Antique Computers

(Gespalder/28250) Yep! Franklin won then Apple won on appeal then Franklin got an ...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:59:00 -0600

Yep! Franklin won then Apple won on appeal then Franklin got an injunction to
keep the verdict from being enforced and somehow (I forget how) Apple won
again.
Wikipedia has a page devoted to it.

(Kena/28249) That was, IIRC, a precedent-setting case. "What? You mean a BI...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:20:00 -0600

That was, IIRC, a precedent-setting case.  "What?  You mean a BIOS, copied
verbatim, can be copyrighted?"

(Salubrious/28248) Franklin: one of the first companies to suffer from Apple's lega...

Salubrious@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:21:00 -0600

Franklin: one of the first companies to suffer from Apple's legal might. Laser
must have been more careful with their Apple II clones. I have a Laser 128 in
the closet. I don't think I've ever powered it up. I recall that all the
letters were worn off the keys and replaced with magic marker.

(Kena/28247) I remember going to our local TV-repair shop, TV Clinic, where t...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:02:00 -0600

I remember going to our local TV-repair shop, TV Clinic, where they had an
Franklin Ace 1000 rendering some Qix-like graphics.  There was an older
gentelman there, just in awe of how perfect the lines were being drawn.  This
couldn't have been later than 1980, as my route home changed when I went to
high school, and I wouldn't have passed the store any more.

(Salubrious/28246) I installed Zork in Dosbox on my sons' computer yesterday. I fir...

Salubrious@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:06:00 -0600

I installed Zork in Dosbox on my sons' computer yesterday. I first saw it on a
friend's Epson QX10 in 1983 or 84. Our local TV repair shop had an Epson HX10
in the window. It was a tiny laptop, similar to a TRS-80 Model 100, but it had
a built in microcassette drive for storage. It seemed like very cool,
futuristic technology at the time. I was still limited to an Atari 2600.

(Gespalder/28245) Some more computer manufacturers from the past

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 15:53:00 -0600

Some more computer manufacturers from the past


Seiko Epson Corporation (SeikE
 Epuson Kabushiki-gaisha?), commonly known as Epson, is a Japanese technology
company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers,
information and imaging related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano,
Japan,[1] the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures
inkjet, dot matrix and laser printers, scanners, desktop computers, business,
multimedia and home theatre projectors, large home theatre televisions, robots
and industrial automation equipment, point of sale docket printers and cash
registers, laptops, integrated circuits, LCD components and other associated
electronic components. It is one of three core companies of the Seiko Group, a
name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko timepieces since its founding.

-> No word on if they still make computers in the U.S.
    They are well known for their printers.

Source: http://www.s100computers.com
Specifically: http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/Dynabyte/History/H
istory.htm

Dynabyte come on to the scene around 1978 with, at the time, a fairly
sophisticated complete S-100 series of systems.B B  Right from the get- go they
made it clear they were not targeting the home/hobbyist community but instead
the small business community. Their machines were priced accordingly, being
function for function amongst S-100 computers amongst the most expensive.B 
Nevertheless their computers were well designed and well made.B  That said,
they seem to have left no record of how they were founded or what happened to
them. They were located in Palo Alto CA, though the company was registered in
Milpiatas (1977), CA.B  The president was Michael Watt.B  At one point they had
about 100 employees with sales over $10M/year.
B
They made one basic S-100 system with differing names and internal complexity.
They all had a unique outward appearance typically represented by in the
picture below of their Dynabyte 5100 system.B  The family was an upgradable
microcomputer system that support 5.25" and 8" floppy drives, and (later) a
Winchester fixed disk. The later systems (the 5000 and 6000 series) were are
based on the Z80A and later a 8086 CPU, 64K to 1MB of RAM memory under CP/M,
and MP/M UNIX, BASIC4 or OASIS operating systems.
They also made Single board controllers (non-S100 bus) for industrial
applications.

Most of the early systems however (the DB series), contained a 4MHZ Z80 board
with one parallel port and two serial ports, a PROM board but typically only
32K of RAM (either static or dynamic) and a single or double density floppy
disk controller. All systems were housed with a 12 slot S-100 motherboard.B 
There were boxes with 5" drives (called a DB8/2) , ones with 8" drives (called
a DB8/4) and later units with an internal hard disk (shown above).
B
They seemed to have put a lot of effort into developing an integrated business
software package with the system. Providing not only BASIC, COBOL and FORTRAN
but also accounting software.

I do not know what happened to them in the end.


The Dynalogic Hyperion
The Hyperion vied with the Compaq Portable to be the first portable IBM PC
compatible computer. It was marketed by Infotech Cie of Ottawa, a subsidiary of
Bytec Management Corp., who acquired the designer and manufacturer Dynalogic in
January 1983.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(computer)
Info: http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/collections/Dynalogic/Dynalogic.htm
       http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=339

(Copper Lethe/28244) Do you mean DeskMate?

Copper Lethe@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:59:00 -0600


Do you mean DeskMate?

http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/deskmate.html

(Keogk/28243) I am guessing nobody has a setup disk for a Tandy 3000 ?

Keogk@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0600

I am guessing nobody has a setup disk for a Tandy 3000 ?

(Feoh/28242) Yup, Sun clung to its Sparc architecture WAY too long, long afte...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:29:00 -0600

Yup, Sun clung to its Sparc architecture WAY too long, long after the economies
of scale and cost/value curve made it unattractive for the vast majority of the
market.

Also, they had a penchant for 'blue sky' projects that had no real profit
driven end game.  Project Looking Glass? The Network is the Computer? Remember
all that?

IMO Sun's last act spoke volumes about their coroporate culture.  They open
sourced Java because they KNEW Oracle would utterly torch the commercial side
of it because they don't know how to handle a product like that.

As to Atari - you guys painted the broad strokes but forgot the death blow -
Atari was finally driven under for real when Wal-mart forced them to buy back a
METRIC BUTTLOAD of consoles - the Jaguar I think.  That was the end.

(Salubrious/28241) The cost of fabs is so high now that anything outside x86 is at ...

Salubrious@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:12:00 -0600

The cost of fabs is so high now that anything outside x86 is at a big
disadvantage. And the performance of off-the-shelf hardware is so good, that
you really have to build something spectacular to justify the cost of
proprietery components. For a few thousand dollars one can build a 32 core
server that would blow away just about anything from a few years ago.

(Feoh/28229) Quite right, that was volume 2, issue 5.

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:53:00 -0600

Quite right, that was volume 2, issue 5.

(Kena/28228) That wasn't Issue #1, was it? I had 'em all, too, at least seve...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:41:00 -0600

That wasn't Issue #1, was it?  I had 'em all, too, at least several years'
worth -- and then The Great Flood came, and there they went, my Micro
Cornucopias, and hardware like my 701C.  That was A Bad Day.

(Feoh/28227) I read 73, Compute! and AmigaWorld! It was a sad day when I had...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:27:00 -0600

I read 73, Compute! and AmigaWorld!  It was a sad day when I had to jettison my
AmigaWorld archive.  I even had the insanely stylized Issue #1 with the warhol
painting and the bald chick on the cover :)

(Gespalder/28140) 2 ways to WIN a new Commodore. Winner to be announced April 2nd,...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:49:00 -0600

2 ways to WIN a new Commodore. Winner to be announced April 2nd, 2012. Details
here --> http://www.commodore-amiga.org/en/forum/34-site-news/11318-commodore-a
mgaorgs-first-great-giveaway

Commodore-Amga.org's First Great Giveaway!
www.commodore-amiga.org
What? Did you say you didn't get a Commodore C64X or Commodore VIC-Slim present
this holiday season? Shocking! Commodore-Amiga.org and CommodoreUSA will come
to your rescue by offeri...

(Turanga Leela/28139) They change the color of the border and screen of the C=64, C=12...

Turanga Leela@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:41:00 -0600

They change the color of the border and screen of the C=64, C=128, and variants
(the 40-column screen on 128 variants only, not the 80-column screen)

(Gespalder/28138) I found those on a piece of paper so I don't remember just what ...

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:11:00 -0600

I found those on a piece of paper so I don't remember just what they do.

(River Rat/28137) I use to know some peeks.

River Rat@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:58:00 -0600

I use to know some peeks.

(Gespalder/28136) Poke 53280,0 (border)

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:48:00 -0600

Poke 53280,0     (border)
Poke 53281,1     (screen)

(KAM/28135) Mild Seven> WinBolo will run under WINE in Linux.

KAM@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:19:00 -0600


Mild Seven> WinBolo will run under WINE in Linux.

(LizPhairFan/28134) Speaking of Bolo...

LizPhairFan@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:52:00 -0600

Speaking of Bolo...
are there any current gen games that are like Bolo? For Windows and such.
Bolo was a fun game. I would love to see it with better graphics, bigger maps,
more stuff, etc...

(SledgeHammer/28133) I'm looking for a connector; I need to hook a gas chromatograph ...

SledgeHammer@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0600

I'm looking for a connector; I need to hook a gas chromatograph to a "modern"
computer. Problem is, the GC is from the 1980s; the board (HP 19242-60030) has
a connector and a RS-232c connector (I *think* it's an RS-232c, I come up with
weird images for that on the web). It fits into a regular DB-25 connector.
Computer's not picking it up, but that's probably a settings/software thing.

What I would *like* to do is connect it to a more modern computer- one without
a DB-24 connector. Is there a decent working DB-25 to USB connector? There are
a lot of them out there, but having bought this kind of stuff before, half the
time it doesn't work.

(Mild Seven/28132) Thanks for the links. I wish they had it for Linux too.

Mild Seven@rss.iscabbs.com — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:23:00 -0600


Thanks for the links.  I wish they had it for Linux too.

I wonder if anyone is playing it online/multiplayer. That's what made it
so fun. :-)

(KAM/28131) You can still have it.

KAM@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:13:00 -0600


You can still have it.

Bolo 0.99.7bv for Classic MacOS:
http://bishop.mc.duke.edu/bolo/archive/

nuBolo 1.0.b9a for MacOS X:
http://www.nubolo.net/

WinBolo 1.17 for Windows 9x/NT/XP/Vista/7:
http://www.winbolo.com/

(Gespalder/28130) I likely have it downloaded somewhere.

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:41:00 -0600

I likely have it downloaded somewhere.

(Mild Seven/28129) Does anyone remember Bolo on the Macintosh? I think it was popu...

Mild Seven@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:35:00 -0600


Does anyone remember Bolo on the Macintosh?  I think it was popular in the
early 1990s.  I LOVED that game. :-)  Online multiplayer! :-D

Bring it back please! :-)

(Lightning/28128) Pinball Hall of Fame, Las Vegas. No better place to play pinbal...

Lightning@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:32:00 -0600

Pinball Hall of Fame, Las Vegas.  No better place to play pinball :)

(Kena/28127) Heh -- my father had that DG laptop. And, for the record, I wou...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:14:00 -0600

Heh -- my father had that DG laptop.  And, for the record, I would have f***in'
KILLED for those Unix floppies.  Ah, well....

(Nohirsute/28126) My WGS (full 386 but no math co-processor) came with Win3.x disc...

Nohirsute@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:44:00 -0600

My WGS (full 386 but no math co-processor) came with Win3.x discs (never broke
the seals) AND full UNIX (also still "out there" in storage trailer, seals
unbroken) -- was a $6,xxx machine, but on "educational discount" one
"partnered" with someone else eligible, and it was "buy one, get one free" --
after first machine paid & arrived, paperwork sent in for an identical machine.
I debabted on the much less expensive 286, cause I REALLY wan't gonna do that
much with it -- said I was getting a Semi when all I needed was a pick-up truck
-- but rep. on campus pointed out, "yes, but youre GETTING a semi for the PRICE
of a pick-up truck" -- so I got the Semi along with one of Physics prof. who
took the "first" machine, and when MINE came in, asked if he could swap out the
monitors -- and went off into it didn't make much difference, but why he should
get the "newer" one (by one weeks).  I **THINK** maybe I ended up with CGA and
he tok the just-coming-in VGA (?)  [or maybe it was VGA /SVGA]  But since I ran
really only Satellite Software WordPerfect 4.0 and Telnetted into ISCA, what I
ended up with was "good enough" (I DIDN'T need the Semi -- pickup would have
done fine).  But I DO remember saving stuff on dept. IDE drives and they're
whirr and buzz, and the ESDI would merely "blip" on the same file.
  The WGS was my SECOND computer after starting with an 8086 in a DataGeneral
laptop for which I paid EXTRA to get a whole 256K of memory rather than the
"std" 128K.  PLUS I paid extra for a SECOND 720K 3.5" floppy [and aabout 6 wks
after I got the double-drive computer, DataGeneral came out with a 10MB hard
drive as an option rather than 2d floppy]
  That laptop (about 11" LCD screen actually four sep. screens which amazingly
handled the image(s)/text ACROSS the screens to appear as a single screen)
always amazed people at how SMALL it was as I'd key-clatter ad meeteings and
conferences.

(Banshee/28125) I played Spy Hunter last trip to my arcade. One thing that alwa...

Banshee@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:55:00 -0600


I played Spy Hunter last trip to my arcade.  One thing that always stands out
in the game was how good the bass was, especially when you car crashed.

I am ashamed to admit it took me like 3 games before I remembered there was a
"high" gear.  Prior to that I just couldn't figure out why the game was so
boring.  Of course, driving in high is pretty impossible, but fun.

(Kena/28124) The one I truly miss -- 'cause this one just can't be played w...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:44:00 -0600

The one I truly miss -- 'cause this one just *can't* be played with MAME, not
right -- is Spy Hunter.  I mean, you've got the gear shift, the accelerator,
the steering yolk, the (blinking) "horn" that calls for the supply truck, and
two triggers, and two thumb buttons.

(Banshee/28123) Kena> That's awesome. What my local place lacks in pinball, th...

Banshee@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:12:00 -0600


Kena>  That's awesome.  What my local place lacks in pinball, they more than
make up for in cabs!

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/games_list.htm

(Kena/28121) I have died and gone to Heaven. Funspot probably still reins su...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:31:00 -0600

I have died and gone to Heaven.  Funspot probably still reins supreme, but
Pinball Wizard Arcade (pinballwizardarcade.com, shockingly) seems to be FUCKING
AWESOME.  And it's under an hour away.  Trying it out tonight.

(Chrijm/28120) Nope, not really. We just call it "The vax level" or "The dolla...

Chrijm@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:20:00 -0600

Nope, not really.  We just call it "The vax level" or "The dollar prompt".
Those of us dev folks who work on it call it either "vax level" or os.  Most
users just access the app running on the os.  A few priveledged users can drop
out of the app into the OS shell, where the prompt always ends with a $.  Some
users can temporarly drop to the OS by typing a $ in the app.  Thus the "dollar
prompt" name.  I'd say 99.9% of the users (and we have thousands) never "leave"
the app and thus don't even know about the OS.  They sort of view the app as
the OS.  Course now days the app and the OS are barely distinguishable.  The
app handles login/logout and looks much like a shell to an OS (it's text
based). So we have hardware->Linux->simh->OS->app
                                      \
                                       -->extensions
All the end use sees is sometihng like:
ENTER USER ID  ??  USER123
ENTER PASSWORD  ??

ENTER COMMAND  ??  SHOWACCOUNT

(Feoh/28119) Chrijm: Neat!!! Does your custom OS have a name?

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:24:00 -0600

Chrijm: Neat!!! Does your custom OS have a name?

(Chrijm/28118) Actually we don't run VMS, we have our own OS we run. I'm not s...

Chrijm@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:38:00 -0600

Actually we don't run VMS, we have our own OS we run.  I'm not sure if it was
actually derived from VMS or if we just made parts of it very similar.  Now
days, it's quite different overall but you can still find hints of VMS-ness
here and there.  The emulater is our souped up version if simh.  the OS used to
be 100% vax assembly but now days we have all sorts of "extensions" through the
emulator that end up running in Linux.  Extensions are done with the CMH*
opcodes.  So VAX code will be doing something, call a CHMK to run the
extension, then continue on.

(Feoh/28117) Chrijm: OpenVMS hobbyist license? And, what emulator are you usi...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:41:00 -0600

Chrijm: OpenVMS hobbyist license? And, what emulator are you using? Just
curious.

(Chrijm/28116) We retired the last of our actual VAX machines a few years back....

Chrijm@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:44:00 -0600

We retired the last of our actual VAX machines a few years back.  Now we run a
VAX emulator on Linux.  :-)

(Kena/28115) omg. I haven't thought about deathrow in years. Had no idea it...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:17:00 -0600

omg. I haven't thought about deathrow in *years*. Had no idea it was still
around. Wonder if my account's still there?

(Feoh/28114) I am very glad I had an opportunity to 'live' in VMS for a few m...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:54:00 -0600

I am very glad I had an opportunity to 'live' in VMS for a few months at one
point.  Learned some DCL, got a sense of things.  It's good to get exposure to
multiple tool sets and ways of doing things.  BTW for anyone who's curious, you
can get free access to a VMS cluster that runs guest accounts:
http://deathrow.vistech.net/

(Salubrious/28113) My school's primary system back in 1992 - 1995 was a VAX. We use...

Salubrious@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:43:00 -0600

My school's primary system back in 1992 - 1995 was a VAX. We used it for e-
mail, chat, and programming (I recall Pascal and COBOL). There was a main
computer lab with VAX terminals and half a dozen lines for dial-up access. It
was rock solid for the most part, although I remember one hacker type I knew
got a session locked and it couldn't be cleared until the VAX was restarted
over a holiday.

(Feoh/28112) Kena> Another huge difference is that VMS was much more 'regular...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:36:00 -0600

Kena> Another huge difference is that VMS was much more 'regular' than UNIX
(especially pre-POSIX).  You could always count on an identical set of options
for all system commands.  It was an entirely different cultural bent.

Also unlike UNIX, lots of VMS was written in VAX assembler, with certain bits
written in BLISS.

While tool chains are totally possible to use in VMS using DCL, the idea of
'everything is a stream of bytes' that guided the UNIX philosophy just doesn't
apply.

(Snuffy/28111) I enjoyed using VMS. My school had a VAX 11-780 running VMS (19...

Snuffy@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:26:00 -0600

I enjoyed using VMS.  My school had a VAX 11-780 running VMS (1985-1988
timeframe), later the 11-780 was replaced by a newer model.  Had a cluster with
a bunch of VAXstations, too, scattered in various labs.  I think they used
Eunice on some VAXstations up in the EE department to handle VLSI software that
required it.

VAX Fortran, VAX Pascal, VAX macro, a touch of Bliss, and that foul beast VAX C
-- DEC did a nice job with language interoperability, at least.
The VAX Fortran compiler did as nice a job with usable understandable program
listings (including assembly listings and variable placement) as I've ever
seen.  *warm fuzzy memories*

(Kena/28110) VMS competed with Unix, thus Ken Olsen's infamous "Unix is sna...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:14:00 -0600

VMS *competed* with Unix, thus Ken Olsen's infamous "Unix is snake oil" line. 
They shared many of the same concepts, but the biggest difference was that VMS
was put out by DEC, owned by DEC, and ran on DEC hardware.  Unix was "out
there," to a large extent.  Far more open, no matter how you looked at it. 
(Unix was actually developed on a DEC PDP...-6?.  It's possible you might be
getting that mixed up.)

(Snuffy/28109) http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/V/VMS.html

Snuffy@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:25:00 -0600

 http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/V/VMS.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenVMS

(Feoh/28108) OK I can't tell if you're being serious or kidding. If you're b...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:24:00 -0600

OK I can't tell if you're being serious or kidding.  If you're being serious,
then, umm.  No :)

(River Rat/28107) Isn't VMS a unix?

River Rat@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:21:00 -0600

Isn't VMS a unix?

(Kena/28106) Heh. Coherent was my first real introduction to *nix. I'd work...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:53:00 -0600

Heh.  Coherent was my first real introduction to *nix.  I'd worked on Eunice (a
Unix emulator that ran under VMS), and SCO on a friend's BBS, but Coherent was
my first introduction to the root prompt, so things like package managers were
waaaay new to me.  I'm glad I got it -- it bootstrapped (if you will) my
further learning down that road, but I can't claim I *understood* it.

(Feoh/28105) It might've, however it had some TRULY annoying quirks that made...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:30:00 -0600

It might've, however it had some TRULY annoying quirks that made it incredibly
painful to work with.  Specifically, packaging was a _N_I_G_H_T_M_A_R_E_.  The
details are buried under layers of scar tissue I'd rather not pick at :)

(Kena/28104) Ah, Coherent. That would've kicked some serious a** if they'd c...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:51:00 -0600

Ah, Coherent.  That would've kicked some serious a** if they'd come out two
years earlier.  As it is, Linux kinda ate their lunch.

(Feoh/28103) Turanga Leela> Now you're comparing DIFFERENT scars! :) We were ...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:43:00 -0600

Turanga Leela> Now you're comparing DIFFERENT scars! :) We were talking sheer
tedium.  If you want that class of pain, I could regale you with stories of
installing Minix hosted Linux and getting XFree86 compiled from source :)

Kena> OS/9 was neat actually.  As you say it had real memory protection and
multitasking, and ran on the Tandy CoCo! :) Derivatives of it were running
around the embedeed space for MANY years afterwards, including OS-9000 which
the company I was working for back in '92 sold a TCP/IP stack for, along with
various other oddball 'nix-like OSen.  Mark William's Coherent anyone? Venix?
Or perhaps NEC ASTR*X if you want to get really arcane?

(Xotom/28102) OS/2>

Xotom@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:21:00 -0600

OS/2>
Was great but it always had that pain in the ass of a single input queue for PM
applications... great multitasking except if a PM app would misbehave it would
freeze everything else . I think they put a workaround in Warp 4 but not sure
how it worked out really

(Gespalder/28101) Commodore had plenty of machines (not including the Amiga line):

Gespalder@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:43:00 -0600

Commodore had plenty of machines (not including the Amiga line):

C=64
SX-64
Plus/4
Colt
Pet0


I also had a Coleco ADAM.
It had potential but I believe Coleco was more focused on its game line.

(Kena/28100) Heh. Thanks, you can keep your x86 assembler; I'm more of a fla...

Kena@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:30:00 -0600

Heh.  Thanks, you can keep your x86 assembler; I'm more of a flat memory map
kinda guy.  Gimme 68K or 6502. ;-)  In the meantime, though, there just weren't
that man OSen -- and none on the desktop (with the possible exception of OS9,
about which I know relatively little) that had memory protection back then. 
OS/2 1.[012] pretty much sucked rocks.  Had Commodore not botched the marketing
soooo badly -- no idea of who to market to, how to drive it, etc. -- they would
have probably gotten around to fixing some of the more egregious oversights
with time.  As it was, though, it was an amazing, amazing system, clearly the
closest thing to *nix available for the home user.  Color.  Multitasking. 
Virtual device names.  Pipes.  Command line.  GUI.  Virtual desktops.  The list
goes on and on.

Ah, well...

(Turanga Leela/28099) Feoh>

Turanga Leela@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:09:00 -0600

Feoh>
I'll raise you learning x86 assembly and probing the video chipset and writing
a utility to adjust it on the fly just to get Xfree86 to play nice with the
Diamond Stealth 32 in resolutions and bit depths greater than standard VGA.

(Feoh/28098) The engineers have mostly gone on to have very successful career...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:01:00 -0600

The engineers have mostly gone on to have very successful careers, and I think
they all learned one of the most important lessons there is in this business:
The tech is secondary, marketing, and the business mojo to back it, are by FAR
more important.

Also, FWIW, and this is coming from a SERIOUS Amiga fan (GimmeeZeroZero()
forever ! :) the Amiga's multitasking strategy was pre-emptive, but without
memory protection of any kind was pretty vulnerable to some pretty horrid
crashes.  And yes, I remember GOMF, that worked, but we're talking about OS
architectures here :)

(Banshee/28097) Bah. The Amiga OS had pre-emptive multitasking years before OS/...

Banshee@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:20:00 -0600


Bah.  The Amiga OS had pre-emptive multitasking years before OS/2.  And the
really sad thing was that when OS/2 came out, you could buy an Amiga 500 for
$600 new.

How Commodore fucked up so badly with such a head-start is beyond me.  I wonder
if some of those old engineers cry themselves to sleep every night with a
bottle of bourbon...

(Feoh/28096) Knightshade> Remember all the Half-OS hate? :) Man, how people g...

Feoh@rss.iscabbs.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:21:00 -0600

Knightshade> Remember all the Half-OS hate? :) Man, how people got their undies
in a knot over that stuff.  Still a huge amiga fan thogh.  Just bought Amiga
Forever a year or so ago :)