Bad Classic Operating Systems (was: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Mon Apr 22 10:49:02 2002

I really wouldn't know. I remember being shown the drives, which were very
large and cumbersome considering the small capacity. One's conception of such
things changes over time, though, doesn't it?

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw_at_mesanet.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 8:37 AM
Subject: Re: Bad Classic Operating Systems (was: Micro$oft Biz'droid Lusers)


> On Mon, 22 Apr 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
>
> > What sort of drives were the intended target of this OS? I had a
colleague
> > who had a couple of "DF32" drives for his PDP8E (wirewrapped CPU, BTW)
which
> > he was never able to utilize, and I've always wondered just how those
drives,
> > with their small capacity, fit into the scheme of things.
> >
> > Dick
> >
>
> Isn't the DF32 a 32 Kword fixed head drive? I think it was used for
multi-user
> PDP8 systems (like a drum)
>
>
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Loboyko Steve" <sloboyko_at_yahoo.com>
> > To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> > Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 7:42 AM
> > Subject: Re: Bad Classic Operating Systems (was: Micro$oft Biz'droid
Lusers)
> >
> >
> > > I've been playing with my clone PDP-8's OS-8
> > > installation, and I would say at first glance that you
> > > might think it was awful, but when you consider that
> > > it is running in 32K (x 12 bits, but still...) of RAM,
> > > has highly "regular" commands, has installable device
> > > drivers, and has a large degree of device independence
> > > it's really very amazing. I could say the same thing
> > > about Flex for the 6800 and 09. Considering their
> > > severely limited resources, pretty darned good.
> > >
> > > --- Hans Franke <Hans.Franke_at_mch20.sbs.de> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Apple's DOS 1 and 2 had no files, or so I hear.
> > > >
> > > > AFAIR there was never a Apple DOS 1 - the first was
> > > > called 2
> > > > (like in Apple 2, Disk 2, Dos 2) and was written by
> > > > the Woz
> > > > himself. Soon to be replaced by DOS 3 (only the low
> > > > level and
> > > > the RWTS functions taken from DOS 2 _ which barely
> > > > was more
> > > > than that), which again soon developed into 3.2 (all
> > > > over a
> > > > period of less than a half year). 3.2 was more or
> > > > less the
> > > > standard DOS for over a year, and the one commonly
> > > > seen as the
> > > > first public release. Some time later (1980?) 3.3
> > > > came around
> > > > and the 16 sector format, picking up a development
> > > > done for the
> > > > UCSD Pascal System (Well, the P-System required you
> > > > to change
> > > > the boot PROMs for 16 sector format, and if you
> > > > wanted to use
> > > > DOS and the P-System, you either had to swap PROM
> > > > all the time,
> > > > or have at least two controllers, and boot via
> > > > monitor (or basic)
> > > > command line). Otherwise 3.3 was more or less
> > > > unchanged from 3.2.
> > > > So the main trick was the conversion from 13 sectors
> > > > and 117 K
> > > > to 16 sectors and 143 K per disk (side).
> > > >
> > > > Well, looking back, your're right - at least Apple
> > > > DOS 1 never
> > > > supported files, because it didn't exist :)
> > > >
> > > > Gruss
> > > > H.
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
> > > > http://www.vcfe.org/
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
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> > >
> >
> >
>
> Peter Wallace
>
>
Received on Mon Apr 22 2002 - 10:49:02 BST

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