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GEOS Available for Download After 18 Years
gp writes "Back in 1986, Berkeley Softworks presented GEOS,
the Graphical Environment Operating System for the Commodore 64 (screenshots). GEOS
effectively turned the 8-bit Commodore 64 into something very similar to a
Macintosh, but for an 8th of the price. In 2004, pushed hard by
rivaling C64 open source alternatives such as the Contiki operating system and
desktop environment and the LUnix *nix clone, the owners of
GEOS have finally decided to release GEOS to the public. Hordes of
Commodore 64 users are expected to download the system." Sadly, there's no mention of GEOS for the Apple 2 series of computers, which also enjoyed this fine precursor of GUIs to come.
I had a Commodore 64 as a kid. I remember when GEOS came out, I was so impressed. The Mac Plus gave me computer envy, but here was a windowing system I could put on my $200 computer! It was small and fast, and it came with a basic set of tools. It was also fairly easy to learn the programming interface.
Later, in the mid 90s, I met a guy who had it installed on an Intel box. I had no idea at the time that they made a 386 version. It did everything he needed, mostly writing. This was a guy who administered SCO Unix boxes for an ISP, and he used GEOS at home.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Believe it or not, the GEOS codebase is still alive and kicking. I haven't gotten around to trying it personally, but it's supposedly updated for modern hardware and is capable of browsing the web. Breadbox, the company that apparently owns the code now is marketing it as a low-cost alternative to Windows for schools that could be run on older hardware. Interesting in the least.
This looks like it could have actually gone pretty far had it had a chance. As a cheap alternative to an apple it looks like it had some good functionality. Does anyone know what the reliability of this OS was like. It says that it provided some decent support for 286/386. Its a shame that this wasnt given the support that it deserved. WHo knows what it could have been capable of. I suppose most people rejhected it as the C64 was mainly for gaming, at least when i was a kid it was. If i had known it was around, and i had more interest in OS', this probably would have ended up in my living room. Its been a while, but its still good to see what some of the pioneers were capable of.
Berkley Softworks developed C64-Geos, which was also ported to the Apple and such, and then all through the 80s worked on their next accomplishment: Geos for the PC.
When released, it was the first commercial object oriented OS for the PC (NeXTStep was earlier, but Geos beat it to the PC).
And honestly, it kicked BUTT, because not only was it fast and elegant, it had a KILLER application suite and awesome dot matrix printer driver. Near laser quality from a mere 24-pin and my old '286... And it ran as a DOS application, too, with special drivers to make it cooperate with DR-DOS' task switcher.
I miss it now.
-Billy
Can someone post instructions on how to get this set up with an emulator like CCS64? We don't want to have to wade through that ten page explanation on how to use a real C64, copying around floppies, etc. to check this out.
I'm loathe to admit this now, but I was one of the very first subscribers (I think the first -- not sure about the whole Quantum service and prehistory) to AOL in my town. This was before the Windows version, and the DOS version was actually a GeoWorks app. Or rather, it came with a GeoWorks runtime, which wasn't good for anyone else. I remember thinking it was really cool.
I was also on the beta team for AOL for Windows 1.0.
Damn I'm lame.
GEOS worked well if you had the hardware.
My setup was a Commodore 64C, two 1541 disk drives (one 1541, and one 1541-II), and a 1764 RAM Expansion Unit (256K). I used a program called Maverick (which included a utility called geoBoot I think) that would allow me to make custom boot disks for GEOS - once the GEOS kernel initialized, Maverick would interrupt it, and dump it out to floppy, thus making a 30KB or so program to run.
Those were the days... I learned some of the GUI programming concepts that I use today in writing a Desk Accessory (a word counting program for geoWrite). I loved the environment of geoProgrammer, although using geoWrite for a source code editor was a bit painful (but, with the REU, it wasn't so bad).
Hmmm, I wonder if this would work under VICE? The GEOS fast-disk routines were very timing specific, so it might not. Maybe I'll give it a try.
-- Joe
You're correct on the ",8" part.
As for the ",1", well, it went like this. The first two bytes of every standard file that was designed to be loaded using kernel routines (whether it be from the BASIC LOAD command, or through the actual kernel routines) were the load address. Most basic programs were loaded into memory at $0801, so those two bytes (actually $01, $08) were at the beginning. If it was assembly code that loaded into memory at $C000, then the first two bytes were $00, $C0.
Anyway, to make a long story short, that ",1" told the load routines to load the file into the memory space pointed to by those first two bytes. Otherwise, they would be ignored, and the program would be loaded into memory at the start of BASIC memory (by default, $0801, but I think memory locations 43 and 44 changed that).
-- Joe
You do what most people who play C64 these days do, you emulate it. Even a pathetically old PC should ahve no trouble at all emulating a C64, and there is no lack of C64 emulators out there (www.zophar.net if you are interested).
Then again, maybe you do use C64 hardware, I've heard stranger thigns. I still remember playing a MUD in 1997, Realms of Despair. One of the guys I regularly hung out with had many characters, but only ever had one at a time on. Odd, that, as teh MUD let you log plenty in and even with a crap modem like I had you could handle lots. I mean it was just text after all. Turned out he used a C128 to connect to the net via a dialin that gave him a UNIX prompt. I was honestly stunned.
You know I still have a c64. Good got that out of the way.
I noticed that there are still Demo groups out there, specialy in Europe. I must say I'm still impressed as to what these programmers can do on a little 8-bit CPU. It think it's true are and skill to pack so much "entertainment" into a small amount of memory. Just because the CPU might be so many years old, but it can still do so much. Proof I think at the fact that technology may be increasing so fast that we don't use it to its fullest potential.
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
hell yeah, i *loved* geoworks ensemble. i had a 286-20, it ran great. the integration between all of its office applications and the fact that it actually did preemptive multitasking of them was great. printing in the background (very important considering how "fast" dot matrix and hp deskjet printers of the day weren't), etc. excellent piece of work but in the wrong place at the wrong time to be able to catch on.
it even ran in the cool 800x600x16 vga mode if your monitor supported it.
another odd footnote: AOL's first client for the PC was written as a geoworks ensemble 1.0 application. this was in '93-94 before aol was allowed to corrupt usenet.
As long as we're re-releasing old software, is it too much to ask for a copy of DesqView 386 ?
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
Most people won't remember, but AOL was originally released on GEOS. I was one of the beta testers.
There was an individual who, during the mid-to-late nineties, wrote a package to run software from the original C64 GEOS on IBM PCs. He never released it as CMD didn't want him to (they probably couldn't have stopped him, but he chose not to release it anyway). With this free download release, that package may now reappear and become a bizarre yet effective way to put a tried-and-tested, low-cost office environment onto a low-powered handheld PC. (Highly suitable for low-resolution/low-colour screens!) As the file formats are completely stable (there will be no ongoing development), handheld/PC synchronisation would be pretty future-proof, and if native GEOWrite file format support was to be added to StarOffice, we'd have a neatly integrated setup.... HAL.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'