TOPS-10

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

TOPS-10
 /tops.ten/, n.

   {DEC}'s proprietary OS for the fabled {PDP-10} machines, long a
   favorite of hackers but now long extinct. A fountain of hacker
   folklore; see Appendix A. See also {ITS}, {TOPS-20}, {TWENEX}, {VMS},
   {operating system}. TOPS-10 was sometimes called BOTS-10 (from
   `bottoms-ten') as a comment on the inappropriateness of describing it
   as the top of anything.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

TOPS-10

   /tops-ten/ DEC's proprietary OS for the fabled {PDP-10}
   machines, long a favourite of hackers but now effectively
   extinct.  A fountain of hacker folklore.  See also {ITS},
   {TOPS-20}, {TWENEX}, {VMS}, {operating system}.  TOPS-10 was
   sometimes called BOTS-10 (from "bottoms-ten") as a comment on
   the inappropriateness of describing it as the top of anything.

   [{Jargon File}]

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