Amoeba is an open source microkernel-based distributed operating system developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum and others at the Vrije Universiteit. The aim of the Amoeba project is to build a timesharing system that makes an entire network of computers appear to the user as a single machine. Development at Vrije Universiteit was stopped: the files in the latest version (5.3) were last modified on 12 February 2001. Recent development is carried forward by Dr. Stefan Bosse at BSS Lab.
Amoeba runs on several platforms, including SPARC, i386, i486, 68030, Sun 3/50 and Sun 3/60.
The system uses FLIP as a network protocol.
The Python programming language was originally developed for this platform.
Famous quotes containing the word amoeba:
“An amoeba is a formless thing which takes many shapes. It moves by thrusting out an arm, and flowing into the arm. It multiplies by pulling itself in two, without permanently diminishing the original. So with words. A meaning may develop on the periphery of the body of meanings associated with a word, and shortly this tentacle-meaning has grown to such proportions that it dwarfs all other meanings.”
—Charlton Laird (b. 1901)