VM/386 is a multitasking Multi-user environment or 'control program' that took early advantage of the capabilities of

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

processor. By utilizing

Virtual 8086 mode In the 80386 microprocessor and later, virtual 8086 mode (also called virtual real mode, V86-mode, or VM86) allows the execution of real mode applications that are incapable of running directly in protected mode while the processor is running ...

, users were able to run their existing text-based and graphical DOS software in safely separate environments. The system offered a high degree of control, with the ability to set memory limits, CPU usage and scheduling parameters, device assignments, and interrupt priorities through a virtual machine manager menu. Unique

CONFIG.SYS CONFIG.SYS is the primary configuration file for the DOS and OS/2 operating systems. It is a special ASCII text file that contains user-accessible setup or configuration directives evaluated by the operating system's DOS BIOS (typically residin ...

and

AUTOEXEC.BAT AUTOEXEC.BAT is a system file that was originally on DOS-type operating systems. It is a plain-text batch file in the root directory of the boot device. The name of the file is an abbreviation of "automatic execution", which describes its func ...

files could be configured for each application, and even different DOS versions. In 1991 the vendor announced intentions to support

DPMI 1.0 In computing, the DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) is a specification introduced in 1989 which allows a DOS program to run in protected mode, giving access to many features of the new PC processors of the time not available in real mode. It w ...

in VM/386.

Overview

VM/386 had initially been developed by Softguard Systems, a producer of copy-protection software, with plans to include features like non-DOS system support, but financial constraints forced its sale to Intelligent Graphics Corporation (IGC), which launched the product in 1987. It won a

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...

award for technical excellence in 1988. The company also introduced a multi-user version, which allowed a number of serial terminals and even graphical systems to be connected to a single 386 computer. Current versions of the software have built on the multi-user support, and can handle tens of users in a networked environment with

Windows 3.11 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series run as a shell on top of MS-DOS; it was the last Windows 1 ...

support, access controls, virtual memory and device sharing, among other features. A version of the software designed to cooperate with

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

was bundled with Everex Systems workstations. The system now sees use mainly in vertical applications like point-of-sale systems, where its ability to run reliably on cheap, reliable hardware outweigh any gains from newer operating systems that are more complex and less reliable. Early competition included

DESQview 386 DESQview (DV) is a text mode multitasking operating environment developed by Quarterdeck Office Systems which enjoyed modest popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Running on top of DOS, it allows users to run multiple programs concurrent ...

, Sunny Hill Software's Omniview, StarPath Systems' Vmos/3, and Windows/386 2.01. As the target market shifted away from single-user systems to multiple-user setups with many serial terminals it began to compete more directly with the likes of

Multiuser DOS Multiuser DOS is a real-time multi-user multi-tasking operating system for IBM PC-compatible microcomputers. An evolution of the older Concurrent CP/M-86, Concurrent DOS and Concurrent DOS 386 operating systems, it was originally developed by ...

and

PC-MOS/386 PC-MOS/386 is a multi-user, multitasking computer operating system produced by The Software Link (TSL), announced at COMDEX in November 1986 for February 1987 release. PC-MOS/386, a successor to PC-MOS, can run many MS-DOS programs on the host ...

References

External links

VM/386 as the operating system in a nuclear waste processing facility
{{DEFAULTSORT:VM 386 DOS software Proprietary operating systems

Overview

See also

References

External links