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Harrison 14:51 24th April 2008
We know that alternative OSs exist for many older platforms, as the enthusiasts try to continue to get more from their aging hardware.
The c64 GUI OSs are well known and very impressive for an 8-bit platform, and many different kernels and OSs have been released for the Atari ST to try and get away from the limitations of it's horrible default GEM desktop.
But what about other systems? 8-bit systems shipped with a commandline only OS as their main interface, but these days some mad people are writing some amazing things for them still.
Have a look as SymbOS. This is a fully multitasking preemtive OS for the Z80 based 8-bit computers in the Amstrad and MSX ranges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SymbOS
What alternative retro OSs do you all know about, and have you tried any of them?
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Buleste 10:09 25th April 2008
How about Windows for the Spectrum. Go
here If you don't believe me.
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Graham Humphrey 10:21 25th April 2008
AlexJ 10:43 25th April 2008
'Tis only a demo not a real program. It's done rather well though.
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Buleste 11:14 25th April 2008
It's a nice thought though.
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Harrison 16:02 25th April 2008
Zetr0 21:05 28th April 2008
Harrison 23:27 28th April 2008
I saw that one. It doesn't actually explain how or if the Speccy is actually running at 14MHz.
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Ghost 00:30 29th April 2008
It is interesting to see that there are still people working on these kinds of projects, making programs for old computers, but I wonder, does it still have much of a purpose other than to show that it is technically feasible?
Can you for example also run software from years ago like for example a game though this OS system?
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Harrison 01:19 29th April 2008
AFAIK you would have to write software directly for these OSs. Existing software would need to be launched as it was originally on each system.
These OSs are really created by people just doing it to prove that it is possible, and also to get as much as they can from a system. Quite mad writing something like a GUI based preemtive multitasking OS for a C64 you have to agree, but everyone has to have a hobby, right?
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