The Data General RDOS (''Real-time Disk Operating System'') is a
real-time operating system
A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS) for real-time applications that processes data and events that have critically defined time constraints. An RTOS is distinct from a time-sharing operating system, such as Unix, which m ...
released in 1970. The software was bundled with the company's popular
Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...
and
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three c ...
minicomputer
A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ' ...
s.
Overview
RDOS is capable of
multitasking, with the ability to run up to 32 tasks (similar to the current term
threads) simultaneously on each of two
grounds (
foreground and background) within a 64
KB memory space. Later versions of RDOS are compatible with Data General's
16-bit
16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors.
A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...
Eclipse minicomputer line.
A cut-down version of RDOS, without real-time background and foreground capability but still capable of running multiple threads and multi-user
Data General Business Basic
Data General Business Basic was a BASIC interpreter (based on a version from MAI Basic Four) marketed by Data General for their Nova minicomputer in the 1970s, and later ported to the Data General Eclipse MV and AViiON computers. Most busines ...
, is called Data General Diskette Operating System
(DG-DOS or now—somewhat confusingly—simply DOS); another related operating system is RTOS, a Real-Time Operating System for diskless environments. RDOS on
microNOVA-based "Micro Products" micro-minicomputers is sometimes called DG/RDOS.
RDOS was superseded in the early 1980s by Data General's
AOS family of operating systems, including AOS/VS and MP/AOS (MP/OS on smaller systems).
Commands
The following list of
commands are supported by the RDOS/DOS CLI.
*
ALGOL
ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...
*
APPEND
*
ASM
*
BASIC
BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
* BATCH
* BOOT
* BPUNCH
* BUILD
* CCONT
* CDIR
* CHAIN
* CHATR
* CHLAT
* CLEAR
* CLG
* COPY
* CPART
* CRAND
* CREATE
* DEB
*
DELETE
* DIR
* DISK
* DUMP
* EDIT
* ENDLOG
* ENPAT
* EQUIV
* EXFG
* FDUMP
* FGND
* FILCOM
* FLOAD
*
FORT
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
*
FORTRAN
* FPRINT
* GDIR
* GMEM
* GSYS
* GTOD
* INIT
* LDIR
* LFE
* LINK
* LIST
* LOAD
* LOG
* MAC
* MCABOOT
* MDIR
* MEDIT
* MESSAGE
* MKABS
* MKSAVE
* MOVE
* NSPEED
* OEDIT
* OVLDR
* PATCH
* POP
*
PRINT
* PUNCH
* RDOSSORT
* RELEASE
*
RENAME
Rename may refer to:
* Rename (computing), rename of a file on a computer
* RENAME (command), command to rename a file in various operating systems
* Rename (relational algebra), unary operation in relational algebra
* Company renaming, rename ...
* REPLACE
* REV
* RLDR
* SAVE
* SDAY
* SEDIT
* SMEM
* SPDIS
* SPEBL
* SPEED
* SPKILL
* STOD
* SYSGEN
* TPRINT
* TUOFF
* TUON
*
TYPE
* VFU
* XFER
Antitrust lawsuit
In the late 1970s Data General was sued (under the Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts) by competitors for their practice of bundling RDOS with the Data General Nova or Eclipse minicomputer.
When Data General introduced the
Data General Nova
The Data General Nova is a series of 16-bit minicomputers released by the American company Data General. The Nova family was very popular in the 1970s and ultimately sold tens of thousands of units.
The first model, known simply as "Nova", was ...
, a company called Digidyne wanted to use its RDOS
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
on its own
hardware clone. Data General refused to
license their software and claimed their "bundling rights". In 1985, courts including the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
ruled against Data General in a case called ''Digidyne v. Data General''. The
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
declined to hear Data General's appeal, although
Justices
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
and
Blackmun would have heard it. The precedent set by the lower courts eventually forced Data General to license the operating system because restricting the software to only Data General's hardware was an illegal tying arrangement.
In 1999, Data General was taken over by
EMC Corporation
Dell EMC (EMC Corporation until 2016) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and Round Rock, Texas, United States. Dell EMC sells data storage, information security, virtualization, analytics, clo ...
.
References
External links
RDOS documentation at the Computer History MuseumRDOS 7.50 User Parameters definitionSimuLogics' ReNOVAte - Emulator to run NOVA/Eclipse Software on DOS / WindowsNT / UN*X / VMS
{{Data General
Data General
Disk operating systems
Real-time operating systems