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CP/M-86
 
 
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CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M
CP/M

CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/Intel 8085 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research. Initially confined to single tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations, and were migrated to 16-bit processors....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 that Digital Research
Digital Research

Digital Research, Inc. was the company created by Dr. Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer world....
 made for the Intel 8086
Intel 8086

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM PC....
 and Intel 8088
Intel 8088

The Intel 8088 is an Intel x86 microprocessor based on the Intel 8086, with 16-bit registers and an 8-bit external data bus. It can address up to 1 megabyte of random access memory....
. The commands are those of CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format
CMD file (CP/M)

In CP/M-86, CMD is the filename extension used by executable programs. It corresponds to COM file in CP/M and EXE in MS-DOS....
. It was later reworked to become MS-DOS
MS-DOS

MS-DOS is an operating system commercialized by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s....
 compatible and renamed to DR-DOS
DR-DOS

DR-DOS is a DOS-type operating system for IBM PC-PC compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from CP/M-86....
.

IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 contacted other companies to obtain components for the IBM PC
IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
, the as-yet unreleased CP/M-86 was its first choice for an operating system because CP/M had the most applications at the time.






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CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M
CP/M

CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/Intel 8085 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research. Initially confined to single tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations, and were migrated to 16-bit processors....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 that Digital Research
Digital Research

Digital Research, Inc. was the company created by Dr. Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer world....
 made for the Intel 8086
Intel 8086

The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel and introduced on the market in 1978, which gave rise to the x86 architecture. Intel 8088, released in 1979, was essentially the same chip, but with an external 8-bit bus , and is notable as the processor used in the original IBM PC....
 and Intel 8088
Intel 8088

The Intel 8088 is an Intel x86 microprocessor based on the Intel 8086, with 16-bit registers and an 8-bit external data bus. It can address up to 1 megabyte of random access memory....
. The commands are those of CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format
CMD file (CP/M)

In CP/M-86, CMD is the filename extension used by executable programs. It corresponds to COM file in CP/M and EXE in MS-DOS....
. It was later reworked to become MS-DOS
MS-DOS

MS-DOS is an operating system commercialized by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s....
 compatible and renamed to DR-DOS
DR-DOS

DR-DOS is a DOS-type operating system for IBM PC-PC compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from CP/M-86....
.

CP/M-86 and the IBM PC

When IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 contacted other companies to obtain components for the IBM PC
IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
, the as-yet unreleased CP/M-86 was its first choice for an operating system because CP/M had the most applications at the time. Negotiations between Digital Research and IBM quickly deteriorated over IBM's non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement

A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement, confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a law contract between at least two party that outlines confidential materials or knowledge the parties wish to share with one another for certain pur...
 and its insistence on a one-time fee rather than DRI's usual royalty
Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property right.Royalties can be determined as a percentage of gross or net sales derived from use of the asset or a fixed price per unit sold....
 licensing plan. After discussions with Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
, IBM decided to use 86-DOS (QDOS), a CP/M-like operating system that a Seattle area computer company had made for its own hardware. Microsoft adapted 86-DOS for the PC hardware and IBM shipped it as PC-DOS
PC-DOS

IBM PC DOS was a DOS operating system for the IBM Personal Computer, sold throughout the 1980s and 2000s....
.

After learning about the deal, Digital Research founder Gary Kildall
Gary Kildall

Gary Arlen Kildall was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur who created the CP/M operating system and founded Digital Research ....
 threatened to sue IBM for infringing DRI's intellectual property
Intellectual property

Intellectual property are law property over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phra...
, and IBM agreed to offer CP/M-86 on the PC to settle the claim. CP/M-86 was released a few months after the PC and was one of three operating systems a customer could buy from IBM. At $240 per copy it sold poorly compared to the $40 PC-DOS. Kildall would later accuse IBM of setting the prices to marginalize him, but the accounts of Microsoft, IBM, and other DRI executives indicate that Kildall had demanded a substantial royalty for CP/M-86 while Microsoft had accepted a fixed sum. Customers rapidly adopted the PC platform with PC-DOS as the new industry standard, and opportunities for DRI to license CP/M-86 to other customers dwindled.

Versions

A given version of CP/M-86 will have two version numbers. One applies to the whole system and is usually displayed at startup; the other applies to the BDOS kernel. Versions known to exist include:

  • CP/M-86 for the IBM Personal Computer
    IBM PC

    The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
     Version 1.0 (BDOS 2.2) - January 1982 - Initial release for the IBM PC.
  • CP/M-86 for the IBM Personal Computer Version 1.1 (BDOS 2.2) - March 1983 - Hard drive support was added.
  • Personal CP/M-86 Version 1.0 (BDOS 3.1) - November 1983 - Released for the Siemens
    Siemens AG

    Siemens Aktiengesellschaft is Europe's largest engineering Conglomerate . Siemens' international headquarters are located in Berlin and Munich, Germany....
     PG685. Based on the multitasking Concurrent CP/M
    Multiuser DOS

    Multiuser DOS is a soft Real-time operating system operating system for IBM PC-compatible microcomputers.An evolution of the older Concurrent CP/M and Concurrent DOS operating systems, it was originally developed by Digital Research....
     kernel, it could run up to four tasks at once.
  • Personal CP/M-86 Version 3.1 (BDOS 3.3) - January 1985 - A version for the Apricot
    Apricot Computers

    Apricot Computers is a United Kingdom manufacturer of business personal computers, originally founded in 1965 as "Applied Computer Techniques" , changing their name to Apricot Computers, Ltd....
     F-Series computers. This version gained the ability to use MS-DOS formatted disks.
  • Personal CP/M-86 Version 2.0 (BDOS 4.1) - 1986 or later - Released for the Siemens PC16-20. This is the same BDOS used in DOS Plus
    DOS Plus

    DOS Plus is an operating system written by Digital Research, first released in 1985. It can be seen as an intermediate step between CP/M-86 and DR-DOS....
    .
  • Personal CP/M-86 Version 2.11 (BDOS 4.1) - 1986 or later - Released for the Siemens PG685.


It is believed that the various Personal CP/M-86 versions were based on an unreleased product known as CP/M-86 Plus; all known Personal CP/M-86 versions contain this string.

See also

  • History of computing hardware (1960s-present)
    History of computing hardware (1960s-present)

    The history of computing hardware starting at 1960 is marked by the conversion from vacuum tube to Solid state devices such as the transistor and later the integrated circuit....


External links

  • , which has a licence from the copyright holder to distribute original Digital Research software.