[from "http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/press/doshist.txt"] [captured Nov 16 2009 HRJ] [also see the original Matthias list at] [http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/press/2000-drdos-hist.txt] 25+ YEARS OF DOS HISTORY updated 2006-09-03 I created this "timeline" to show the history of the FreeDOS Project as it relates to other DOS projects out there. This is a compilation of information from many sources - if you have any additional history bits, please email them to me. -jh ---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x-- -1980- * QDOS 0.1 7/80 | MS-DOS 1.0<------------- 86-DOS 0.3 12/80 -1981- | | IBM Personal Computer |<------------------ 86-DOS 1.0 4/81 DOS 1.0 8/81<-------| : | -1982- : | 1.1 6/82 <-- 1.10 6/82 : 1.24 6/82 : 1.25 7/82 -1983- 2.0 3/83 <-------| : 2.01 5/83 SuperDOS 2.1 10/83<-------| | : 2.11 12/83 | -1984- : *2.12 | : | | 3.0 8/84 <-------| | 3.1 11/84<-- 3.05 11/84 | -1985- : | | Digital Research : | | DOS-Plus 1.0 : *2.25 10/85 | | : | | | -1986- 3.2 1/86 <-------| | | : *4.00 4/86 | DR Concurrent DOS -->|---------------->| : | | CCI Concur. DOS | | : | | DOS 386 2.01 CCI Conc. DOS 28 -1987- : | | | | 5.0 1/87 3.3 4/87 <-------| | | | | | 3.30 7/87 | | | | | 3.31 11/87 | 1.12 10/87 | | -1988- | | | | DR DOS | | *2.11R | XDOS | 3.31 5/88 6.0 5/88 4.0 8/88 ------->| | | 2.01 5/88 3.32 | 4.00 12/88 | | | 3.40 -1989- : | | | | 3.41 1/89 : 4.01 4/89 | | 3.01 3/89 3.42 : *3.21R 9/89 | | | | : | | | | * -1990- : | | | | | : *3.3R | | RxDOS 3.02 4/90 5.0 5/90 : | | | | | | : | | | | | | -1991- | | | | | | Novell Multiuser 5.0 5/91 5.00 7/91 | NSS-DOS | 3.03 3/91 DR DOS 5.11 | * | | | 3.04 7/91 | | | | | | | ?------------------>| -1992- | | | | | 3.05 2/92 6.0 3/92 IMS Multiuser DOS | * | DOS/NT | R2 6.01 4/92 | 5.01 8/92 | | | | R3+R4 | : | | | | | R5+R6 * : -1993- | | | | | R7+R8 | | * 6.00 3/93 | | | R9+R10 | 5.0 6.1 8/93 * (?) | | | 3.05 R11 8/93 | | 6.3 9/93? 6.20 9/93 | | | | 3.06 12/93 Novell DOS : -1994- | 6.21 PTS-DOS | | | R2+R3 7.0 1/94 : | 6.22 5/94 | | PD-DOS 7/94 | | R4+R5+R6 | : | * |--> Paragon | Free-DOS 10/94 | | 3.06 R7 7/94 : IMS : | | 6.51* 11/94 | A1 <---- DOS-C * | : |<------| -1995- | | | | | A2 | | : | 7.0 2/95 7.0 1/95 | 7.0 7/95 | | A3 1/95 | 3.07 3/95 : | | | *Windows 95 8/95 | | | | | | : REAL/32 9/95 | | | | | | | | R2 : | | -1996- | | | | | | | | : | | | | | | | A4 | R3 : | | | *Windows 95b 8/96 | | | * | (?) | * | 7.22 9/96 | | | | | | | | R4 OpenDOS | R2 -1997- | | | | | | | Datalight | 7.01 2/97 7.6 2/97 R3 | | | | | | | | R5 |-----+ | R4 | | | | | FreeDOS A5 10/97 | | | | | | R5 | | | | | *A5 11/97 | | R6 7.02 9/97 | 7.7 11/97 R6 -1998- | | | | | | | | | | | | | *2000 4/98 | | | | B1 7/98 | | 3.07 R7 6/98 | | | 7.22 R7 6/98 | *Windows 98 | | | | | | | | | : : | | | | B2 10/98 | | | | | : -1999- : | | | | | | | | | 7.81 2/99 : ? - - - - - ->| | 2000(?) | B3 5/99 | | 7.03 3/99 | | : : *Windows 98SE 2000 9/99 : | *<- - - - - 6.2 8/99 | | | | : : | | : | B4 12/99 | | | | | : -2000- : | | : | | | | | | | : : | | : | | : | | | | : : | | : | B5 8/00 | | | : *7.22 Gold : *Windows ME | : | | Datalight ROM-DOS 7.1 | : : -2001- | 2/01 * | | B6 3/01 | | | | | | +------------------+ B7 9/01 | | | -2002- | | | | B8 4/02 | | | | | | DR-DOS 7.01.01 7/02 | | | DR-DOS 7.01.02 7/02 | | | | -2003- | Datalight ROM-DOS 7.1 | DR-DOS 7.01.03 1/03 B9 rc1 7/03 with new i-tools 3/03 | DR-DOS 7.01.04 2/03 B9 rc2 9/03 | | DR-DOS 7.01.05 2/03 B9 rc3 9/03 | | | : | |<- - - - - - - DR-DOS 7.01.06 12/03 -2004- B9 rc4 2/04 | DR-DOS 8.0 3/04 | B9 rc5 4/04 | | | | | | | B9 10/04 | | | B9 sr1 11/04 | | | -2005- | Datalight ROM-DOS 7.1 | Enhanced DR-DOS 7.01.07 3/05 | rev 1/05 | Enhanced DR-32 9/05 | |<-- - - - Enhanced DR-DOS 7.01.08 9/05 B9 sr2 11/05 DR-DOS 8.1 10/05 | | DR-DOS 7.03 10/05 | -2006- | | | ? | 1.0 9/06 -2007- ---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x---------x-- Notes: ______________________ * Datalight ROM-DOS: 7.1 is the kernel, newer releases has new tools. mostly for networks and internet. * Reportedly QDOS development was aided by original DRI tools used to port CP/M-80 to different OEM platforms, SCP has also been an DRI source code licensee of CP/M-80. I cannot prove this, but I have heard it from various sources over the years. -Matthias * MS-DOS 2.12 released in 1983 or 1984 was a special version for TI Pro. * MS-DOS 2.25 released Oct '85 provided extended multilanguage support. * MS-DOS 4.0 released Apr '86 was for Europe only, included basic multitasking, and was quickly withdrawn. * MS-DOS 2.11R released in 1988 was used as a ROM DOS for Tandy PC's. * MS-DOS 3.21R released Sep '89 was used as a ROM DOS for laptops. * I haven't been able to find a reference to DR-DOS 4.x, but the jump from DR-DOS 3.x to DR-DOS 5.0 was too quick to have a 4.0 release. * MS-DOS 3.3R released in 1990 was used as a ROM DOS for TI laptops. * Russian MS-DOS 5.0: 1991-08-09 * Arabic MS-DOS 5.0: 1992-05-06 * Near the end of '92, DR DOS was sold to Novell Inc. * Hebrew MS-DOS 5.0: 1993-06-03 * There was no PC DOS 6.0, the product name was IBM PC DOS 6.1 (1993-11-19) It reports itself as DOS 6.0 at API level, though. -Matthias * PTS-DOS 6.51 included S-DOS ("Source-DOS"?) which was the source for this version of DOS. * MS-DOS "6.22V" released 8/94 was for Japan only, and provided double byte Kanji support. * `Dissecting DOS' by Michael Podanoffsky published December 1994 (Addison-Wesley Pub Co; ISBN: 020162687X) featured a copy of RxDOS. * MS-DOS 7.0 released 8/95 is the DOS in the original Windows 95. * I have no idea when DR DOS code was licensed to IMS, but I assumed '91 because it was convenient. * MS-DOS 7.10 released 8/96 is the DOS in Windows 95b (OSR2). * `FreeDOS Kernel; An MS-DOS Emulator for Platform Independence and Embedded Systems Development' by Pat Villani published 1996 (CMP Books; ISBN: 0879304367) provided a copy of DOS-C 0.91b. This is also where the name "Free-DOS" was changed to "FreeDOS". * Near the end of '96, Novell DOS (DR DOS) was sold to Caldera. * RxDOS development looked like it came to a halt by Aug '99, and the code was posted on the FreeDOS web site. However, it is now up again at http://rxdos.sourceforge.net/ * The FreeDOS A5 released Nov '97 was the first modern FreeDOS distribution, and was a re-release of the FreeDOS Alpha5. * IBM PC-DOS 2000 released Apr '98 is actually DOS 7 Revision 1. * I had thought MS-DOS 8.00 was the DOS in Windows 98 and "SE", but lost@tmdcrew.zzn.com tells me it was still 7.10, like Windows 95b. Matthias confirms this also. * Multiuser DOS GOLD Version 7.22 http://www.conctrls.com/ * In spring 1999 there have been rumours that Microsoft bought PC DOS 2000 from IBM, I don't know if this is true only for binary licenses, source code patches, or the full source code, and if the license would be exclusive or not. -Matthias * MS-DOS 8.00 is the DOS in Windows ME according to Millennium build 2348 (Developer's Release) using INT21 AX30 (lost@tmdcrew.zzn.com). Other releases of Windows ME: build 2332 - "Developer's Release 0" build 2348 - "Developer's Release 1" build 2380 - "Beta 1" build 2420 - "Beta 2" build 2499 - "Beta 3" * Enhanced DR-DOS and DR-DOS 7.01.01+ has been developed by Udo Kuhnt Missing ______________________ 1. PTS-DOS history previous to 6.51 (http://www.phystechsoft.com/) 2. releases of Bluebird SuperDOS (http://www.bluebird.com/SuperDOS.htm) 3. CCI/Novell Multiuser DOS (V5.11 A-B 05/26/93) (V5.11 6 08/01/98) was licensed from same code as IMS Multiuser DOS 5. To be added. References: ______________________ - DR-DOS history by Matthias Paul - Enhanced DR-DOS history by Florian Xaver - I am indebted to Matthias Paul for many other areas on this history. - DR-DOS history on drdos.org - MS-DOS and PC-DOS history by Lasse Jensen - ash provided me with several release dates from boxed sets of MS-DOS, PC-DOS and Novell DOS 7. Thanks! - Steven E. Ehrbar provided me with release dates for Concurrent and Multiuser DOS, by Concurrent Controls Inc. (http://www.conctrls.com/frames/support/general/y2k.htm). Steven also helped me with releases for IMS REAL/32 (http://www.lii.com/) - Florian X was able to provide a bit of origin history of Paragon (http://www.paragon-gmbh.com/n_dos.htm), updated history of Datalight and DR-DOS/Enhanced DR-DOS!