Commercial Operating System (COS)
COS-3xx (Commercial Operating System) was the name used by Digital Equipment Corporation for a family of operating systems. [1]
Developer | Digital Equipment Corporation |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Platforms | PDP-8, PDP-11 |
License | Proprietary |
They supported the use of DIBOL, a programming language combining features of BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL.[2] COS also supported RPG (Report Program Generator)[3]
Implementations
The Commercial Operating System was implemented to run on hardware from the PDP-8[4]:pp.2–19 thru 2–20 & PDP-11 family.
COS-310
COS-310 was developed for the PDP-8 to provide an operating environment for DIBOL. A COS-310 system was purchased as a package which included a desk, VT-52 VDT (Video Display Tube), and a pair of eight inch floppy drives. Optionally you could purchase one or more 2.5 MB hard drives that had removable media. COS-310 was one of the operating systems available on the DECmate II.[5][6]
Unlike under TSS-8, where each user had only a 4K virtual machine, on COS, each user had (up to) a virtual 32K.[7]
COS-350
COS-350 was developed to support the PDP-11 Port of DIBOL, and was the focus for some vendors of turnkey software packages.[8]
Pre-COS-350, a PDP 11/05 single-user batch-oriented implementation was released; the multi-user PDP 11/10-based COS came about 4 years later.[3] The much more powerful PDP-11/34 "added significant configuration flexibility and expansion capability.":p.69
References
- Binh Nguyen. Linux Dictionary. p. 424., citing "QUECID".
- "Dibol Under COS: The series operates under the Commercial Operating System (COS) 350, which provides timesharing with a high-speed response." "DIBOL under COS". Computerworld. July 30, 1975.
- DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION - Nineteen Fifty-Seven To The Present (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1975.
- in PDP 8/e Small Computer Handbook. Digital Equipment Corporation. 1973.
- the other was WPS-8.
- There was a product named COS-300, and some DEC manuals are named with both 300 & 310.
- "Multiple users of a Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-8 can each have a virtual machine with 32K words of memory running under.. COS-300.. "COS-300". Computerworld. August 15, 1977.
- "Datasystem 350 Turnkey Payroll Package". Computerworld. July 30, 1975.