At 03:07 PM 5/23/2006 +0100, Kevanf1 wrote:

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IBM first used a DOS Now, feel free to correct me but didn't Microsoft either write that software or come in very soon after and started to write the software? So, really, the Microsoft way is actually the initial way of having an operating system. Linux, as a Unix way of doing things came about a few years later. /snip/

Microsoft _bought_ DOS from its developer. IBM then bought DOS from M/S, and collaborated on its development for the PC. The original PC had an operating system in ROM, which included the BASIC language, just like an ATARI. It also had a connection, and a driver, for an audio tape, to hold programs, again like an ATARI. The ATARI actually had better graphics capabilities than an original PC. DOS was really an alternate OS, that you could boot instead of the ROM code. Interestingly, the early mobo's from competitors had a socket into which you could plug (illicitly) copied ROMs and run like a "real" PC. Yes, been there, done that, as they say. But not UNIX, unfortunately. So this whole UNIX-like world is a new ballgame for me. --dm -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.7.0/346 - Release Date: 5/23/2006