DR-DOS

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DR-DOS
developer DRDOS, Inc. (originally Digital Research )
License (s) proprietary
Current  version 7.03 (1999)
Kernel BDOS : monolithic ( assembler )
ancestry CP / M-86
↳ CP / M Plus / Concurrent CP / M
↳ Concurrent DOS
↳ DOS Plus
↳ DR DOS
↳ Novell DOS
↳ DR-DOS
Architecture (s) IBM PC ( x86 from 8086 / 8088 )
timeline DOS Plus 1.2 to 2.1
DR DOS 3.31 to 6.0
PalmDOS 1.0
Novell DOS 7
OpenDOS 7.01
DR-DOS 7.02 to 8.1
Others Enhanced DR-DOS 1/7/08 (April 2008 )

www.drdos.com

DRDoS [ diːɑːɹ dɑːs ] is to PC DOS compatible DOS - the operating system , which has been marketed since 2002 by DRDoS, Inc. (Device Logics). It was developed as DR DOS ( D igital R esearch D isk O perating S ystem, without a hyphen) by the company of the same name, Digital Research, from the CP / M-86 operating system and in the 1980s and 1990s was in direct competition with the then dominant PC - MS-DOS operating system from Microsoft .

history

Under Digital Research (until 1993)

At the end of the 1970s, the CP / M operating system from Digital Research established itself as the standard operating system for the 8-bit computers that were widespread at the time. For a long time, IBM viewed the development of the personal computer as a project with no prospects and consequently neglected it and left the market to other providers. In the early 1980s, however, the decision was made to enter the market with its own personal computer, the IBM PC . In contrast to the established systems, however, it was not an 8-bit system based on the Z80 from Zilog, but a 16-bit system based on the new x86 processor family from Intel. For contractual reasons, IBM did not license the CP / M-86 from Digital Research, which was adapted for the new generation of processors, but rather the SCP 86-DOS , which was bought by Microsoft and renamed PC-DOS (also: IBM-DOS) . 86-DOS, in turn, was largely a replica of CP / M for the x86 processors, which was used before the CP / M-86 was available. Although Digital Research was able to achieve that the CP / M-86 could optionally be ordered with IBM PCs, this marked the beginning of Microsoft's triumphant advance. PC-DOS was later sold and licensed separately by Microsoft as MS-DOS and, as such, was also bundled with IBM-compatible PCs from other manufacturers.

Due to the new competitive situation and the usual naming of the PC operating system, the CP / M-86 was first developed or renamed Concurrent CP / M-86, then Concurrent DOS, later DOS Plus and finally DR DOS. During these various versions, the CP / M-86, which was similar but incompatible with MS-DOS, gradually became DR DOS, which was designed to be compatible with MS-DOS and under which CP / M-86 programs could no longer run.

Digital Research was now in the situation of having to bring its operating system mainly directly to the end customer, often even though the end customer had already purchased an operating system with his computer, because because of the restrictive license policy for MS-DOS, only a few OEMs delivered their computers with DR DOS , in Germany Vobis was mainly known for this .

In order to be able to survive under these circumstances, DR DOS was not only one version number ahead of the MS-DOS version sold at the same time, but also contained technologies that were only introduced into MS-DOS much later or never: already DR DOS 3.31 , which was sold alongside MS-DOS 3.3, offered support for hard drives larger than 32  MB as well as a help function for the commands and programs contained therein. DR DOS 5.0 contained the graphic user interface ViewMAX and extended help functions. With DR DOS 6.0, Digital Research brought a hard disk compression that promised twice the usable capacity of the hard disk, as well as the complete manual as hypertext online help. In addition, DR DOS was able to manage the then scarce main memory more efficiently and thus keep more of the valuable memory in the first 640  kB free for programs.

Despite these characteristics, DR DOS could never finally prevail; Last but not least, Microsoft also played a major role in the failure: For example, customers were irritated by Microsoft pointing out the dangers of hard disk compression in its criticism of DR DOS 6.0, although this technology was then combined with DoubleSpace (later: DriveSpace) in MS-DOS 6 .x was also introduced. In Windows 3.1 , Microsoft built in functions that made operation under DR DOS unnecessarily difficult and thus also prevented potential buyers from buying ( AARD code ), although the required DR DOS update was already available when Windows 3.1 was launched. Microsoft's claim that Windows 95 supposedly could not run on alternative DOS versions did the rest.

Under Novell (1993-1996)

Novell , which Digital Research had already bought during the time of DR DOS 6, developed another version of Novell DOS 7 , which contained real multitasking , under which you could even run Windows 3.x, and network capability, but that was the end of DR DOS unstoppable. Novell eventually sold all rights to DR DOS and CP / M to Caldera .

Under Caldera (1997-1999)

Caldera distributed the Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 version , which was free for private use , but this did not contain any major innovations and in some cases even lagged behind the Novell DOS 7 level with the latest updates. In versions 7.02 and 7.03, which were again called DR-DOS (but written with a hyphen), these updates were integrated or re-implemented in addition to many other extensions.

With OpenDOS 7.01, Caldera also published the source code of the kernel under a license that can only be used privately. In addition, Caldera put the source texts for GEM under the GPL and through the fan project “The Unofficial CP / M Web site” the source texts of CP / M are now also available under a free license.

What is more remarkable about the Caldera DR-DOS era, however, is the legal battle that Caldera had brought against Microsoft:
Since Caldera had taken over all rights, it was also possible to deal with the incidents involving Windows 3.x and Windows 95 from the time of Digital Research and Novell Bring an action. Caldera managed to get Windows 95 running under DR-DOS with minimal changes. According to publications, the use of Windows 95 in other DOS operating systems is possible solely through a special TSR program ; this program should appear soon for DR-DOS users. For reasons that are not explained, this phenomenon did not occur. However, Caldera proved that Windows 95 consisted of the two independent products MS-DOS 7.00 (later 7.10) and Windows 4.0, so that the forced bundling represented an obstacle to competition from other DOS providers. The legal battle ended in a settlement . In that comparison, Microsoft paid Caldera about $ 280 million in early 2000 .

Under Lineo / DeviceLogics / DRDOS, Inc. (from 1999)

DR-DOS then went to the Lineo company , which was formed from Caldera Thin Clients , fell back to the Canopy Group when Lineo ended and was taken over by DeviceLogics (DRDOS, Inc.) in 2002. Under Lineo and DeviceLogics, DR-DOS was no longer given free of charge, but was sold as a system for embedded systems and the like. In March 2004, version 8 of DR-DOS was released, which brought limited support for FAT32. Version 8.1, published in September 2005 by DRDOS Inc., was taken off the market due to copyright problems (third-party programs were included, including from the FreeDOS project, and contained code stolen from Udo Kuhnt's Enhanced DR-DOS). Later DR-DOS 8.0 also disappeared, since then only DR-DOS 7.03 is available from DRDOS Inc.

DR-DOS version 7 played a role mainly on recovery disks and CD-ROMs of various data recovery and backup programs such as Norton Ghost, DriveImage, Partition Magic and other programs that required a start disk. Because of the inadequate support of current hard disk controllers (SATA, SoftRAID, ..), however, it is also becoming less important here in favor of Windows PE or Linux.

Enhanced DR-DOS (since July 2002)

The “DR-DOS / OpenDOS Enhancement Project”, or “Enhanced DR-DOS” (for short: EDR-DOS) is a private fan project. The author, Udo Kuhnt, has been developing the open source OpenDOS 7.01 further since 2003. He provided LBA and FAT32 support for hard disks with more than 8  GiB capacity and other bug fixes and extensions. The updates relate almost exclusively to the kernel ( IBMBIO.COM, IBMDOS.COMand COMMAND.COM), while for utilities there is increasing reference to the modern (and in some cases adapted for EDR-DOS) versions from FreeDOS . Therefore, Enhanced DR-DOS cannot be viewed as a full-fledged DOS operating system, but rather as an alternative kernel for an existing OpenDOS / DR-DOS or for FreeDOS.

history

DR DOS was written without a hyphen up to and including version 6.0 . After Digital Research sold the operating system to Novell, the "DR" disappeared from the name until it was re-published by Caldera as OpenDOS / DR-DOS 7.02, this time with a hyphen. All versions from OpenDOS 7.01 to DR-DOS 7.03 were freely available ( freeware ). Furthermore, also exist OEM versions DR-DOS is 7.04 and DR-DOS 7:05 that as a starting discs came from various data recovery and disk utilities used. The unofficial improvements by Udo Kuhnt - see Enhanced DR-DOS - relate solely to the kernel and are based on the OpenDOS 7.01 sources published by Caldera ( Open Source ).

For a version overview of the kernel including its origin (CP / M) see BDOS .

version publication Remarks
DOS Plus 1.0 1985
DOS Plus 2.01 August 1986
DR DOS 3.31 May 1988 DR DOS 3.31 was Digital Research's first version of DOS that was compatible with Microsoft's MS-DOS. For programs, it reports API compatibility with IBM DOS 3.31.
DR DOS 3.41 January 1989
DR DOS 5.0 May 1990 Code name "Leopard." Contains the graphic user interface ViewMAX / 1.
DR DOS 6.0 March 1992 Code name "Buxton." Includes ViewMAX / 2. The last update published by Digital Research is DR DOS 6.01, dated April 1992.
DR PalmDOS 1.0 June 1992 Code name "Merlin." The internal structures in the kernel were developed away from CP / M towards real PC DOS / MS-DOS.
Novell DOS 7 January 1994 Code names "Panther" and "Smirnoff." The last update released by Novell is Novell DOS 7 Update 15/2 from January 1996. Novell DOS 7 is API- compatible with PC DOS 5.
OpenDOS 7.01 February 1997 This is the first version released since it was sold to Caldera. Although the version number is higher than the previous version by Novell, not all of the Novell DOS 7 updates that were already available have been incorporated, so OpenDOS 7.01 is roughly equivalent to Novell DOS 7 Update 11.
From this version, the operating system core components were IBMBIO.COM, IBMDOS.COMand COMMAND.COMpublished as source code that can be tested, however, for commercial purposes for a period of 90 days. In the non-commercial area, OpenDOS 7.01 can be used for an unlimited period of time.
DR-DOS 7.02 September 1997 In this version, again released without source code, Caldera had incorporated most of Novell's recent improvements. In the beta versions there was still talk of “Caldera OpenDOS 7.02”, and finally “Caldera DR-OpenDOS 7.02” was released, but this was immediately changed to “Caldera DR-DOS 7.02”.
DR-DOS 7.03 March 1999 The last version published by the Caldera subsidiary Lineo, which has now been distributed again by DRDOS, Inc.
DR-DOS 7.01.01 July 2002 Udo Kuhnt publishes his first patch for the source code of the OpenDOS 7.01 kernel released by Caldera.
DR-DOS 8.0 March 2004 Version published by DeviceLogics that has since been withdrawn. DR-DOS 8.0 was specially adapted for use in embedded systems .
Enhanced DR-DOS 01/07/07 March 2005 The improvements developed by Udo Kuhnt are now published as "Enhanced DR-DOS". The project adapts DR-DOS 7 to the circumstances of the time (e.g. FAT32 support), but requires the original OpenDOS programs (freeware) or programs from the FreeDOS project (different licenses) in order to operate as a complete DOS be valid. In some cases, specially adapted open source FreeDOS programs find their way to "Enhanced DR-DOS" (currently SYS, FORMATand XCOPY).
DR-DOS 8.1 October 2005 This version published by DRDOS, Inc. obviously violated the copyright of Udo Kuhnt's improvements to the OpenDOS 7.01 kernel and the licenses of various programs from the FreeDOS project and had to be withdrawn shortly after it was published. Because DR-DOS 8.0 was withdrawn from the market shortly afterwards, the last officially available version is DR-DOS 7.03 from 1999.

A clear timeline can be found on the FreeDOS project website.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The AARD Code ( Memento from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Dr. Dobb's Journal investigation
  3. ↑ Matthias Paul: NWDOSTIP - Tips & Tricks around Novell DOS 7, with a view to undocumented details, bugs and workarounds. antonis.de, July 30, 1997, accessed August 6, 2014 (3, release 157).
  4. ↑ Ralf Brown: Ralf Brown's Interrupt List. INTER61 from July 16, 2000 ( cs.cmu.edu ) Entry for the DR-DOS version under INT 21h / AH = 4452h.
  5. ↑ Matthias Paul: Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 / 7.02 Update Alpha 3 IBMBIO.COM README.TXT (ZIP) October 2, 1997. Archived from the original on October 4, 2003. Retrieved on March 29, 2009.
  6. ↑ The Register article dated November 26, 2001.
  7. ↑ Graham Lea: Cebit: Caldera shows Windows on DR-DOS, denying MS claims . March 23, 1998. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
  8. ^ Mike Romano: The mouse that roared. Forget the feds. It's up to an obscure Utah company to prove what we already know: that Microsoft is a monopoly. In: Seattle Weekly September 16, 1998, ( seattleweekly.com )
  9. ↑ Stephen D. Susman, Charles R. Eskridge III, Harry P. Susman, James T. Southwick, Parker C. Folse III, Timothy K. Borchers, Ralph H. Palumbo, Matthew R. Harris, et al .: In the United States District Court - District of Utah, Central Division - Caldera, Inc. vs. Microsoft Corporation - Case No. 2: 96CV 0645B - Caldera, Inc.'s Memorandum in opposition to defendant's motion for partial Summary Judgment on plaintiff's "Technological Tying" claim . Caldera Inc .. May 1999. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  10. ↑ BBC News | BUSINESS | Caldera vs Microsoft - the settlement
  11. ↑ Exhibits to Microsoft's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment in Novell WordPerfect Case . Groklaw. November 23, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ DR-DOS is alive . heise online, November 20, 2002
  13. ↑ Controversy about open source programs in DR-DOS 8.1 heise online, October 25, 2005.
  14. ↑ "The DR-DOS / OpenDOS Enhancement Project" via archive.org - "Enhanced DR-DOS" by Udo Kuhnt
  15. ↑ The license for OpenDOS 7.01 is included with the released source code in the file LICENSE.TXT.
  16. ↑ DRDOS Inc. Includes Freedos And Other Software In DR-DOS 8.1 FOR $ 45 . freedos.org, October 25, 2005 (text file, English)
  17. ↑ 25+ Years Of DOS History . freedos.org, September 3, 2006 (text file, English)
  18. ↑ 25 Years Of DR DOS History . freedos.org, September 18, 2000 (text file, English)