GEOS (8-bit operating system)
GEOS ( G raphic E nvironment O perating S ystem ) is an operating system with a graphical user interface for home computers , in addition office applications has. The manufacturer was Berkeley Softworks , which later renamed itself GeoWorks Corporation .
GEOS was released for the 8-bit computers C64 , C128 as well as Apple II 128k and Apple IIc / e. A cracker group published unofficially Commodore - Plus / 4 - and C16 version. The 8-bit variants of GEOS are called GEOS 64, GEOS 128, GEOS PLUS / 4 and Apple II GEOS according to the computer models.
GEOS 64 for the Commodore 64
| GEOS 64 | |
|---|---|
| developer | Berkeley Softworks, M&T Verlag |
| License (s) | Proprietary |
| Current version | 2.0 / 2.5 (1988/1993) |
| Others | Language: English / German |
| Click Here Software Co. | |
With the introduction of the second version of the C64, the C64C in a flat case, from the end of 1986, this home computer initially came with GEOS 1.2, an operating system with a graphical user interface with integrated application programs (text and image processing geoWrite and geoPaint ), which was the same as that of the Apple Macintosh was similar. This version, which was only available in English, was not officially available as a single product on the German-speaking market. With the appearance of the first version 1.3, which was also localized for the German-speaking market, and later also 2.0, interested users at the German distributor Markt & Technik were able to exchange this individual disk for the current version after paying a special update price (for GEOS 1.3: 39 DM instead of 69 DM) .
Version 1.3 contained an interface translated into German. In addition to other small improvements, this offered the user a German keyboard layout for the first time under GEOS and enabled the use of umlauts . Furthermore, the RAM extensions offered by Commodore for the C64 / 128 were supported. They could be addressed under GEOS as their own drives, so-called RAM disks, and also accelerated the use of existing floppy drives.
GEOS 1.3 was delivered on two 5.25 inch floppy disks that were recorded on both sides. The front of the first disk contained the so-called system disk, which was used to boot GEOS. Since the GEOS floppy disks could not be copied with conventional C64 copier programs due to a slightly changed file system and had copy protection that could only be overcome some time later, the second disk contained the contents of the system disk again as a security measure. Security system "called. It was used to start the system in the event that the system diskette becomes damaged.
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The back of the first floppy disk (called "Applications") now contained the well-known application programs geoWrite and geoPaint in newer localized versions with minor improvements, as well as various auxiliary programs and font files. The back of the second floppy disk (called "driver") contained printer driver files accordingly.
Appeared with GEOS 64 3/1 in the software market in parallel with other applications that could be purchased separately for sale: among others, the spreadsheet GeoCalc , the database geoFile , the desktop publishing program geoPublish , a floppy disk with an extended geoWrite version 2.1 ( geoWrite Workshop ) which is also a program for creating form letters included (geoMerge) and geoLaser the possibility laser printer using PostScript to drive, a floppy disk with smaller additional programs such as a calendar (Calendar), an address management ( Geodex ) and a card game (Black Jack) (DeskPack) a floppy disk with many additional fonts (FontPack) and a special assembler development package (geoProgrammer) and a BASIC implementation (geoBasic). However, the menu navigation of these additional programs has not been Germanized.
In addition, GEOS 128 1.3 was released at the same time, a special version that could use the extended capabilities of the C128 (see section GEOS 128 for the Commodore C128 ).
In 1988 the next version of GEOS 64, 2.0 was released. This presented itself to the user with an extended, slightly revised desktop interface. The programs of the GeoWrite Workshop, the spell checker program GeoSpell and other printer drivers have been integrated into this version, which was delivered on a total of four floppy disks. At the same time a GEOS128 version was released.
For the user with a single floppy disk drive system without RAM expansion, which was typical at the time, working with GEOS turned out to be the following: After booting GEOS, he had to insert a work disk he had compiled himself into the floppy disk drive, on which he could write the required application program and auxiliary programs copied the printer driver and font files to be used. The free space on the floppy disk could be used for project files. GEOS 64 was unable to keep utilities, printer drivers, and font files in RAM due to limited memory. Therefore, if they were needed while working, they had to be available on the work disk. When using several floppy disk drives and / or a RAM extension , the constant provision of these additional files for the user could be simplified by having them in the RAMdisk or on the floppy disk in the other drive.
Since Commodore ceased the production and sale of RAM expansions in the early 1990s, the replacement product GeoRAM appeared on the initiative of Berkeley Softworks , which had a similar functionality in GEOS, but was hardly used outside of GEOS. From the end of the 80s, a public domain software / shareware / freeware scene developed in North America , especially in the forums of the online providers Quantum Link and Compuserve , which ensured the appearance of many additional GEOS programs and tools. In Europe, this software was mainly available through mail order companies specializing in the distribution of PD software. In addition, the GEOS User Club (GUC) was founded in Germany in 1989 as an interest group for private GEOS users. Between 1988 and 1994, Markt & Technik-Verlag published seven special editions of 64 as well as individual titles, further GEOS programs, such as the terminal program GeoTerm and the alternative assembler development package MegaAssembler.
In 1993 the German distributor Markt & Technik put together a new version 2.5 in cooperation with the Geos User Club (GUC). In addition to the previous version 2.0, this included another floppy disk containing the alternative Topdesk interface, the Spellchecker spell checker and other auxiliary programs that had previously been available separately from the GUC. This update, which was actually just an extension, was only made for the German GEOS 64, not for the American version and not for GEOS 128 either.
In the 90s, other manufacturers tried to make working under GEOS more comfortable with the publication of alternative desktop interfaces and system expansions and, above all, the peripheral devices that the American hardware manufacturer Creative Micro Designs (CMD) had developed for the C64 / 128 for To make GEOS more usable. Mention should be made of the alternative desktop gateway presented by CMD in 1993 itself, the upgrade MegaPatch published in 1999, the surface of which was graphically based on Windows 95 and was only available in German, as well as the Wheels by Maurice Randall, which appeared around the same time and which claimed the To continue the look'n feel of the original desktop, which was based on the early MacOS versions.
The sales and production rights of the operating system were held by Berkeley Softworks, which later renamed itself to GeoWorks and with PC / GEOS and the subsequent PEN / GEOS a strong, but incompatible further development for x86 DOS PCs, PDAs, MiniPCs and - Smartphones released.
The Commodore product line was acquired by Creative Micro Designs (CMD) in 1993 . In 2001, CMD ended all Commodore-specific activities and on July 21, 2001 transferred all rights to Click Here Software Company , which is operated by Maurice Randall.
| Released | designation | Info & download |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | GEOS 64 1.0 / 1.1 | Beta versions for developers. |
| January 1986 | GEOS 64 1.2 | Berkeley Softworks presents the first official sales version at the winter CES trade fair . |
| June 1986 | GEOS 64 1.2 with C64-C | At the summer CES exhibition in 1986 , Commodore presented the C64-C, a GEOS OEM home computer, for the first time . |
| 1987 | GEOS 64 1.3 | First version available in several languages. |
| 1987/88 | GEOS 64 1.5 | Also delivered in Germany with the flat C64C. |
| June 1988 | GEOS 64 2.0 | Was presented for the first time at the summer CES fair in Las Vegas in 1988 and is currently owned by the current rights holder "Click Here Software Co." ( Download ) as a free version (English version without manual, transfer to C64 floppy disks must be done by yourself). This version is also available from various FTP servers on the Internet. |
| 1993 | GEOS 64 2.5 | Developed and distributed in Germany by M&T Verlag with the help of the GEOS User Club. It was actually a GEOS 2.0 with an additional disk , in which the desktop alternative TopDesk and other programs that were previously paid for were bundled. |
| 1999 | GEOS MegaPatch 3.0 | Upgrade developed by Wolfgang Grimm and Markus Kanet with improved support for new hardware. |
| 1999 | Wheels 64 (Kernal 4.2) | Comprehensive upgrade programmed by Maurice Randall for GEOS 64 2.0 to make newer hardware usable. A graphical web browser was to be released later as an encore. A RAM expansion is required, the accelerator card SuperCPU clocked with 20 MHz is recommended. |
| 2002 | Wheels 64 (Kernal 4.4) | Free update for Wheels 64 (Kernal 4.2). Contains bug fixes for the kernel and the dashboard interface. |
| Since the beginning of 2004 |
- | GEOS is available for the C64 and C128 for free download without manual under CMDRKEY . |
GEOS for the Commodore Plus / 4 and C16
Parallel to the C64, Commodore Business Machines tried to establish an inexpensive home computer with the Plus / 4 . In 1987, GEOS 64 was unofficially ported to the Plus / 4 and C16 by Oluf Heinrichsen and named GEOS 3.5 (based on the version number of the Commodore BASIC dialect used on the Plus / 4 ). This GEOS version requires 64 KiB of RAM on both home computers , which is why the C16 needs to be upgraded. In addition, GEOS 3.5 only works with the rare Plus / 4 and C16 floppy disk drive 1551 , which is connected via a special parallel cable. Operation with the widely used C64 / 128 floppy disk drives 1541 and 1571 , which were also common on the Plus / 4 series computers, is not possible. GEOS 3.5 has no mouse support, the mouse pointer must be controlled using a joystick . It should be noted that firstly GEOS 3.5 for the Plus / 4 was derived from GEOS 64 1.2, which at that time was not yet designed for the use of a computer mouse on the C64 / 128, and secondly the joystick connections of the Plus / 4 and C16, unlike those of the C64, do not offer support for paddles and analog joysticks, which the C64 later misused for using a mouse.
GEOS 128 for the Commodore 128
| GEOS 128 | |
|---|---|
| developer | Berkeley Softworks |
| License (s) | Proprietary |
| Current version | 2.0 (1989) |
| Others | Language: English / German |
| Click Here Software Co. | |
After the release of the GEOS 1.3 for the C64, the then manufacturer Berkeley Softworks decided to bring GEOS to the market for the professional Commodore 128 as well. There GEOS 128 1.3 also ran for the first time in an 80-character mode (higher resolution than in the C64) and was superior to the C64-GEOS by using twice the processor clock frequency of 2 MHz. With the appearance of GEOS 64 2.0, a 2.0 version of GEOS 128 was also released.
GEOS 128 was directly compatible with almost all GEOS 64 applications without having to switch to a C64 mode - unlike normal C64 software; however, this was limited to running the application in 40-character mode, as a GEOS application had to be designed for one mode in order to be able to run. The mode could be switched during operation, which was also done automatically when an application in the other mode was started.
GEOS 128 also had the advantage for the user that, due to the larger working memory of the C128, in contrast to GEOS 64, it was able to keep important additional files such as the printer driver in the RAM at all times, thus making work more convenient.
Other features:
- GeoWRITE 128 only ran in 80-character mode. Anyone who had a pure 40-character monitor or television could therefore not use GeoWRITE 128.
- There were special GEOS 128 versions for the GeoFILE file management and the GeoCALC spreadsheet. However, these were only designed for the 80-character mode. Other additionally available GEOS applications such as the DTP program GeoPUBLISH and the diagram application GeoCHART were only available as GEOS 64 version and could therefore only be started in GEOS 128 in 40-character mode.
- GEOS 128 ran significantly faster in 80-character mode than GEOS 64 or GEOS 128 in 40-character mode, despite the higher resolution, because the CPU ran at 2 MHz instead of 1 MHz. This was not possible in 40-character mode because the 40-character "VIC" graphics chip of the C64 / 128 could only display the picture at 1 MHz. But there was a tool that cleverly switched to a 2 MHz clock rate while the cathode ray was in the upper or lower frame area of the screen and clocked down again when it was in the middle display area. This effectively achieved a speed of approx. 1.3 MHz.
- Another trick to use the higher clock frequency in 40-character applications was to use a disk monitor (an editor with which you can edit the data on a disk byte by byte) in the meta information stored in a special block on the disk change the application to use the 80-character mode by setting a flag. Even if the visual representation of the program became chaotic, some programs could not be executed at all, this resulted in a practical benefit in computationally intensive applications such as the assembler development package geoProgrammer.
In the 1990s, special versions of the alternative desktop surfaces TopDesk and Gateway as well as the upgrade Wheels were also released for GEOS 128 .
For the general history of GEOS see section GEOS 64 for the Commodore C64 .
APPLE II 128 KByte, IIe and IIc GEOS
| Apple II GEOS | |
|---|---|
 Apple II OS with GUI |
|
| developer | GeoWorks Corporation |
| License (s) | Proprietary |
| Current version | 2.1 ( 1988 ) |
| Others | Language: English |
| Breadbox Computer Company, LLC | |
After the success of the UrGEOS on the C64 , Apple II GEOS was published by Berkeley Softworks in 1988 for the Apple II successors Apple // e, which appeared in 1982 and 1985, and Apple's first portable computer, the Apple // c. In 1989 a GEOS version for the original Apple II with 128 KByte RAM was released (the corresponding memory expansion from another manufacturer was not very common, however, with Apple's own components the RAM limit of the old Apple II was 64 KB and GEOS was not usable). This version also included a demo disk from GEOS for the Apple II clone " Sears Laser 128Kbyte " computer. It has not yet been possible to determine whether a full GEOS version was also released for the Sears Laser 128PC.
Since the Apple II line was already old in 1988/89, Apple's own, upwardly compatible Apple IIgs were delivered with a much more powerful GUI, and the Apple Macintosh had started its triumphant advance, Apple GEOS was not a big seller. There were also no development tools that could have expanded the software offer. The last Apple // e were made in 1993. In 1995 the sales and customer service for APPLE II GEOS were discontinued by the manufacturer, now trading under the name "GeoWorks Corporation".
Web links
Information and pictures:
- GEOS 2.0 for the C64 - screenshots for the individual program parts and menus at GUIdebookgallery.org
- GEOS 2.1 for Apple II - Screenshots of the individual program parts and menus at GUIdebookgallery.org
- Further information and screenshots about GEOS at www.c64-wiki.de
- Information and pictures about the GEOS in "8-Bit-Nirvana" at www.zock.com
- German forum for the 16-bit operating system GEOS, GeoWorks, NewDeal Office and Breadbox Ensemble
- Geos Online Print Archive
- Detailed article at OSNews.com (Engl.)
- Video about the use of a GEOS 3.5 surface on the Plus / 4 on Myspace
Downloads:
- GEOS 64/128 , free of charge at www.zimmers.net
- C128-GEOS , free of charge from the current rights holder (without manual. Transfer to C128 floppy disks, for example with a special cable, must be done by yourself) on C128 original disks with manual in the "Click-Here-software co." - online retail acquirable
- Apple-II-GEOS (ZIP, 968 KB): since 2003.08.12 free of charge from the current rights holder (Breadbox Computer Company LLC., Florida)
