On Fri, 11 May 2001, Pablo Manalastas wrote:
> On Fri, 11 May 2001, M. Yu wrote:
>
> > RedHat is a distribution of an OS called Linux just like MSDOS, DRDOS or
> > QDOS (or was it QuickDOS?) were distributions of DOS.
>
> The analogy is not quite accurate.
>
> RedHat, Debian, Slackware, etc are Linux distributions: they all use the
> Linux kernel.
>
> On the other hand, DOS refers to MSDOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System),
> but DRDOS and QDOS are not DOS distributions. DRDOS and QDOS do not
> come with the DOS kernel (io.sys, msdos.sys), but are both independently
> written DOS-workalikes.
chiming in and adding a little bit of trivia on DOS... there was an era
when Big Blue had just introduced it's PC and MS held on to their right to
license DOS to other manufacturers (1980s). competing computer
manufacturers also license DOS from Microsoft and then branded this for
bundling with their own iron. now, this was at a time when the IBM PC
platform had not yet dominated the desktop scene. so we had a plethora of
Microsoft DOS machines, foremost from IBM (PC DOS), also Zenith DOS, HP
DOS, DEC DOS, etc. in that sense, MS had a variety of "distributions" with
their DOS being fixed to work on a variety of hardware platforms. note
that this was during the period -before- Compaq made the first IBM PC
clone.
of course, this isn't exactly the same thing since the DOS kernel -and-
the "distribution" still originated from Microsoft for all of these.
if i remember correctly, C/PM, by Gary Kildall of Digital Research was the
first real OS for "personal computers" or microcomputers. Microsoft's PC
DOS was originally written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products
and the original name was QDOS (yes, i know there are other QDOSes out
there, but the original QDOS was what MS snarfed).
i wonder how much of microcomputer history gets taught in Computer Science
courses. last i looked, there's still too much about mainframes, midrange,
minis and hardly enough material about micros.
___ eric pareja ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ~-=[O]=-~ Here, have a clue. Get the picture.
\@/ PGP key at http://gra.ph/~xenos/xenos.pgp <|PLUG|> http://gra.ph
v "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."
- Lady Galadriel in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings"
_
Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph
To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
