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[ Sorry if you read this twice, but the first followup didn't make it.]
[ Markus ]


in article <3371@tekgvs.TEK.COM>, keithe@tekgvs.TEK.COM (Keith Ericson) says:
> 
> I've got Windows/386. It's OK; I need to do some serious RTFM to
> understand what I'm doing vs. what it wants me to do...
> 
> But I wonder why (Digital Research's?) Concurrent DOS doesn't get
> more of an audience. Has anyone "out there" tried it? I'm tempted to
> get a copy and evaluate it unless I get some real seriou hate mail
> about it. Let me know what your experience has been...
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> keith
> 
> Keith Ericson  at TekLabs (resident factious factotum)
> Tektronix, PO 500, MS 58-383   Beaverton OR 97077    (503)627-6042
> UUCP:	[uunet|ucbvax|decvax|ihnp4|hplabs]!tektronix!tekgvs!keithe
> ARPA:	keithe%tekgvs.TEK.COM@RELAY.CS.NET
> CSNet:	keithe@tekgvs.TEK.COM

Keith, I do not know why CDOS doesn't get the audience it certainly 
deserves, BUT it is one of the best OS's ( THE BEST ??? ) for the
Intel 80x86 series available.

First of all it is an OS by itself, originating from Concurrent CP/M
in the early days, starting with release 4 DOS support has been added.
Version 5.x added expanded memory support transparent for application 
processes. Up to 8 MB of EEMS are supported. 6.0 ( released in dec-
ember 1987 ) eventually supports DOS 3.3 function calls. These version
numbers all refer to the CDOS version for an 8086/88/286 which is a 
real mode system ( somtimes called CDOS XM ). For the 80386 exists a 
special 386 protected mode system which runs virtual 8086 machines for
each application ( CDOS 386 ). Its current release is 2.0 .

Both CDOS versions are MULTIUSER, MULTITASKING OS's, i.e. you hook 
serial terminals to COM1:, COM2: or a multi I/O card ( 4 or 8 ports/card)
and have a MULTIUSER system. On the main console are 4 virtual screens,
and each terminal has one ( XM ) or two ( 386 ) screens. You switch 
between those screens by a one or two key combination. Each screen can
run one programm or up to 255 processes ( in the whole system ) if the 
processes detach ( give back ) the virtual console after they are started.
Additional system calls allow you to enable interprocess communication,
interrupt driven serial I/O, and everything else you expect from a multi-
user and multitasking system.

One more thing to emphasis on: I said earlier that DOS support has been
ADDED, i. e. CP/M system calls still EXIST, it is the native mode of CDOS.
You run CP/M applications as good as DOS applications and read/write
CP/M media the same way.

I've been using CDOS for 3 years now and could not imagine to get back 
to DOS. At the time I'm writing a multi-process realtime control system
for spectroscopy equipment as part of my Master's Thesis at UNC Charlotte.
I could not have done this with DOS or any of the other semi ( DESQview )
or full ( PC-MOS ) replacements. As opposed to some other PR campains,
CDOS CAN DO WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO. 

OK, lots more to say.... but it's getting late. If anybody has additional
questions, I'm glad to answer.

Markus Ruppel

P.S.: Please excuse my English ( sometimes ), I'm a German.

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