HP Multi-Programming Executive

MPE, MPE XL, MPE/iX
Developer	Hewlett-Packard
Written in	System Programming Language, HP Pascal, Assembly language
Working state	Discontinued
Initial release	1974;51 years ago (1974)
Latest release	7.5 / August 2002;23 years ago (2002-08)
Supported platforms	HP 3000
Default user interface	Command-line interface
License	Proprietary
Official website	MPE/iX at hp.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-03-12)

MPE (Multi-Programming Executive) is a discontinued business-oriented mainframe computer real-time operating system developed by Hewlett-Packard for their HP 3000 computers. While the HP 3000s were initially mini-mainframes, the final high-end systems supported 12 CPUs and over 2000 simultaneous users.

Description

It runs on the HP 3000 family of computers, which originally used HP custom 16-bit stack architecture CISC CPUs and were later migrated to PA-RISC where the operating system was called MPE XL. ^[1]

In 1983, the original version of MPE was written in a language called SPL (Systems Programming Language). MPE XL was written primarily in Pascal, with some assembly language and some of the old SPL code.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 1992, the OS name was changed to MPE/iX to indicate Unix interoperability with the addition of POSIX compatibility. ^[2] The discontinuance of the product line was announced in late 2001, with support from HP terminating at the end of 2010. A number of 3rd party companies still support both the hardware and software.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2002, HP released the last version MPE/iX 7.5. ^[3]

Commands

Among others, MPE/iX supports the following list of common commands and programs. ^[4]

• =SHUTDOWN
• BASIC
• CHDIR
• COPY
• DEBUG
• ECHO
• ELSE
• EXIT
• FORTRAN
• HELP
• IF
• PASCAL
• PRINT
• RENAME
• SH
• WHILE

References

1. COMMUNICATOR 3000/XL Release 1.0 (A.02.00) (R2815 ed.). Hewlett-Packard. April 1988. 5958-3183. Introduction to MPE XL for MPE V Systems Administrator 30367-60001
2. "MPE/iX Release 4.0 (B.40.00) Overview". MPE/iX RELEASE 4.0 (Core Software Release B.40.00). COMMUNICATOR 3000 MPE. Hewlett-Packard. 1992-06-01. 30216-90104.
3. 3000-MPE (Software), on HPMuseum site, retrieved on October 2019.
4. MPE/iX Commands Reference Manual. HP 3000 MPE/iX Computer Systems (10th ed.). Hewlett-Packard. October 1998. 32650-90864.

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-03-12)
• Allegro Consultants, Inc. Free HP 3000 Software, MPE Software Support
• Beechglen Development Inc. MPE Software Support Archived 1996-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
• HP MPE/iX homepage
• HP MPE/iX Command reference
• openMPE at the Wayback Machine (archived 2018-08-23) Advocates of continued MPE and IMAGE source code access beyond 2010
• "Collection Listings (Documents)". HP Computer Museum. Search for headings 3000, MPE V Operating System, MPE/XL MPE/iX