What was the WAITS System that was in use at the University of California?

The WAITS (Western Automated Information Processing System) computer system was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It was one of the first time-sharing systems, allowing multiple users to access a single computer simultaneously.

The WAITS system consisted of a mainframe computer, a set of terminals, and a communication network. The mainframe used a modified version of the IBM System/360 architecture, with additional hardware and software to support time-sharing. The terminals were simple text-based devices, allowing users to input commands and view output.

The WAITS system was implemented using a unique operating system called RSX-11, which was designed specifically for time-sharing. It included features such as job scheduling, memory management, and input/output handling. The system also supported a variety of programming languages, including COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC.

The WAITS system was widely adopted in the academic and research communities, as it provided a cost-effective way to share computing resources among multiple users. It also served as a model for future time-sharing systems, influencing the development of UNIX and other operating systems.

Today, the WAITS system is no longer in use, as modern computing technologies have made it obsolete. However, its legacy lives on in the form of the many innovations it inspired, and it remains an important part of computer history.