GRASP was a

systems software System software is software designed to provide a platform for other software. Examples of system software include operating systems (OS) like macOS, Linux, Android and Microsoft Windows, computational science software, game engines, search engin ...

package that provided

spooling In computing, spooling is a specialized form of multi-programming for the purpose of copying data between different devices. In contemporary systems, it is usually used for mediating between a computer application and a slow peripheral, such as ...

facilities for the

IBM/370 The IBM System/370 (S/370) is a model range of IBM mainframe computers announced on June 30, 1970, as the successors to the System/360 family. The series mostly maintains backward compatibility with the S/360, allowing an easy migration path f ...

running

DOS/VS Disk Operating System/360, also DOS/360, or simply DOS, is the discontinued first member of a sequence of operating systems for IBM System/360, System/370 and later mainframes. It was announced by IBM on the last day of 1964, and it was first de ...

or DOS/VSE environment, and

IBM/360 The IBM System/360 (S/360) is a family of mainframe computer systems that was announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover both commercial and scientific applica ...

running

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

or retrofitted with modified DOS.

The product

GRASP was a

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

enhancement available for DOS, DOS/VS, DOS/VSE, and some third party DOS-based operating systems. Subsequent versions became known as GRASP/VS and GRASP/VSE. It " spooled" (queued) printer and card data, freeing programs from being dependent upon the speed of printers or punched card equipment. GRASP was the first such spooler for IBM mainframes, and later had competition from IBM's

POWER Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may ...

and DataCorp's The Spooler. GRASP, like Spooler, could reside in an independent "F0" partition.

Platforms

Software

The product ran under several DOS-related platforms: *

* DOS/VSE *

clones, 3rd party or modified

Hardware

Hardware platforms included: *

which ran Power *

which ran Power/VS and clones, which included: *

Amdahl Amdahl may refer to: People * Einar Amdahl (1888-1974), Norwegian theologist * Bjarne Amdahl (1903-1968), Norwegian pianist and composer * Douglas K. Amdahl Douglas K. Amdahl (January 23, 1919 – August 24, 2010) was an American lawyer and j ...

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

* Magnuson *

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...

F0

GRASP required a dedicated partition. With DOS having only three partitions and DOS/VS seven, giving up a partition to GRASP placed a crimp in practicability. The concept of F0 offered computers the availability of running the product without giving up a DOS partition. For DOS/VS and DOS/VSE versions, SDI re-engineered a version of Fx developed for DOCS and The Spooler.

History

GRASP was originally developed in Australia by Boyd Munro. Assisted by Peter Hargrave, Munro formed Software Design, Inc (known as SDI) and began selling first in Australia, then Britain, and shortly thereafter the United States, through SDI, Inc, a California corporation. The marketing manager and chief salesman was Gerry Novotny. SDI was one of the earliest and most aggressive software marketing companies.

References

External links

SDI, Inc
Computer printing IBM mainframe software {{Software engineering