FlexOS

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with FLEX (operating system).

FlexOS
4690 OS

FlexOS is a discontinued modular real-time multiuser

Concurrent DOS 386
as well.

Overview

Concurrent DOS 286, Concurrent DOS 68K and FlexOS were designed by Francis "Frank" R. Holsworth (using

C for higher portability across hardware platforms, and it featured very low interrupt latency and fast context switching.[8]

The original

Concurrent DOS 68K as of 1986.[11][7][12][10]
)

In May 1987, FlexOS version 1.31 was released for 80286 machines.

IBM PC/AT-compatible machine with 640 KB of conventional and 512 KB of extended memory
, and either a (monochrome) CGA or an EGA graphics adapter.

FlexOS supported a concept of dynamically loadable and unloadable subdrivers, and it came with driver prototypes for floppies, hard disks, printers, serial interfaces, RAM disks, mice and console drivers.

During boot, the FLEX286.SYS kernel would load the resource managers and device drivers specified in the CONFIG.SYS binary file (not to be mixed up with the similarly named CONFIG.SYS configuration file under DOS), and its shell (COMMAND.286) would execute a CONFIG.BAT startup batch job instead of the common AUTOEXEC.BAT.

FlexOS's optional DOS emulator provided limited

LOADALL).[9] These problems had already caused delays in the delivery of Concurrent DOS 286 earlier.[14][15]

The system optionally supported a multitasking

VDI for graphical applications.[9][16]

FlexOS 1.31 could be linked with none, either or both of these two modules. FlexOS 1.31 also supported

FlexNet
.

By June 1987 there were also versions 1.0 of FlexOS 386 (for hosts) and FlexOS 186 (for remote cell controllers).

PC DOS 3.2 and GEM compatibility.[8]

FlexOS 286 and FlexOS 386 versions 2.0 were registered on 3 July 1989.

Among the major FlexOS customers in 1990/1991 were

Thorn EMI Software and Micrologic.[3][17]

Novell bought Digital Research for US$80 million[18] in July 1991.[19][3][20][18]

X/GEM
for FlexOS release 1.0 (a.k.a. X/GEM FlexOS 286 and 386) and FlexNet were registered on 21 December 1992.

FlexOS was used as the primary test platform for the new Novell Embedded Systems Technology (NEST).[21]

When Novell decided to abandon further development of the various Digital Research operating systems such as

DR DOS), they sold FlexOS off to the Santa Clara, California-based Integrated Systems Inc. (ISI) for US$3 million in July 1994.[22] The deal comprised a direct payment of half this sum as well as shares representing 2% of the company. The company already had pSOS+, another modular real-time multitasking operating system for embedded systems, but they continued to maintain FlexOS as well.[22]
FlexOS version 2.33 was current as of May 1998 and with FlexOS 2.34 to be released soon after with added support for faster CPUs, 64 MB of memory, EIDE and ATAPI CDROM drives.

Integrated Systems was bought by their competitor Wind River Systems in February 2000.

Commands

The following list of commands is supported by FlexOS:[23]

Versions

Known FlexOS versions include:

ColdFire MCF5251[24]
platform:

Intel 80286 platform:

V30
platform:

  • FlexOS 186 (1986-09-04 forked)
  • FlexOS 186 1.0 (June 1987)

Intel 80386
platform:

  • FlexOS 386 1.0 (June 1987)
  • FlexOS 386 2.0 (July 1989)
  • FlexOS 386 2.30?
  • FlexOS 386 2.31?
  • FlexOS 386 2.32 (July 1993)
  • FlexOS 386 2.33 (May 1998)
  • FlexOS 386 2.34 (planned for 1999)

NEC V60 platform:

Adaptations

IBM 4680 OS

Named IBM 4680 OS Version 1,

Point-of-Sale terminals in 1986.[32][10][4][33] The last release of the IBM 4680 OS has been Version 4, before it was replaced by IBM 4690 Version 1.[34]

Versions:

  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 1 Release 1
  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 1 Release 2
  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 1 Release 3
  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 2 Release 1
  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 3 Release 1
  • IBM 4680 Operating System Version 4 Release 1

IBM and Toshiba 4690 OS

Main article: 4690 Operating System

In July 1993, IBM announced the adoption of FlexOS version 2.32 as the basis of their

IBM 4690 OS Version 1, to be pre-released on 24 September 1993[33] and generally made available from 25 March 1994.[34][35] FlexOS 2.32 supported 286 and 386 modes, had more efficient memory management, better console and pipe systems, and brought overall quality and performance improvements compared to the version that came with IBM 4680 OS Version 4.[34] Further, it removed limits on the number of applications running concurrently due to its more efficient use of KOSPOOL.[34]

To support

FAT32
volumes.

According to "The Year of the Store?", IHL Consulting Group/RIS News, IBM 4690 OS still had a market share of 12% in the

IBM Retail Environment for SUSE (IRES).[33]

IBM continued to maintain 4690 OS up to April 2015, with the most recent version released by IBM in May 2012 being IBM 4690 OS Version 6 Release 3.

Toshiba released

Toshiba 4690 OS
Version 6 Release 4 in January 2014 and Version 6 Release 5 in January 2016.

Siemens S5-DOS/MT

Personal CP/M-86
.

Siemens industrial systems like COROS LS-B/FlexOS, COROS OS-B/FlexOS, GRACIS/FlexOS, Teleperm M [de] OS-525 were FlexOS and X/GEM-based.

Computers such as the Sicomp [de] PC 16-20 and the PC 32 series were available with FlexOS as well.

CTM

The Japanese post office shared terminals CTM [ja] III and CTM IV were based on FlexOS.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0199-6649
    .
  2. ISSN 0010-4841. Archived
    from the original on 2020-02-16. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  3. ^ a b c "Novell and Digital Research sign definitive merger agreement". Business Wire. 1991-07-17. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  4. ^ a b c CBR, ed. (1987-01-15). "Digital Research launches FlexOS 286 Real-Time Manufacturing Operating System". Computer Business Review. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  5. ^ Wein, Josef "Joe" (2002). "Gary Kildall in England". Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  6. CHM Catalog Number 102770341. ITCHP 44403c1a3fd53. Lot Number X7847.2017. Archived
    from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
  7. ^
    Concurrent DOS V60. STRUCT.H mentions LOADALL
    for "8086 emulation".)
  8. ^ a b c CBR, ed. (1987-06-03). "Digital Research shows off Real-Time FlexOS 386". Computer Business Review. Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  9. ^
    Digital Research, Inc. November 1986. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-03. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  10. ^
    European Review (18). Digital Research
    : 1. March 1986. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  11. ^ a b c "Concurrent DOS 68K 1.2 - Developer Kit for Motorola VME/10 - Disk 1". 1986-08-06 [1986-04-08]. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  12. ^ a b c "Concurrent DOS 68K 1.2 - Developer Kit for Motorola VME/10 - Disk 3". 1986-08-06 [1986-04-08]. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  13. ^
    Digital Research, Inc. May 1987. 1073-1001-002. Retrieved 2018-09-14.[permanent dead link
    ]
  14. ^
    ISSN 0199-6649
    .
  15. ISSN 0199-6649
    .
  16. ^ CBR, ed. (1988-04-05). "Digital Research, profitable for fiscal 1987, comes out of the closet". Computer Business Review.
  17. ^ Digital Research (1990-06-04). "Sold on FlexOS". Computerworld (Advertisement). XXIV (23). Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  18. ^
    ISBN 0-201-63287-X. (xviii+856+vi pages, 3.5-inch floppy) Errata: [1][2]
  19. ISSN 0199-6649. Archived
    from the original on 2020-02-09. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  20. Comes v. Microsoft. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
  21. ^ "Novell Announces RTOS Vendor Program Which Brings Integrated Networking Solutions to the Embedded Systems Marketplace" (Press Release). Novell. 1995-05-23. Because Novell used Integrated Systems' FlexOS during the development and testing of NEST, we are in the unique position of supporting it through both our real-time product lines pSOSystem for deeply embedded markets, and FlexOS for point of sale," said Moses Joseph, vice president of marketing for Integrated Systems. "Developers using the FlexOS development kit and the expanded pSOSystem/NEST package for everything from home security and entertainment to office automation and global communications applications, now have quick and easy access to the widest variety of standard networking protocols.
  22. ^
    Integrated Systems, Inc. (ISI). 1998. Archived from the original
    on 1998-02-19.
  23. ^ FlexOS User's Guide Version 1.3 (PDF). 1.3 (1 ed.). Digital Research. November 1986. 1073-2003-001. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-03-30. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
  24. ^
    Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. June 2006. MCF5251PB. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 2018-09-15. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  25. ^ Gallant, John (1984-01-23). "Digital Research, Monterey ink Unix-centered pact". Computerworld. XVIII (3): 6. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  26. ^ Knox, James M. (1986-06-22). "Re: DRI Concurrent DOS for 68K". Newsgroup: mod.computers.68k. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  27. ^ a b Heller, Robert; Taetsch, Tom (1987-01-29) [1987-01-26, 1987-01-27]. "Concurrent DOS 68K: The word from DRI". Newsgroup: mod.computers.68k. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2010-01-03. […] it is possible to purchase an implementation of CDOS-68K for the Motorola VME-10. The media it comes on is Motorola VME-10 5.25" floppies. […] CDOS-68K is the 68K version of CDOS-286 (which has now been updated and renamed to FlexOS 286). This CDOS-286/68K operating system was designed specifically to provide easy addition and deletion of I/O drivers and sub-drivers. Drivers can either be linked in to the O/S or kept external and dynamically loaded at boot time. […] CDOS-68K is at revision level 1.2, while CDOS-286 was upgraded to rev level 1.3 (at which point it became FlexOS 286). The significance of this to you is that no enhancements or maintenance of the 68K version is planned in the near future (unless a "major" OEM contract should happen). So the 68K O/S is pretty much being sold only on an "as is" basis. […]
  28. MP/M-86 and CP/M-86 for the 8086 processor. Intel
    is supplying Digital Research with the hardware to develop and test MP/M-286. […]
  29. TopView
    is a program for IBM PC's and AT's that beefs up the operating system to provide windowing facilities for existing 'well behaved' standard packages. […]
  30. BYTE Magazine. 10 (5): 375-377. May 1985. Archived from the original on 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2017-01-23. [3]
  31. ^ High C Programmer's Guide - Version 1.2 for Concurrent DOS (PDF) (1 ed.). Santa Cruz, CA, USA: MetaWare Incorporated. 1986 [1985-09-15]. Retrieved 2018-08-14. This is a guide to the operation of the High C compiler as implemented for the Concurrent DOS 286 1.2 or later operating system - hereafter abbreviated to just "Concurrent" per Digital Research custom - running on the Intel 80286 microprocessor and using the Intel Object-Module Format (OMF). The compiler generates code for any of the Intel 8086/88/186/188/286 family of microprocessors.
  32. ^ Calvo, Melissa; Forbes, Jim (1986-02-10). "IBM to use a DRI operating system". InfoWorld . Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  33. ^ a b c "How to choose the best OS for your point-of-sale" (PDF). Novell. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-01-17. Retrieved 2012-01-10 – via 360Commerce. (NB. This PDF has a short history of POS operating systems, also mentioning IBM 4680 and IBM 4690.)
  34. ^ a b c d IBM, ed. (June 1993). "IBM 4690 OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION 1 - Announcement Letter Number 293-281 dated 1 June 1993 - Brief description of announcement, charges, and availability". Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  35. ^ IBM (ed.). "IBM 4690 Operating System". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-06.

Further reading

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