On Apr 12, 2007, at 2:38 AM, David W. Erhart wrote:
I was looking
for something else and ran across a two-binder set of
something called "PC-MOS" by The Software Link, circa 1992. I opened
the shrinkwrap on the nstallation manual and the thing looks like
it's a multi-user version of MS-DOS, talking to terminals. I
appear to have a 5 user version.
Anyone familiar with this animal? The version is 4.2.
Sounds like the PC-MOS I used in the mid-80's to build a multi-user
system using an IBM PC/AT with an expansion box that had one CGA
card per user. The expansion box had special cables for monitor
and keyboard (thick & bulky). This let me run DBase III, Wordstar
2000, etc. in an office for up to eight stations. Each station
appeared to have the PC/AT to itself. Worked really well.
I wonder if I was using the same PC-MOS but a very early version.
My office in 1988/1989 used a product called "VM/386 Multiuser"
which did a similar thing, using Wyse terminals. Most DOS apps
worked very well, and it was fast. It used the virtual '86 mode of
the 80386 processor. We ran it on a cached 386DX/25 with three
terminals.
A very different sort of thing, and long after PC-MOS, but worth
mentioning. I'd love to find a copy of that again to play with; it
was good stuff.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL