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86-DOS
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| Developer | Seattle Computer Products / Tim Paterson |
|---|---|
| Source model | Closed source |
| Initial release | 86-DOS 1.00 (30 April 1981) |
| Latest release | 86-DOS 1.14 (11 December 1981) |
| Supported platforms | x86 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic |
| User interface | Command-line interface |
| License | Proprietary |
86-DOS, known internally and in official documents as QDOS, Q-DOS, Seattle DOS, and SCP-DOS,[1] is an operating system developed by Seattle Computer Products that was later licensed[2] and then bought[3] by Microsoft and used as the basis for IBM PC-DOS and MS-DOS.
Development History[edit | edit source]
Development of QDOS began in April 1980 out of the growing need for an 8086 operating system,[4] as CP/M-86 had been delayed since December 1979.[5][6] It was written on a Cromemco Z80 computer[7] running Cromemco's CDOS, in a text editing software called MicroPro WordMaster.[8][9] It was then translated using a Z80 to 8086 translator called TRANS-86 (which was later ported to 86-DOS and renamed to simply TRANS)[8][10] and tested on the Seattle Computer Products 16-bit Computer System.[11] QDOS was ready to ship in July, with Tim Paterson, the creator, spending about half of his time on its development.[4][12] Though the operating system wasn't completely finished, Paterson figured a quick release was more important than adding all the features.[13]
Though some parts of QDOS were written from scratch or by referencing the CP/M-80 manual,[14] others were created in Z80 assembly and then translated using the TRANS command.[15] Paterson claims that QDOS was created with CP/M translation compatibility being the goal[16] - however, these extreme similarities between the OSes caused controversy,[note 1] even going as far as a defamation case.[note 2] It has also been rumored that QDOS' development was aided by not only the CP/M manuals, but the source code as well[17] (or even Digital Research's original OEM translation tools).[18] However, these rumors are both unsourced and unlikely.[note 3]
Paterson later revealed he had mostly worked on hardware before QDOS, and that the idea came during his work on Seattle Computer products' 8086 board.[6] He decided on aspects of the OS because of his experience with North Star and Cromemco's variants of CP/M,[5] UCSD p-System, and Unix.[8][note 4] He also took inspiration for the filesystem from an unfinished 8-bit operating system known as Microsoft Interrupt Driven Asynchronous System (MIDAS[15] or M-DOS,[19] called MDOS before 1980[note 5]), written by Marc McDonald,[15][19] which he learned about during the 1979 National Computer Conference.[8]
Version list[edit | edit source]
Available build Confirmed build Unconfirmed build Fake build Beta[edit | edit source]
86-DOS 1.xx[edit | edit source]
See also[edit | edit source]
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Perhaps the most compelling argument comes from the creator of CP/M, Gary Kildall - "Ask Bill why function code 6 (in DOS) ends with a dollar sign. ... No one in the world knows that but me." (quoted directly from Bill Gates: Of Mind and Money by James Wallace and Jim Erickson, published in the 8 May 1991 issue of Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Tim Paterson would later respond to this in Document 14-2 of the case Paterson v. Little, Brown, and Co., et al., reasoning that the name was in the CP/M manual he had.
- ↑ Paterson v. Little, Brown Co.
- ↑ The only way Seattle Computer Products could have had the CP/M source code or OEM translation tools was if they had a source code license from Digital Research - that too has also been rumored, though it is once again unsourced and not very likely.
- ↑ While uncited as an influence in the creation of QDOS, Paterson had also used CDC SCOPE, Cromemco RDOS, and the IMSAI 8080 Self-Contained System. (From Document 14-2 of Paterson v. Little, Brown, and Co., et al.)
- ↑ The exact date of the name change is unknown, but drafts of the user manual from 1979 and 1980 give an approximate date.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (25 July 2007). Paterson v. Little, Brown, and Co., et al. - Order. Seattle Times. Case 2:05-cv-01719-TSZ Document 29.
- ↑ Brock, Rod; Allen, Paul (6 January 1981). 86-DOS License Agreement with Microsoft. Slated Antitrust Documents.
- ↑ Brock, Rod; Allen, Paul (27 July 1981). 86-DOS Agreement of Sale with Microsoft. Slated Antitrust Documents.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hunter, David (March 1983). The Roots of DOS: Tim Paterson. Softalk for the IBM Personal Computer. p. 12-15.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Paterson, Tim (30 September 2007). Design of DOS. DosMan Drivel.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bornstein, Howard (1986). MS-DOS (Versions 1.0-3.2) Technical Reference Encyclopedia. Microsoft Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-914845-69-1.
- ↑ Watt, Peggy (7 April 1986). MS-DOS creator Tim Paterson earns place in industry annals. Computerworld. p. 54.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Paterson, Tim (4 August 2018). VCF West XIII -- Tim Paterson -- Original DOS and the old days. Vintage Computer Federation.
- ↑ Glatzer, Hal (March 1984). Reflections on Past and Future With the Man From MS-DOS. Software News. p. 44 & 46.
- ↑ Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) Unofficial Changelist. BytePointer.
- ↑ Paterson, Tim (24 November 2007). The First DOS Machine. DosMan Drivel.
- ↑ Rojas, Raúl (April 2001). Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History (A-L). Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-235-4.
- ↑ Watt, Peggy (12 August 1991). PC-DOS, also 10, has its own storied past. Infoworld. p. 48.
- ↑ Cringely, Robert (June 1996). Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires (Season 1). PBS.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Manes, Stephen; Andrews, Paul (1993). Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry—and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. Doubleday. p. 280-281. ISBN 0-385-42075-7.
- ↑ Välimäki, Mikko (2005). The Rise of Open Source Licensing. Turre. p. 88. ISBN 952-91-8779-3.
- ↑ Finley, Klint (7 August 2012). Was Microsoft's Empire Built on Stolen Code? We May Never Know. WIRED.
- ↑ Paul, Matthias (2000). 25 Years of DR-DOS History. FreeDOS.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Duncan, Ray (1988). The MS-DOS Encyclopedia. Microsoft Press. ISBN 1-55615-049-0.