Is MS-DOS an adaptation of Unix?

Question

Once you look beyond the superficial...

If it is different, how?
How is dos fundamentally different?

http://www.levenez.com/unix/history.html#01

Answer 1

Um, MS-DOS was around 10 years before Unix.

Nice try, though.

Answer 2

There are similar functions between MS-DOS and Unix.

MS-DOS was derived from Digital Research's VMS (Virtual Memory System). Those have many similarities, but VMS is a much more powerful OS than DOS, and on a par with Unix. Unfortunately, Digital Research and their VAX/Alpha computers were bought by HP and the line was discontinued. What a shame.

DOS and Unix have similar features, but Unix is significantly more powerful than DOS. Unfortunately, the scope of this forum is too limited to go into details.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

The original DOS (which MS bought) had some unix-like commands, but there the similarity ends.

Some differences:

1. DOS is an interrupt-driven OS. Unix is not.
2. DOS is a single-process, single-threading OS. Unix supports multi-threads and multiple processes.
3. Hardware drivers are totally different between the two.

Answer 4

Stuart is wrong the first edition of Unix was developed by Bell Labs in 1969 (approx. 12 years before the 1981 version of MS Dos). I think Stuart is thinking Linux which is an adaptation of Unix created by Linus Torvalds in 1991.

Unix is nothing like MS DOS, They fundamentally work different. I have used both Unix and DOS and the paths and files systems are completely different. You cannot easily transport knowledge of one operating system to the other(Unix to DOS).

Although it is much easier to go from one version of Unix to another(e.g. Free BSD to Solaris to Linux), then it is to go from DOS to Unix.

Answer 5

windows is a client, it is designed to be user friendly to people who are not necessarily computer savvy. MsDos is the proghram that runs under windows, it is also a client, but you can do more alterations to your computer, file structure, contents... etc. Unix is a server , it is a program meant to run many other programs or websites or on a larger scale, the internet.

Answer 6

NO

They are 2 completely different Operating Systems. They are not even from the same people.

Answer 7

No, MS-Dos is an adaptation of cp/m (control program for machines... or something like that)... in the first version of MS-Dos there were still unused commands and pieces of CP/M... removed for version 2... or cleaned up to where hackers could not find the names anymore.

IBM was looking for an operating system for their new PC's (before that they only made mainframes and thougt of PC's as toys)

Bill Gates went to them and told them that he could develop one.. which he did.. from public code on CP/M.. modified to meet IBM's requirements.

there were rumors that Bill Gates had asked the creator of cp/m to join him in the venture but was refused.. and the creator later got mad and sued Bill ... but lost... i'm not sure about any of that though.. hehe

Answer 8

Not in any way

Unix is totally different operating system

ms-dos is the command line version of Windows
(Microsoft disk operating system)

Answer 9

MS-DOS began as QDOS (for Quick and Dirty Operating System), written by Tim Paterson for computer manufacturer Seattle Computer Products (SCP) in 1980. It was marketed by SCP as 86-DOS because it was designed to run on the Intel 8086 processor. QDOS function calls were based on the dominant CP/M-80 operating system, written by Digital Research, but it used a different file system. In a sequence of events that would later inspire much folklore, Microsoft negotiated a license for QDOS from SCP in December 1980 for $25,000, then re-licensed QDOS to IBM. Microsoft then acquired all rights to QDOS for only $50,000 from SCP in July, 1981, shortly before the PC's release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms-dos

CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 and Zilog Z80 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc.. Initially confined to single tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations, and were migrated to 16-bit processors.

CP/M stood for either Control Program/Monitor or Control Program for Microcomputers (the latter being a backronym). The name echoes the prevailing naming scheme of its time, as in Kildall's/Intel's PL/M, Programming Language for Microcomputers, and in Prime Computer's PL/P, Programming Language for Prime. Gary Kildall himself renamed CP/M in word form as part of the maturation of CP/M from personal project in 1974 to commercial enterprise in 1976.

The combination of CP/M and S-100 bus computers patterned on the MITS Altair was an early "industry standard" for microcomputers, and was widely used through the late 1970s and into the mid-'80s. By greatly reducing the amount of programming required to install an application on a new manufacturer's computer, CP/M increased the market size for both hardware and software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M-80

Answer 10

no