<s>
BTRON	B-Application
(	O
Business	B-Application
TRON	I-Application
)	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
subprojects	O
of	O
the	O
TRON	O
Project	O
proposed	O
by	O
Ken	B-Algorithm
Sakamura	I-Algorithm
,	O
which	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
the	O
business	O
phase	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
(	O
OS	O
)	O
,	O
keyboards	O
,	O
peripheral	O
interface	O
specifications	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
items	O
related	O
to	O
personal	O
computers	O
(	O
PCs	O
)	O
that	O
were	O
developed	O
there	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
,	O
it	O
refers	O
to	O
specifications	O
rather	O
than	O
specific	O
products	O
,	O
but	O
in	O
reality	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
"	O
BTRON	B-Application
"	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
to	O
refer	O
to	O
implementations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
with	O
other	O
TRON	O
systems	O
,	O
only	O
the	O
specification	O
of	O
BTRON	B-Application
has	O
been	O
formulated	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
implementation	O
method	O
is	O
not	O
specified	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BTRON	B-Application
project	O
began	O
with	O
Matsushita	O
Electric	O
Industrial	O
and	O
Personal	O
Media	O
prototyping	O
"	O
BTRON286	O
,	O
"	O
an	O
implementation	O
on	O
a	O
16-bit	O
CPU	O
286	B-General_Concept
for	O
the	O
CEC	O
machine	O
described	O
below	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
its	O
features	O
is	O
that	O
all	O
OS-managed	O
computing	O
resources	O
such	O
as	O
memory	O
,	O
processes	O
,	O
and	O
threads	O
are	O
handled	O
in	O
a	O
real/pseudomorphic	O
model	O
,	O
a	O
feature	O
of	O
BTRON	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SIGBTRON	O
's	O
TRON	O
chip	O
machine	O
MCUBE	O
implemented	O
"	O
3B	O
,	O
"	O
which	O
is	O
32-bit	O
and	O
uses	O
an	O
ITRON-specification	O
RTOS	B-Operating_System
(	O
modified	O
from	O
"	O
ItIs	O
"	O
)	O
for	O
the	O
microkernel	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
is	O
"	O
BTRON3	O
"	O
(	O
currently	O
,	O
the	O
microkernel	B-Operating_System
is	O
I-right	O
)	O
;	O
the	O
specification	O
that	O
B-right/V	O
conforms	O
to	O
is	O
published	O
as	O
the	O
BTRON3	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
a	O
BTRON	B-Application
subset	O
that	O
was	O
envisioned	O
as	O
a	O
popular	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
performance	O
of	O
computer	O
hardware	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
its	O
conception	O
,	O
a	O
computer	O
that	O
can	O
implement	O
the	O
ideal	O
BTRON	B-Application
would	O
be	O
a	O
workstation-class	O
computer	O
,	O
so	O
it	O
is	O
also	O
positioned	O
as	O
BTRON	B-Application
for	O
general	O
households	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BTRON	B-Application
is	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
a	O
dedicated	O
machine	O
with	O
fixed	O
applications	O
(	O
like	O
a	O
dedicated	B-General_Concept
machine	I-General_Concept
word	I-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
)	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
a	O
"	O
dedicated	O
communication	O
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
communication	O
with	O
these	O
peripherals	O
,	O
a	O
prototype	O
of	O
the	O
real-time	O
"	O
μBTRON	O
bus	O
"	O
(	O
see	O
below	O
)	O
was	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Note	O
that	O
,	O
a	O
BTRON-equipped	O
PDA	B-Application
realized	O
later	O
,	O
was	O
given	O
the	O
name	O
"	O
electronic	O
stationery	O
"	O
and	O
also	O
called	O
μBTRON	O
,	O
but	O
it	O
was	O
not	O
subsumed	O
to	O
become	O
a	O
dedicated	O
machine	O
and	O
did	O
not	O
implement	O
the	O
μBTRON	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
bear	O
the	O
BTRON	B-Application
moniker	O
,	O
the	O
TRON	O
keyboard	O
is	O
intended	O
for	O
use	O
with	O
BTRON	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
basic	O
specification	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
IEEE	B-Device
802.5	I-Device
with	O
modifications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
data	O
handled	O
by	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
a	O
basic	O
format	O
for	O
exchange	O
called	O
TAD	O
(	O
Tron	O
Application	O
Databus	O
)	O
has	O
been	O
defined	O
,	O
and	O
basic	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
freely	O
exchanged	O
between	O
arbitrary	O
applications	O
,	O
advocating	O
Databus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Standards	O
have	O
been	O
established	O
for	O
text	O
(	O
including	O
word-processing	B-General_Concept
modifications	O
)	O
and	O
graphics	O
(	O
both	O
raster	O
and	O
vector	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
the	O
rest	O
,	O
a	O
header	O
indicating	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
the	O
chunks	O
is	O
common	O
at	O
the	O
beginning	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
applications	O
can	O
skip	O
over	O
unsupported	O
data	O
if	O
they	O
find	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
chunks	O
are	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
segments	O
in	O
the	O
BTRON	B-Application
specification	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BTRON	B-Application
adopts	O
a	O
network-type	O
model	O
with	O
an	O
arbitrary	O
directed	O
graph	O
structure	O
called	O
a	O
real/pseudomorphic	O
model	O
as	O
a	O
file	O
management	O
model	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
the	O
conventional	O
tree	O
structure	O
model	O
with	O
directories	O
(	O
folders	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
for	O
the	O
functions	O
provided	O
to	O
users	O
,	O
the	O
real/pseudomodel	O
of	O
BTRON	B-Application
(	O
BTRON1	O
and	O
BTRON3	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
widely	O
used	O
implementations	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
convenient	O
hypertext	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
past	O
,	O
files	O
and	O
folders	O
were	O
used	O
to	O
distinguish	O
between	O
entities	O
that	O
contain	O
data	O
and	O
indexes	O
that	O
point	O
to	O
them	O
,	O
but	O
BTRON	B-Application
has	O
done	O
away	O
with	O
such	O
distinction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
almost	O
all	O
current	O
UNIX	B-Application
do	O
not	O
allow	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
alias	O
hard	O
links	O
that	O
point	O
to	O
directories	O
,	O
BTRON	B-Application
's	O
real/pseudo	O
links	O
are	O
like	O
hard	O
links	O
that	O
can	O
freely	O
create	O
arbitrary	O
links	O
including	O
such	O
links	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
a	O
link	O
to	O
the	O
parent	O
indicated	O
by	O
"	O
...	O
"	O
is	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Unix	B-Application
,	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
there	O
is	O
only	O
one	O
link	O
to	O
the	O
parent	O
indicated	O
by	O
"	O
...	O
"	O
is	O
a	O
problem	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
is	O
not	O
a	O
problem	O
in	O
BTRON	B-Application
because	O
it	O
has	O
abandoned	O
tree-like	O
management	O
in	O
the	O
first	O
place	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Confirmation	O
that	O
the	O
real	O
body	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
referenced	O
by	O
deleting	O
a	O
link	O
is	O
done	O
by	O
the	O
reference	B-General_Concept
count	I-General_Concept
method	O
,	O
as	O
in	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
file	O
system	O
,	O
but	O
since	O
arbitrary	O
structures	O
are	O
allowed	O
,	O
as	O
is	O
well	O
known	O
as	O
a	O
weakness	O
of	O
the	O
reference-counting	O
method	O
,	O
loops	O
can	O
cause	O
the	O
file	O
system	O
to	O
occupy	O
disk	O
space	O
even	O
though	O
it	O
cannot	O
be	O
reached	O
from	O
anywhere	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Currently	O
,	O
a	O
function	O
is	O
implemented	O
to	O
check	O
for	O
such	O
entities	O
by	O
disconnecting	O
the	O
file	O
system	O
or	O
(	O
in	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
system	O
disks	O
)	O
booting	O
the	O
system	O
in	O
a	O
special	O
state	O
and	O
performing	O
a	O
check	O
similar	O
to	O
fsck	B-Device
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
so-called	O
stop-the-world	O
method	O
of	O
garbage	B-General_Concept
collection	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Currently	O
,	O
BTMemo	O
for	O
Windows	O
is	O
available	O
as	O
software	O
that	O
reproduces	O
the	O
feeling	O
of	O
using	O
BTRON	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BTRON-specification	O
OS	O
is	O
a	O
real-time	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
,	O
capable	O
of	O
stably	O
processing	O
tasks	O
that	O
require	O
real-time	O
processing	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
video	O
and	O
audio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BTRON3	O
uses	O
ITRON	O
as	O
a	O
microkernel	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
although	O
care	O
must	O
be	O
taken	O
to	O
avoid	O
memory	O
page-out	O
,	O
real-time	O
processing	O
is	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Windows	O
,	O
the	O
graphics	O
card	O
driver	O
is	O
tuned	O
by	O
the	O
manufacturer	O
,	O
while	O
in	O
BTRON	B-Application
there	O
is	O
no	O
such	O
graphics	O
acceleration	O
,	O
etc.	O
,	O
so	O
screen	O
rewriting	O
can	O
feel	O
slow	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BTRON	B-Application
has	O
short	O
boot	O
time	O
,	O
though	O
it	O
stems	O
from	O
its	O
limited	O
number	O
of	O
daemons	O
and	O
supported	O
devices	O
,	O
which	O
makes	O
it	O
less	O
of	O
an	O
advantage	O
compared	O
to	O
other	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
only	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
but	O
the	O
TRON	O
project	O
has	O
also	O
standardized	O
the	O
human-machine	O
interface	O
and	O
published	O
it	O
as	O
the	O
TRON	O
Human	O
Interface	O
Standard	O
Handbook	O
,	O
and	O
BTRON	B-Application
's	O
user	O
interface	O
is	O
designed	O
in	O
accordance	O
with	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
basically	O
everything	O
on	O
the	O
screen	O
can	O
be	O
operated	O
with	O
a	O
pointing	O
device	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
mouse	O
or	O
electronic	O
pen	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
the	O
same	O
operation	O
as	O
selecting	O
an	O
application	O
based	O
on	O
meta-information	O
such	O
as	O
file	O
type	O
and	O
creator	O
in	O
Mac	O
OS	O
and	O
extension	O
linking	O
in	O
Windows	O
,	O
but	O
BTRON	B-Application
In	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
there	O
is	O
basically	O
no	O
other	O
way	O
to	O
start	O
an	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
when	O
transcribing	O
a	O
new	O
text	O
,	O
an	O
application	O
is	O
first	O
launched	O
without	O
specifying	O
the	O
editing	O
target	O
,	O
whereas	O
in	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
a	O
template	O
of	O
the	O
real	O
body	O
is	O
registered	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
application	O
,	O
and	O
work	O
is	O
started	O
by	O
duplicating	O
the	O
real	O
body	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Operations	O
common	O
in	O
other	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
such	O
as	O
starting	O
an	O
application	O
first	O
and	O
then	O
creating	O
a	O
new	O
document	O
or	O
loading	O
an	O
existing	O
document	O
,	O
are	O
not	O
possible	O
with	O
BTRON	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
style	O
of	O
selecting	O
the	O
subject	O
of	O
the	O
operation	O
first	O
and	O
then	O
instructing	O
the	O
operation	O
on	O
it	O
is	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
Xerox	B-Operating_System
Star	I-Operating_System
or	O
the	O
Smalltalk	B-Application
system	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
more	O
object-oriented	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BTRON-specification	O
OS	O
allows	O
users	O
with	O
various	O
disabilities	O
to	O
freely	O
change	O
the	O
typeface	O
and	O
size	O
of	O
menu	O
items	O
and	O
actual	O
names	O
,	O
the	O
size	O
of	O
the	O
mouse	O
pointer	O
,	O
the	O
size	O
and	O
display	O
method	O
of	O
the	O
temporary	O
body	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
width	O
of	O
the	O
window	O
scroll	O
bar	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BTRON	B-Application
(	O
like	O
OS/omicron	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
First	O
,	O
Matsushita	O
Electric	O
Industrial	O
and	O
Personal	O
Media	O
produced	O
a	O
prototype	O
of	O
BTRON286	O
,	O
an	O
implementation	O
on	O
a	O
16-bit	O
CPU	O
286	B-General_Concept
,	O
assuming	O
the	O
CEC	O
machine	O
described	O
below	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
specification	O
for	O
this	O
is	O
BTRON1	O
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
BTRON/286	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
days	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
MCUBE	O
,	O
a	O
TRON	O
chip	O
machine	O
produced	O
by	O
SIGBTRON	O
,	O
implemented	O
"	O
3B	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
32-bit	O
and	O
used	O
an	O
ITRON-specification	O
OS	O
(	O
ItIs	O
)	O
for	O
its	O
microkernel	B-Operating_System
;	O
implementations	O
based	O
on	O
3B	O
included	O
"	O
B-rights	O
"	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
(	O
V810	O
)	O
,	O
PC/	O
The	O
specification	O
that	O
B-right/V	O
conforms	O
to	O
is	O
published	O
as	O
the	O
BTRON3	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
called	O
BTRON	B-Application
,	O
T-Shell	O
,	O
a	O
middleware	O
for	O
T-Kernel	B-Operating_System
,	O
provides	O
the	O
same	O
functions	O
as	O
some	O
of	O
the	O
outer	O
shell	O
of	O
Cho-Kanji	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
earliest	O
records	O
include	O
the	O
reference	O
to	O
"	O
B-TRON	O
"	O
in	O
"	O
TRON	O
Project	O
"	O
in	O
the	O
Proceedings	O
of	O
the	O
International	O
Conference	O
on	O
Microcomputer	O
Applications	O
'	O
84	O
(	O
1984	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
TRON	O
Total	O
Architecture	O
"	O
in	O
"	O
TRON	O
Total	O
Architecture	O
,	O
"	O
and	O
"	O
Proposal	O
of	O
a	O
Unified	O
Operation	O
Model	O
for	O
BTRON	B-Application
"	O
in	O
"	O
Information	O
Processing	O
"	O
Vol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1986	O
,	O
the	O
BTRON	B-Application
Project	O
was	O
fully	O
launched	O
as	O
a	O
sub-project	O
of	O
the	O
TRON	O
Project	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
BTRON	B-Application
Technical	O
Committee	O
was	O
established	O
in	O
the	O
TRON	O
Association	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
1988	O
,	O
the	O
TRON	O
Association	O
released	O
an	O
outline	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
BTRON/286	O
"	O
specification	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
following	O
year	O
,	O
in	O
March	O
1989	O
,	O
Matsushita	O
Electric	O
completed	O
a	O
practical	O
level	O
machine	O
that	O
was	O
designated	O
as	O
the	O
"	O
Educational	O
PC	O
Specification	O
Standard	O
Concept	O
,	O
"	O
which	O
was	O
intended	O
for	O
educational	O
use	O
as	O
described	O
in	O
the	O
next	O
section	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Furthermore	O
,	O
he	O
points	O
out	O
that	O
in	O
the	O
education	O
field	O
,	O
TRON	O
has	O
enabled	O
the	O
emergence	O
of	O
US	O
OS	O
(	O
specifically	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
OS/2	O
,	O
UNIX	B-Application
is	O
being	O
excluded	O
from	O
the	O
huge	O
new	O
market	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
in	O
the	O
long	O
run	O
TRON	O
could	O
affect	O
the	O
entire	O
market	O
of	O
electronics	O
in	O
Japan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
June	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
year	O
,	O
the	O
mass	O
media	O
reported	O
"	O
abandonment	O
of	O
BTRON	B-Application
adoption	O
for	O
educational	O
PCs	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
"	O
Nikkei	O
Computer	O
"	O
reported	O
"	O
BTRON-based	O
educational	O
PCs	O
:	O
Standardization	O
virtually	O
impossible	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
there	O
were	O
twists	O
and	O
turns	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
end	O
,	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
BTRON	B-Application
proposed	O
by	O
CEC	O
was	O
not	O
implemented	O
,	O
and	O
what	O
was	O
introduced	O
to	O
school	O
education	O
was	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
machines	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
PC-9801	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
led	O
to	O
a	O
period	O
of	O
stagnation	O
for	O
the	O
TRON	O
project	O
,	O
especially	O
the	O
BTRON	B-Application
project	O
,	O
with	O
some	O
labeling	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
"	O
failure	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
article	O
introduced	O
Sun	O
's	O
opposition	O
to	O
the	O
MSX	B-Operating_System
and	O
his	O
apparent	O
support	O
for	O
UNIX	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sakamura	B-Algorithm
's	O
testimony	O
about	O
the	O
conference	O
where	O
Sun	O
,	O
Kazuhiko	O
Nishi	O
,	O
and	O
Sakamura	B-Algorithm
got	O
together	O
was	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
supposed	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
conference	O
for	O
Unix	B-Application
engineers	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
he	O
and	O
Nishi	O
talked	O
about	O
technology	O
,	O
but	O
Sun	O
talked	O
about	O
business	O
and	O
seemed	O
to	O
be	O
out	O
of	O
place	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
conjunction	O
with	O
this	O
,	O
released	O
the	O
PanaCAL	O
ET	O
,	O
an	O
educational	O
personal	O
computer	O
equipped	O
with	O
the	O
BTRON286-based	O
OS	O
"	O
ET	O
Master	O
"	O
as	O
a	O
BTRON	B-Application
machine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
most	O
of	O
the	O
machines	O
introduced	O
to	O
schools	O
at	O
this	O
time	O
were	O
PC-9800	B-Operating_System
series	I-Operating_System
,	O
probably	O
because	O
they	O
could	O
inherit	O
BASIC	O
programs	O
and	O
data	O
from	O
word	B-Application
processing	I-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
which	O
had	O
already	O
been	O
created	O
in	O
large	O
numbers	O
by	O
enterprising	O
teachers	O
.	O
</s>
