GEOS (8-bit operating system)

GEOS (8 Bit Operating System)

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GEOS (8-bit operating system)

GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System) was an 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....
from Berkeley Softworks (later GeoWorks). Originally designed for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer released by Commodore International in August, 1982, at a price of United States dollar595. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore MAX Machine, the C64 features 64 kilobytes of Random-access memory with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of tha...
and released in 1986, it provided a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface is a type of user interface which allows people to human-computer interaction such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment....
for this popular 8-bit
8-bit

Eight-bit CPUs normally use an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit address bus which means that their address space is limited to 64 KBs. This is not a "natural law", however, so there are exceptions....
computer.

GEOS closely resembled early versions of Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
and included a graphical word processor
Word processor

A word processor is a computer Application software used for the production of any sort of printable material.Word processor may also refer to an obsolete type of stand-alone office machine, popular in the 1970s and 80s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated computer for th...
(geoWrite) and paint program (geoPaint). For many years, Commodore
Commodore International

Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a United States electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home computer/personal computer field in the 1980s....
bundled GEOS with its redesigned and cost reduced C64, the C64C.

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Encyclopedia

GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System) was an 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....
from Berkeley Softworks (later GeoWorks). Originally designed for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer released by Commodore International in August, 1982, at a price of United States dollar595. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore MAX Machine, the C64 features 64 kilobytes of Random-access memory with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of tha...
and released in 1986, it provided a graphical user interface
Graphical user interface

A graphical user interface is a type of user interface which allows people to human-computer interaction such as computers; hand-held devices such as MP3 Players, Portable Media Players or Gaming devices; household appliances and office equipment....
for this popular 8-bit
8-bit

Eight-bit CPUs normally use an 8-bit data bus and a 16-bit address bus which means that their address space is limited to 64 KBs. This is not a "natural law", however, so there are exceptions....
computer.

GEOS closely resembled early versions of Mac OS
Mac OS

Mac OS is the trademarked name for a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems....
and included a graphical word processor
Word processor

A word processor is a computer Application software used for the production of any sort of printable material.Word processor may also refer to an obsolete type of stand-alone office machine, popular in the 1970s and 80s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated computer for th...
(geoWrite) and paint program (geoPaint). For many years, Commodore
Commodore International

Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a United States electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home computer/personal computer field in the 1980s....
bundled GEOS with its redesigned and cost reduced C64, the C64C. At its peak, GEOS was the third most popular operating system in the world in terms of units shipped, trailing only 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....
and Mac OS.

Other GEOS-compatible software packages were available from Berkeley or from third parties, including a reasonably sophisticated desktop publishing
Desktop publishing

Desktop publishing combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either Publishing or small scale local Multifunction printer output and distribution....
application called geoPublish and a spreadsheet called geoCalc. While geoPublish was not as sophisticated as Aldus Pagemaker
Adobe PageMaker

PageMaker was the first desktop publishing program, introduced in 1985 by Aldus, initially for the then-new Apple Macintosh but soon after also for IBM PC compatible running the then-new Microsoft Windows....
and geoCalc not as sophisticated as Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet-application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language called VBA ....
, the packages provided reasonable functionality, and Berkeley founder Brian Dougherty claimed the company ran its business using its own software on Commodore 8-bit computers for several years.

Enhanced versions of GEOS later became available for the Commodore 128
Commodore 128

The Commodore 128 home computer/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore International . Introduced in January of 1985 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas metropolitan area, it appeared three years after its predecessor, the bestselling Commodore 64....
and the Apple II family. A lesser-known version was also briefly released for the Commodore Plus/4
Commodore Plus/4

The Commodore Plus/4 was a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The "Plus/4" name refers to the four-application read-only memory resident office suite ; it was billed as "the productivity computer with software built-in"....
.

Written by a group of programmers who cut their teeth on limited-resource video game machines
Video game console

A video game console is an game development that produces a video signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game. The term "video game console" is used to distinguish a machine designed for consumers to buy and use solely for playing video games from a personal computer, which has many other functions, or arcade machi...
such as the Atari 2600
Atari 2600

The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridge containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated console hardware with all games built in....
, GEOS was revered for what it could accomplish on machines with 64–128 kB
Kilobyte

Kilobyte is a unit of Computer data storage equal to either 1,024 bytes or 1,000 bytes , depending on context.It is abbreviated in a number of ways: KB, kB, K and Kbyte....
of RAM memory and 1–2 MHz of 8-bit processing power.

Unlike many pieces of proprietary software
Proprietary software

Proprietary software is a term coined by advocates of the free software movement to describe computer software which is the legal property of one party....
for the C64 and C128, GEOS took full advantage of many of the add-ons and improvements available for these systems. Commodore's 1351 mouse
Mouse (computing)

In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting dimension motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons....
was supported by GEOS, as were its various RAM expansion units
Commodore REU

Commodore International's RAM Expansion Unit range of external random-access memory add-ons for their Commodore 64/Commodore 128 home computers was announced at the same time as the C128....
. GEOS 128 also fully supported the C128's 640×200 high-resolution VDC
MOS Technology 8563

The 8563 Video Display Controller was an integrated circuit produced by MOS Technology. It was used in the Commodore 128 computer to generate an 80-column RGB video display....
display mode through a compatible RGB monitor.

The C64 version of GEOS incorporated a built-in fast loader
Fast loader

A fast loader is a software program for a home computer - most commonly, the Commodore 64 - that accelerates the speed of file loading from the floppy disk drive....
, called diskTurbo, that significantly increased the speed of drive access on the slow 1541
Commodore 1541

The Commodore 1541 , made by Commodore International, was the best-known floppy disk drive for the Commodore 64 home computer. The 1541 was a single-sided 170 kilobyte drive for 5?" disks....
. (GEOS 128 could take advantage of the C128's enhanced "burst mode" in conjunction with the 1571
Commodore 1571

The Commodore 1571 was Commodore International high-end 5?inch floppy disk drive. With its double-sided drive mechanism, it had the ability to utilize double-sided, double-density floppy disks natively....
and 1581
Commodore 1581

The Commodore 1581 is a 3? inch double sided double density floppy disk drive made by Commodore International primarily for its Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computer/personal computers....
drives.)

Via Berkeley's special geoCable interface converter or other third-party interfaces to connect standard RS-232
RS-232

In telecommunications, RS-232 is a standard for serial communications binary data signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports....
or Centronics
Centronics

Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the Centronics printer port that bears its name....
printers to the Commodore serial bus, GEOS supported a wide variety of printers, including HP
Hewlett-Packard

The Hewlett-Packard Company , commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States....
PCL printers and the Apple LaserWriter. This ability to print to high-end printers was a major factor in making GEOS a desktop publishing platform.

The Apple II version of GEOS was released as freeware
Freeware

Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee. Freeware is different from shareware; the latter obliges the user to pay ....
in August 2003. The Commodore 64/128 versions followed in February 2004.

Revivals were seen in the HP OmniGo handhelds, Brother GeoBook line of laptop-appliances, and the New Deal Office package for PCs. Related code found its way to earlier 'Zoomer
Zoomer

Zoomer may refer to:* Palm Computing and Casio's 1993 Zoomer Personal digital assistant* A common misspelling of Zooomr, a Universal Photo_sharing Website launched in 2006...
' PDAs, creating an unclear lineage to Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a personal digital assistant and smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, California that is responsible for popular products such as the Zire Handheld, Tungsten Handheld personal digital assistant, Treo smartphones and the LifeDrive....
's later work. Nokia
Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finland Multinational corporation communications corporation, headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki....
used GEOS as a base operating system for their Nokia Communicator
Nokia Communicator

The Nokia Communicator is a brand name for a series of Nokia smartphones, all of which appear as normal phones on the outside, yet have a keyboard and a large LCD screen inside as well as Internet connectivity and clients for Internet and non-Internet communication services....
series, before switching to EPOC (Symbian).

GEOS products and applications

Dozens of official and third-party applications and other products were produced for GEOS. Among the most important and popular were the following:

geoBASIC
geoCable
geoCalc
geoChart
geoDex
geoDraw
geoFAX
geoFile
geoFont
geoLabel
geoPaint
geoPrint
geoProgrammer
geoPublish
GeoPublish

geoPublish was a desktop publishing program designed by Berkeley Softworks for the GEOS environment on the Commodore 64. Though not as sophisticated as contemporary counterparts such as PageMaker, geoPublish was capable of outputting PostScript page descriptions to laser printers and was used for creating newsletters and other basic page lay...
geoSpell
geoWrite
geoWrite Workshop

External links

– By Bo Zimmermann
– At the website - Courtesy of Click Here Software Co.
A lengthy review of GEOS and its history
– Run GEOS for Commodore 64 on your Nintendo DS