Archived viruses, was Re: Reasonable price for a complete SOL-20 system?

[allison]

On 10/23/2016 09:15 PM, Mouse wrote:
>> My favorite formatter was my S100 crate with CP/M, [it's] impossible
>> to give a single user OS without background processing a virus.
> I disagree.  I see nothing about "a single-user OS without background
> processing" that would prevent a virus from infecting other programs,
> even including the OS, when it's run, and potentially doing something
> else as well.
>
> Perhaps you are using some meaning of "virus" other than "piece of
> software that infects other software to propagate itself"?  That's the
> only meaning that makes any sense to me.
>
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Its highly unlikely as first it would have to install itself and do so
without corrupting the OS.
CP/M-80 is a machine monitor with a file system and lacking most of the
usual
read the disk and "do something" automation.  The only automation in CP/M
is logging a drive which is reading the directory and mapping used blocks.
So the initial load would have to be performed by the user.  Trogan maybe,
social engineered for sure, virus no.  The key is you have to actually
execute
a file for action to happen.  In CP/M you can disk dump sectors and never
execute them, formatting is even more benign, the disk is never read save
for a post format verify.

There is no boot block save for system tracks and even then the OS is not
wired to write them without a utility so other than boot in rom(usually)
its kinda hard to pollute the disk though powering off with it in the
drive usually
will kill a sector making it unreadable.

There are many other OSs that equally as crude such as Northstar Dos or
for that
fact OS/8.  Old machines do not evaluate like current winders, linux,
OSX in that
perspective.

The extreme opposing end of the spectrum is a VAX running VMS/OVMS the
level of protection is high enough that you would spend much time and
effort to
find the way to get something above the user account level.   In that
case you
can pollute your self maybe share with friends assuming you don't user
crash first.


Allison