[GEM Development] PDOS (Public Domain Operating System)

[Thomas Clayton]

Hi! Gem-DevS:

I have my old problem: I sent a letter *to* the list-serv and didn't 
receive it back. *Now*, in this case it could have been 'cause I put the 
list as CC not primary eAddress.

Next, with regard to Liam's reply, besides GEM, there was a GEOS OpEnv 
that ran over DOS. They're (as far as I know) building - attempting to 
build - a 32bit version of it. I figure they need something like PD-OS. 
I never followed them into their post Yahoo! Groups URL community. Maybe 
I'll look 'em up in future.

Re-rebuilding my PCs. HDDs and CODDs needed replacing this past weekend. 
Less than six months since first rebuild. *Then* user permission(s) to 
finish for my various selves to allow access importing them into 'the 
new system'.
One very good thing: finding *old* reservoirs of *old* software. :-D 
(They're still there!)

Oh. I still haven't found a copy of DR-GEM Scan, anywhere. Past time 
time to request it thru Vetusware. (Just saw that post about artline and 
deltasoft; and "CCP Desktop 2".) IF you look at teh bit-savers pdf for 
DRi 1987(?), you'll at least see I'm not imagining this app. I had 
actually seen a copy at a Zenith computers dealer in chicago-land (1991?).

I hope this goes thru and out the list-serv. Let's see ..

Tom Clayton
TopCatDRC


On 03/13/2024 02:50 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Mar 2024 at 19:41, Thomas Clayton <TopCatDRC at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> Dear All:
>>
>> Since ?Summer of last year? (could have been just after Vintage Computer
>> Fest - MidWest (VCF-MW) in 2022 which would make the date late Sept of
>> that year) which I tried speak about /at/ VCF-MW 2023, I've known that
>> someone has ? succeeded ?? in making a 32-bit DOS for x86 / x85
>> micro-Processors (mPros). x >or= to 3
>>
>> PDOS (Public Domain Operating System)
>> http://www.pdos.org/
>> https://pdos.sourceforge.net/
>>
>> For years (ago) talk was of taking a 32-bit DOS extender and converting
>> it into an OpSys. Apparently, 2-4 years ago, this developer without
>> pre-announcing their intention to do so, succeeded and did so.
>>
>> Well, you can judge for yourselves.
>>
>>
>> One comment worth passing along [ to Liam, with The Register ;-) ]:
>>
>> it is NOT under the GPL! That's TOO restrictive in the developer's mind.
> 
> Yes, I am aware of it.
> 
> I tried to talk to the developer a few years back on a mailing list
> for the Hercules mainframe emulator. He is a very strange man, with
> extremely strong opinions about lots of technical things, utter
> unwillingness to even consider that he might be wrong about any of
> them under any circumstances. Even when he doesn't know history or
> developments outside of his area.
> 
> I found him impossible to communicate with and in the end I quit that list.
> 
> But he is certainly smart, and I am happy that he has completed his
> project and it works. Good for him.
> 
> In some ways I don't recall it's derived from some IBM S/360 -- S/370
> mainframe tech, I think.
> 
> PD software has no motivation for anyone else to contribute. (He
> totally fails to understand FOSS and I think may hold extremist
> political views. If I remember correctly, he thinks FOSS is all
> Commies all the way down and therefore Evil.)
> 
> I don't think it will go anywhere, but his work is remarkable.
>