[Coco] origins of OS-9

[wdg3rd at comcast.net]

----- "Gene Heskett" <gene.heskett at verizon.net> wrote:

> I can't argue about that, and considering that we are all much the
> richer for 
> it, no other os's docs have ever approached the clear, concise detail
> they 
> gave us.  What an education it has been!

Unix Version 7, actually.  Great docs.  Admittedly, I'm biased, since Xenix (based on V7 with a few Berkeley tools) arrived at my RSCC long before OS-9.  But I was already a great fan of the Color Computer and did (as I've mentioned) set up the first multi-user Color Computer system in Southern California (as far as I know, it's a big place) in the downtown L.A. RSCC.  Coco 1, OS-9 Level One.  The OS-9 docs mentioned commands that implied it would work.  It did, though not well, with the hassles of a jerry-rigged null-modem cable between two bit-banger ports.  (Mostly dropped keystrokes from the "terminal" during floppy access because of interrupts being turned off).  But most of the OS-9 docs did seem to have been influenced by the Unix docs.
-- 
Ward Griffiths        wdg3rd at comcast.net

<home.comcast.net/~wdg3rd>