3 ms·
I worked at Digital Research from 1984 to 1990. CP/M-68K was the first operating system I used there, but only for a brief period. It's unfortunate that the s
by bloovis 2mo ago
I worked at Digital Research from 1984 to 1990. CP/M-68K was the first operating system I used there, but only for a brief period. It's unfortunate that the source for FlexOS is not available; it would be a better choice for a hobby project like this.
It was a protected mode OS for the 286 that had a real-time kernel, TCP/IP stack, DOS compatibility box, and more. It was a clean break from CP/M. IBM used it in their point-of-sale terminals for quite a few years, and I worked on porting it to 32-bit architectures like the NEC V60. It died after Novell bought DRI, aside from its use inside IBM.
- lproven 2mo ago> It's unfortunate that the source for FlexOS is not available So very true. 100x this.
- ddevnyc 2mo agoLooking back on the project, what do you think could be some interesting things one can learn from it?
- bloovis 2mo agoOne thing that sticks in my mind was that the system call API was well-designed (by Frank Holsworth). Everything involved getting or setting tables (structures). The documentation for this was really quite good.
- dfawcus 2mo agoThe documentation for FlexOS 1.2/1.3 is available on Bitsavers. So someone could re-implement it. The build kit for CDOS-68k 1.2 (aka FlexOS 68k) is available ob Gaby's site. I worked for an OEM in the 90s, and we used FlexOS 286 (and 386) ver 2.2/2.3 on some custom systems, including an ePOS system.
- bloovis 2mo agoThat's interesting. I left DRI just before Novell bought it, and wasn't aware of anybody besides IBM using it.