7 Mar
2022
7 Mar
'22
11:16 p.m.
On Mar 7, 2022, at 5:03 PM, Thomas DeBellis
<tommytimesharing(a)gmail.com> wrote:
...
But the security question really was, once you are in normal operation, just how
'normal' should the console be? Tops-10's console was pretty normal except
for the INITIA automatic nice things. Tops-20's is closer as you normally can't
get to the auto-magic. My recollection is that on at least at least some IBM mainframes,
you couldn't use the console for a foreground session. I think this was the case for
OS/360 (which we ran on our 91) and maybe for MVS. I can't remember about VM.
OS/360 is like some other operating systems where the console isn't anything like a
user device at all. The OS/360 console is dedicated to interacting with the operator.
You can't use it to run anything, though of course if you're an operator you can
submit any card deck you want. The THE operating system is similar.
CDC NOS (for 6000 mainframes) is quite another matter. Its console has several modes, the
typical one is like OS/360 an operator status and interaction mode. But you can also run
programs, and one of those (DIS) lets you enter commands (like in a card deck or at a
timesharing terminal) except that you have full privileges. Another (O26) lets you edit
files at will.
On PLATO, which is essentially a very large application under NOS that takes over parts of
the machine, the console can also act as a PLATO terminal with the special property that
it doesn't have to log in; you can run anything you want with full privilege just by
being at the console. That's actually a necessary feature early in the installation
procedure but it doesn't go away afterwards. (If you need more security you could
remove that program, I suppose. I've not heard of that being done.)
paul