Lilith (computer)

1980 custom-built workstation computer

DISER Lilith

Developer| ETH Zurich
Manufacturer| Modula Computer Systems
Product family| Wirth
Type| workstation
Release date| 1980; 45 years ago (1980)
Introductory price| $8000
Discontinued| Yes
Units sold| 120[1]
Units shipped| 120
Media| Floppy disk 5.25 in (13.3 cm) 140 K
Operating system| Medos-2 (Modula-2)
CPU| AMD 2901
Memory| 256 K (131,072 16-bit words)
Storage| 15 MB hard disk
Display| 12 in (30 cm) monochrome bitmapped
Dimensions| 15.5 in × 15 in × 14.5 in (39 cm × 38 cm × 37 cm)
Marketing target| Research
Successor| Ceres

The DISER Lilith is a custom built workstation computer based on the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) 2901 bit slicing processor, created by a group led by Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich.[2][3] The project began in 1977, and by 1984 several hundred workstations were in use. It has a high resolution full page portrait oriented cathode-ray tube display, a mouse, a laser printer interface, and a computer networking interface. Its software is written fully in Modula-2 and includes a relational database program named Lidas.

The Lilith processor architecture is a stack machine.[2] Citing from Sven Erik Knudsen's contribution to "The Art of Simplicity": "Lilith's clock speed was around 7 MHz and enabled Lilith to execute between 1 and 2 million instructions (called M-code) per second. (...) Initially, the main memory was planned to have 65,536 16-bit words memory, but soon after its first version, it was enlarged to twice that capacity. For regular Modula-2 programs however, only the initial 65,536 words were usable for storage of variables."[4]

## History

[edit]

The development of Lilith was influenced by the Xerox Alto from the Xerox PARC (1973) where Niklaus Wirth spent a sabbatical from 1976 to 1977. Unable to bring back one of the Alto systems to Europe, Wirth decided to build a new system from scratch between 1978 and 1980, selling it under the company name DISER (Data Image Sound Processor and Emitter Receiver System).[5] In 1985, he had a second sabbatical leave to PARC, which led to the design of the Oberon System. Ceres, the follow-up to Lilith, was released in 1987.

## Operating system

[edit]

Operating system

Medos-2

Developer| Svend Erik Knudsen
Written in| Modula-2
OS family| Wirth
Working state| Discontinued
Initial release| 1983; 42 years ago (1983)
Marketing target| Research
Available in| English
Update method| Compile from source code
Package manager| Modula-2 modules
Supported platforms| Lilith (AMD 2901)
Kernel type| Modular, object-oriented
Succeeded by| Oberon

The Lilith operating system (OS), named Medos-2, was developed at ETH Zurich, by Svend Erik Knudsen with advice from Wirth. It is a single user, object-oriented operating system built from modules of Modula-2.[3][6][7]

Its design influenced the design of the OS Excelsior, developed for the Soviet Kronos workstation (see below), by the Kronos Research Group (KRG).[8]

## Soviet variants

[edit]

From 1986 into the early 1990s, Soviet Union technologists created and produced a line of printed circuit board systems, and workstations based on them, all named Kronos. The workstations were based on Lilith, and made in small numbers.[9]

## Mouse

[edit]

The computer mouse of the Lilith was custom-designed, and later used with the Smaky computers. It then inspired the first mice produced by Logitech.

## Gallery

[edit]

* The vertical screen, keyboard and mouse of the Diser Lilith

* Vertical tower central unit

* Internal view of the Lilith, showcasing the CPU boards

* Front view of the Lilith workstation

## References

[edit]

1. ^ ETH Zurich: Ready. YouTube (video). Zürich, Switzerland: ETH Zurich. 15 June 2017. Event occurs at 1:25–1:35. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
2. ^ a b Ohran, Richard (August 1984). "Lilith and Modula-2: A case study of high-level-language processor design". Byte. pp. 181–192. Retrieved 6 March 2021. Reprint.
3. ^ a b Sand, Paul A. (September 1984). "The Lilith Personal Computer". Byte. pp. 300–311. Retrieved 6 March 2021. Reprint.
4. ^ Böszörményi, László; Gutknecht, Jürg; Pomberger, Gustav, eds. (25 October 2000). The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 978-1558607231. ISBN 1-55860-723-4 & dpunkt, ISBN 3-932588-85-1.
5. ^ Wirth, Niklaus (January 1995). "A Brief History of Modula and Lilith". The ModulaTor. 0.
6. ^ Knudsen, Svend Erik (1983). Medos-2: A Modula-2 Oriented Operating System for the Personal Computer Lilith (PhD). ETH Zurich. doi:10.3929/ethz-a-000300091. hdl:20.500.11850/137906.
7. ^ Knudsen, Svend Erik (25 October 2000). "Medos in Retrospect". In Böszörményi, László; Gutknecht, Jürg; Pomberger, Gustav (eds.). The School of Niklaus Wirth: The Art of Simplicity. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 69–86\. ISBN 978-1558607231. ISBN 1-55860-723-4 & dpunkt, ISBN 3-932588-85-1.
8. ^ Kuznetsov, D.N.; Nedorya, A.E.; Tarasov, E.V.; Filippov, V.E. "Kronos: a family of processors for high-level languages". Kronos: History of a Project (in Russian). xTech. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
9. ^ "Kronos: History of a Project" (in Russian). xTech. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diser Lilith.

* Documentation on BitSavers
* Geissman, L et al. (August 1982) Lilith Handbook
* Wirth, N (1981) The Personal Computer Lilith
* Emulith emulator for the Lilith, homepage and documentation
* Lilith and Modula-2
* "ETHistory - Lilith Workstation". Retrieved 26 April 2025.
* AMD AM2901DC entry on CPU World

* v
* t
* e

Modula, Oberon

Modula|

| By Wirth|

Modula (1975) → Modula-2 (1978)

|

By others|

* Modula-2+ (1984)
* Modula-3 (1988)
* Baby Modula-3 (1993)
* Obliq (1993)
* Alma-0 (1997)

Operating systems|

* Medos-2 (1983, Knudsen)
* Excelsior (1988, Soviet)

Workstations|

* Lilith (1980, Wirth)
* Kronos (1988, Soviet)

Developers|

| Organizations|

* ETH Zurich
* Modula Computer Systems
* Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica
* Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Systems Research Center (SRC)
* Acorn Research Center
* Olivetti Research Center (ORC)
* elego Software Solutions GmbH
* Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, Novosibirsk

|

People|

* Niklaus Wirth
* Martín Abadi
* Luca Cardelli
* Greg Nelson

Oberon|

| By Wirth|

Oberon (1987) → Oberon-2 (1991) → Lola (1995) → Active Oberon (1998) → Oberon-07 (2007)

Operating systems|

* Oberon System (1987)
* Active Object System (AOS, 2002), Bluebottle (2005), A2 (2008)

Workstation|

Ceres (1985)

By others|

* Object Oberon (1989)
* Oberon/F, BlackBox Component Builder (1993)
* Component Pascal (1997)
* Zonnon (2013)

Developers|

| Organizations|

* ETH Zurich
* Johannes Kepler University Linz
* Oberon microsystems AG

|

People|

* Niklaus Wirth
* Jürg Gutknecht
* Tony Hoare
* de:Hanspeter Mössenböck

* Category: Modula
* Category: Oberon

* v
* t
* e

Niklaus Wirth

Software|

| Programming
languages|

Euler (1965) → PL360 (1966) → ALGOL W (1966) → Pascal (1970) → Modula (1975) → Modula-2 (1978) → Object Pascal (1986) → Oberon (1987) → Oberon-2 (1991) → Lola (1995) → Active Oberon (1998) → Oberon-07 (2007)

|

Operating systems|

Oberon System (1987) → Active Object System (AOS, 2002), Bluebottle (2005), A2 (2008)

Formalisms|

* Wirth's law
* Wirth syntax notation
* Wirth–Weber precedence relationship

Books|

* Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs

Workstations|

Lilith (1977) → Ceres (1985)

Workplaces|

* Stanford University (1963–67)
* University of Zurich (1963–67)
* ETH Zurich (1968–99)
* Xerox PARC (1976–77, 1984–85)

Collaborators|

* Jürg Gutknecht
* Tony Hoare
* de:Hanspeter Mössenböck
* Larry Tesler

Awards|

* Turing Award
* SIGPLAN Programming Languages Achievement Award
* Fellow of the Computer History Museum
* Marcel Benoist Prize

* Category

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