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Infoseepage #StopGazaGenocide

@starfrost The only earlier versions would have been QDOS 0.11 (Quick and Dirty OS) which was finished in August 1980. It was renamed to 86-DOS that fall.

Interestingly, the license/contract which Seattle Computer Products had with Microsoft allowed them to continue to sell 86-DOS and all future versions of it so long as it was bundled with one of their computers. SCP originally sold a S-100 bus 8086 computer (for which they needed an OS).

30 Dec 2023 at 1:43 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mastodon.social
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Infoseepage #StopGazaGenocide

@starfrost The result was that you could get MS-DOS as a sort of "OEM bundle" from SCP. It consisted of the software and a CPU with no other circuitry :)

See, we're selling a computer!

30 Dec 2023 at 1:44 | Open on mastodon.social
starfrost

@Infoseepage this is qdos 0.11, it was just called 86-dos already and it was probably wrong, or terminology got mixed up, or

we have a giant disk set from them, and it has up to MS-DOS 2.0, as well as 86-DOS up to December 1981 and something called "DOSV" (NOT Japanese DOS/V) is also referenced sometimes, from 1982

the disks go up to 1987, which is interesting because SCP's last recorded action is suing Microsoft over their license agreement, and settling, in 1986. they claimed offshore (probably Japanese) companies edged them out of the market with lower labor costs or something, maybe 1987 is when SCP went bankrupt

also only 2 or 3 out of dozens of disks had any bad sectors. very high quality stuff...

@Infoseepage this is qdos 0.11, it was just called 86-dos already and it was probably wrong, or terminology got mixed up, or

we have a giant disk set from them, and it has up to MS-DOS 2.0, as well as 86-DOS up to December 1981 and something called "DOSV" (NOT Japanese DOS/V) is also referenced sometimes, from 1982

30 Dec 2023 at 11:17 | Open on wetdry.world
Infoseepage #StopGazaGenocide

@starfrost This is some real history of the PC archeology going on here. You think of how radically different the computer industry would be if SCP hadn't existed and had an OS on hand that already ran on 8086. Like, would MS have ended up as a straight language/tools company like Borland or something and not progressed to operating systems?

30 Dec 2023 at 13:22 | Open on mastodon.social
Infoseepage #StopGazaGenocide

@starfrost I wonder if the DOSV is something like some version of 86-Dos for a non-IBM semi-compatible like the NEC APC III. I have a client with one. It uses a lot of the same commodity hardware as an IBM PC, but with a different BIOS and some sophisticated video capabilities and the ability to insert/remove expansion cards without opening the case.

30 Dec 2023 at 13:23 | Open on mastodon.social
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