Lineo Frees CP/M

rbeattie writes: "The Register is reporting that the code for 'the first generic operating system for microcomputers' is now open source. It's interesting to see the final chapter for the code that could have been what was MS-DOS. The article includes the requisite background of CP/M from Gary Kildall's snubbing of IBM to its transformation into DR-DOS, later being sold to Novell then to Caldera who spun it off with Lineo who finally opened up the source in October." The original story is actually at NewsForge. Update: 11/27 22:13 GMT by T : Note, thanks to reader Greg Head, that DR-DOS source appears available only for money; the original headline implied that DR-DOS source was also now available at no charge.

Comments

CP/M stands for...

[rde]

I realise no-one cares, but I'm going to say it anyway.
CP/M stands for Control Program/Monitor. If it was Control Program for Microcomputers, it wouldn't have a slash.

Wow, it's been at least five years since I got to bore someone with that argument.

Wrong, and here's why.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gary named it CP/M in the same manner he named PL/M; Programming Language for Microprocessors. The slash was a take-off on Intel's PL/1.

Re:Day late and a dollar short

[duffbeer703]

There is plenty of practical value.

Alot of embedded systems, particularly POS systems and some industrial controllers use DOS.

Re:Day late and a dollar short

[nels_tomlinson]

You might want to look into FreeDos, which is an MSDOS compatible, GPL'ed dos which works fairly well. It's beta, but it's there NOW.

Re:Where acutally IS the the source??

[cr@ckwhore]

The CPM source can be downloaded from http://www.cpm.z80.de

CLARIFICATON, DR-DOS is not OPEN, however the source is for sale if you'd like to purchase it.