, 6 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Is it worth mentioning that "40" in the source line "#PRO HWLD40/TEST" defined the program's priority in a multiprogramming environment? --TraceyR (talk) 19:02, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

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GEORGE or George?
Should the name of the OS be FULLY UPPERCASE or simply Capitalized? The current version uses GEORGE less often than George, but shouldn't it use either one or the other the whole way through? The motan (talk) 19:56, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, the article should use just one capitalization consistently, and it should be chosen based on what's most commonly seen in reputable sources.&#32;-- Fyrael (talk) 20:01, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Seems that George is the more often used of the two. The motan (talk) 20:12, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure that ICL documentation always referred to it as GEORGE, so I think that's the one we should go with. JH (talk page) 08:19, 9 March 2023 (UTC)
 * https://www.icl1900.co.uk/g3/index.html uses George. The motan (talk) 21:42, 9 March 2023 (UTC)
 * OK, in that case I'm happy to go with "George". JH (talk page) 09:24, 10 March 2023 (UTC)