[Coco] origins of OS-9

[jdaggett at gate.net]

James 

I would rather think it clears things up. 

Also if you take a hex editor and look at the copyright info within Basic09 and the RUNB 
module you will see Mototola and Microware names in the copyright. Along with the 1980 
year.

One other thing to consider. There is BASIC09 and then there is BASIC09 for the COCO. 
The two may or may not be identical. The Basic 09 for the COCO may have had tweaks in it 
for their wants and marketing. 

I would also think that with forks into the OS, the OS had to at least be developed in 
conjunction with or before BASIC09. Otherwise those forks would be useless in BASIC09. 

One last note the OS9 for the COCO is a modified OS9 for the COCO. OS9 can be taylored 
to any 6809 system. Just because the COCO version of OS9 was released in 1980 time 
frame does not mean it was the first or only Level 1 OS9 version. 

james

On 7 Mar 2010 at 21:19, James Hrubik wrote:

> It's there.
> 
> Some more, maybe muddying the waters?? from the BASIC09 Reference  
> Manual, Page 1-2,
> 
> "THE HISTORY OF BASIC09
> 
> BASIC09 was conceived in 1978 as a high-performance programming  
> language to demonstrate the capabilities of the 6809 microprocessor  
> to efficiently run high-level languages.  BASIC09 was developed at  
> the same time as the 6809 under the auspices of the architects of the  
> 6809.  The development project covered almost two years and  
> incorporated the results of research in such areas as interactive  
> compilation, fast floating point arithmetic algorithms, storage  
> management, high-level symbolic debugging and structured language  
> design.  These innovations give BASIC09 its speed, power, and unique  
> flavor.
> 
> BASIC09 was commissioned by Motorola, Inc., Austin Texas, and  
> developed by Microware Systems Corporation, Des Moines, Iowa.   
> Principal designers of BASIC09 were Larry Crane, Robert Doggett, Ken  
> Kapan, and Terry Ritter.  The first release was in February, 1980."
> 
> I would hazard a guess that the OS came before the language, because  
> the language incorporates system calls.
> 
> 
> On Mar 7, 2010, at 6:19 PM, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 9:54 AM,  <jdaggett at gate.net> wrote:
> >> On 5 Mar 2010 at 1:44, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
> >>
> >>> I get that.  What I don't understand is what does this have to do  
> >>> with
> >>> how OS-9 went from being a support system for Basic09 to a full
> >>> fledged operating system?  Is there some relevancy that I am  
> >>> missing?
> >>
> >> Aaron
> >>
> >> I think you have the two flipped. You are putting Basic09 ahead of  
> >> the OS.
> >>
> >
> > I agree that is seems backwards, but there are several seemingly
> > independent sources that state Basic09 did indeed come prior to the
> > OS.  If you look in the other messages in this thread I've quoted a
> > few of them.
> >
> >
> >> from The Complete Rainbow Guide to OS9 page 4, the synopsis is  
> >> that BothMicroware and
> >> Motorola saw a need to bring multitasking/multiuser power of  
> >> larger UNIX systems to the
> >> smaller home computers. UNIX writtenin C was far to big for the 8  
> >> bit computers. So it was
> >> written in asembly.
> >
> > Is this book online any where?  I'd like to see that section if  
> > possible.
> >
> >
> >>
> >> "Motorola layed down some tough criteria. They wanted an operating  
> >> system that would
> >> exercise every ounce of capability of the 6809. Several 16-bit  
> >> registers and almost every
> >> memory addressing mode available on a minicomputer made the job  
> >> easier."
> >>
> >> The above quote from page 4 suggests that Motorola was the driver  
> >> for the OS and that
> >> basic and other languages and feature were secondary. Here is  
> >> anothr quote to support that.
> >>
> >> "The company's goal was to sell mass-produced "software-on- 
> >> silicon". Motorola wanted to
> >> distribute their software in ROM ... chips."
> >>
> >> I would also suspect that the COCO was driven by Motorola  
> >> considering that all the games
> >> and applications were interchanged via the expansion port and a  
> >> ROM pack. The driving
> >> need of the home game market ws behind the COCO. Adding OS9 and  
> >> Basic was to try and
> >> capture the more sophisiticated hoem user. Motorola was producing  
> >> their Exocrciser and
> >> EXORcet units for the industrial/commercial and education market.
> >>
> >> james
> >>
> >>
> >> --
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> >>
> >
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> 
> Repeal 17 : Restore I-3
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> 
> 
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