December 1990 - Vol. 33 No. 12
Features
Computing perspectives: the rise of the VLSI processor
Around 1970 Intel discovered it could put 2,000 transistors—or perhaps a few more—on a single NMOS chip. In retrospect, this may be said to mark the beginning…
Real-time data acquisition at mission control
Perhaps one of the most powerful symbols of the United States' technological prowess is the Mission Control Center (MCC) at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.…
An empirical study of the reliability of UNIX utilities
The following section describes the tools we built to test the utilities. These tools include the fuzz (random character) generator, ptyjig (to test interactive…
Experiences with the Amoeba distributed operating system
The Amoeba project is a research effort aimed at understanding how to connect multiple computers in a seamless way [16, 17, 26, 27, 31]. The basic idea is to provide the…
Diffusion in computing networks: the case of BITNET
Using BITNET as a model, the author examines the adoption pattern of computing networks from the perspectives of innovation diffusion theory and economics.
Inside RISKS: risks in medical electronics
The RISKS Forum has had many accounts of annoying errors, expensive breakdowns, privacy abuses, security breaches, and potential safety hazards. However, postings…