Where would you fit the Tandy Model 100 in here? Ultimately it
supported a disk drive, ran basic and also sported an expansion box
that included video support and a floppy.
On Fri, 3 May 2024, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
Ultimately, so did the TRS-80. At least Model I, III and 4.
and ethernet, too. Come to think of it, so does the Color
Computer. Not sure where we are going with this. :-)
The "Coco" ("Color Computer") was similar to Microsoft Standalone BASIC,
particularly in its disk format.
The TRS80 models 1, 3, and 4 had file commands in their BASICs.
They ran under TRS-DOS.
The Saga Of TRSDOS: (long (TLDR?))
TRSDOS was created by Randy Cook as a work for hire.
Although it was marketed as TRSDOS 2.0, Randy Cook never finished it, and
documentation was inadequately sparse.
When Radio Shack came out with their "expansion interface" and disk
drives, they gave out TRSDOS 2.0, which barely worked. Randy Cook
hurriedly came out with 2.1 , and then left Radio Shack. Radio
Shack worked on 2.2
Clifford Ide, under pseudonym "Sam Jones" created an enormous collection
of patches to TRSDOS, and called it APRDOS.
Apparat marketed it, and changed the name to NEWDOS
https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/apparat-newdos80
But, it was a patched version of TRSDOS.
Both Randy Cook and Radio Shack were not amused.
Apparat initially said that everybody who used it also had to buy TRSDOS.
That didn't hold up well.
So, they said that it was changed so much that there was no trace of
TRSDOS in it.
That didn't hold up well.
Randy Cook's lawyer (who was also a programmer, and marketed a serial
communications program) gathered witnesses, and typed BOOT.SYS/RV36 ,
running BOOT.SYS as if it were an executable, using one of the master
passwords. The screen cleared, and displayed a full screen copyright
message including "Copyright Randy Cook".
Apparat settled and agreed to rewrite from scratch to create a
non-infringing version (called "NEWDOS80"). That was actually very
advantageous, as it made it possible to create a substantially improved
product.
Meanwhile, Radio Shack was frantically patching TRSDOS 2.2, and came out
with TRSDOS 2.3
They changed the hidden copyright message from
"Copyright Randy Cook" to
"Copyright Tandy Corp"
In addition to NEWDOS80, there were several other independents, including
DOSPLUS. Most of which added support for double sided drives, and 80
tracks, and numerous other features not present in TRSDOS.
In fact, when Micropolis started selling disk drives to TRS80 users, they
included their own completely unrelated OS!
Meanwhile, Randy Cook, no longer affiliated with Radio Shack, started his
own company (ACS), and worked on further expansion of TRSDOS. He worked
on adding in incredible features unheard of in microcomputer operating
systems. He called it TRS80-DOS-3.0, but that wouldn't hold up for
trademark reasons, so he renamed it VTOS 3.0
http://www.trs-80.org/vtos/
Although it was marketed, Randy Cook never finished it, and documentation
was inadequately sparse (mostly just a list of features)
Scott Adams, (of Adventure Internationsl, NOT Scott Adams of "Dilbert")
cut a deal with Randy Cook to expand it and finish it. That was VTOS 4.0
Although it was marketed, Randy Cook never finished it, and documentation
was inadequately sparse (mostly just a list of features)
Lobo drives was in the lucrative market of marketing disk drives. They
could buy drive, including the Shugart SA400 used by Radio Shack and
re-sell tham at a substantial profit, and still be WAY cheaper than Radio
Shack's prices for the same drive mechanism (~$250 Vs $500, although Radio
Shacks case and power supply had a card extender that made them more
convenient to install).
Lobo decided to develop and market an expansion interface compatible with
TRS80 model 1, with double density, and 8 inch drive support!
But, there was a glitch.
Model 1 TRSDOS, using a Western Digital 1771 chip used some strange
address marks, including different ones for directory sectors than for
data sectors. It is rumored that that was unintentional, and due to
misreading, or misprinting of the 1771 data sheets.
Lobo's expansion interface used a WD 1791 FDC, which could do MFM (double
density). BUT, it COULD NOT write some of the address marks used by
model-1 TRSDOS!
Lobo set up another company, ("LSI" "Logical Systems, Inc"), to create a
new operating system for it. They purchased rights to VTOS 4.0, and hired
all of the best TRS80 assembly language programmers that they could find,
such as Roy Soltoff, Bill Schroeder, and Tim Mann. Without Randy Cook.
Their all-star team actually FINISHED it! And wrote a large binder of
documentation. LSI called their new operating system LDOS 5.0
https://vtda.org/docs/computing/LSI/LSI_LDOS_51_Model_I_III.pdf
Meanwhile, Radio Shack was coming out with their model 3, which had double
density. Their "TRSDOS [for model3] Version 1.3" had the same problem
with address marks!
Radio Shack bought a license for LDOS 5.1, and released it as TRSDOS 6.0
Although Randy Cook grumbled, for the first time, he was getting ROYALTIES
for TRSDOS, rather than just the paltry payment that he had originally
gotten for the work for hire of TRSDOS 2.0 .
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
