Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 08:51:03 +0100 From: Ralf Mardorf <ralf.mardorf@rocketmail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: terminology and history (was Re: Re updating BIOS) Message-ID: <20200216085103.060caf80@archlinux> In-Reply-To: <202002160656.01G6uBYm008146@sdf.org> References: <202002120724.01C7OcSW005991@sdf.org> <CAEJNuHwebNQjGTFWFaJGqnA3BVwxqVYM9Ufrr6i69iwVmTknBg@mail.gmail.com> <202002160656.01G6uBYm008146@sdf.org>
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On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:56:11 -0600, Scott Bennett wrote: >Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> On Wed, 12 Feb 2020 at 07:24, Scott Bennett <bennett@sdf.org> wrote: >> >> > >> > On Sun, 9 Feb 2020 08:41:11 +0000 Steve O'Hara-Smith >> > <steve@sohara.org> wrote: >> > >> > >On Sun, 09 Feb 2020 02:09:59 -0600 >> > >Scott Bennett <bennett@sdf.org> wrote: >> > > >> > >> The first part of the above, mispunctuated pair of >> > >> sentences is correct, but the latter part is not. FreeDOS, >> > >> like PC-DOS and MSDOS before it, is/was not an operating >> > >> system, but rather a more primitive creature known as a monitor >> > >> system. >> > > >> > > The DOS part of those names is an abbreviation of 'Disc >> > > Operating >> > >System' - clearly at the time they were considered operating >> > >systems even >> > >> > They may have been considered that by amateurs from the ham >> > radio community >> >> Stopped reading here. >> >> The "amateurs from the ham radio community" are (and at least were >> back in the 70s) much more skilled than you paint them. The first >> form > > Really? That was not my experience in the United States. Here > there >appeared to be very little overlap between computer programmers and >ham radio operators. When CPU chips with word lengths greater than >four bits appeared in '75 or '76, both communities began to take >interest. Once kits and already built small computers were available >on the market, quite a few members of the ham community began learning >how to program, but it was several more years before a large >percentage knew much about programming. By the same token, it was >quite a while before many programmers got into building hardware. I >suspect that the electrical engineering community may have had much >more overlap with hams and with programmers, but as the mostly >distinct groups at that time. By the early 1980s the ham community >did include many people with susbstantial programming knowledge. Really? I can't comment on this from my own experiences, but a Linux pen pal from Virginia between 80 and 90 years old, AFAIK not a ham enthusiast, but an audio and video engineer (as I was myself) started already when transistors didn't exist, probably might proof you wrong. I'm a native 6005/6010 Assembly programmer from the 80th, from Germany and never had to do something related to ham Radio, but a friend of mine, in my age, was radio operator for the Bundeswehr that time. Back to the original topic, the time when *DOS existed (>= 1981), we already had worldwide very skilled people who actually know how to use a soldering station and how to program Assembly and even higher languages. Consider the term "operating system" with common sense and historical reality.
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