Software:MSX-DOS

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Short description: 8-bit operating system by Microsoft
MSX-DOS
DeveloperMicrosoft Japan
OS familyDOS
Working stateAbandoned
Source modelClosed source
Initial release1984; 40 years ago (1984)
Marketing targetHome computers
Available inEnglish
PlatformsMSX home computer architecture
Kernel typeIO.SYS (Monolithic kernel)
Default user interfaceCommand-line interface (COMMAND.COM), Text user interface
LicenseProprietary

MSX-DOS is a discontinued disk operating system developed by Microsoft's Japan subsidiary for the 8-bit home computer standard MSX, and is a cross between MS-DOS v1.25 and CP/M-80 v2.2.

MSX-DOS

MSX-DOS and the extended BASIC with 3½-inch floppy disk support were simultaneously developed by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation as a software and hardware standard for the MSX home computer standard, to add disk capabilities to BASIC and to give the system a cheaper software medium than Memory Cartridges, and a more powerful storage system than cassette tape.[1] The standard BIOS of an unexpanded MSX computer had no built-in disk support, but provided hooks for a disk extension, so the additional floppy disk expansion system came with its own BIOS extension ROM (built-in on the disk controller) called the BDOS.

This BIOS not only added floppy disk support commands to MSX BASIC, but also a booting system, with which it was possible to boot a real disk operating system.

MSX-DOS was binary compatible with CP/M-80, allowing the MSX computer to easily have access to its vast library of software available for a very small cost for the time.

Boot processing

Once MSX-DOS has been loaded, the system searches the MSX-DOS disk for the COMMAND.COM file and loads it into memory.[2] In that case, the BDOS bypassed the BASIC ROMs, so that the whole 64 KB of address space of the Z80 microprocessor inside the MSX computer could be used for the DOS or for other boot-able disks, for example disk based games. At the same time, the original BIOS ROMs could still be accessed through a "memory bank switch" mechanism, so that DOS-based software could still use BIOS calls to control the hardware and other software mechanisms the main ROMs supplied. Also, due to the BDOS ROM, basic file access capabilities were available even without a command interpreter by using extended BASIC commands.

At initial startup, COMMAND.COM looks for an optional batch file named AUTOEXEC.BAT and, if it exists, executes the commands specified in there.[3] If MSX-DOS is not invoked and Disk BASIC starts, a BASIC program named "AUTOEXEC.BAS" will be carried out instead, if present.[3]

Similarities and differences between MSX-DOS and MS-DOS

  • MSX-DOS1, much like MS-DOS 1.25, used the FAT ID value from the first byte of the FAT to select file system parameter profiles for its FAT12 file system instead of from the BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) in the boot sector.
  • On the MSX, there could be more than one floppy disk controller in two or more cartridge slots, and MSX-DOS could boot from several different floppy disk drives. This meant that it was possible to have both, a 5¼" floppy disk drive and a 3½" disk drive, and the user could boot from either one of them depending on which drive had a bootable floppy in it.
  • Like MS-DOS 1.25, the first version of MSX-DOS did not have subdirectories

Commands

The following is a list of internal commands supported by MSX-DOS.[4]


  • BASIC
  • COPY
  • DATE
  • DEL
  • DELETE
  • DIR
  • ERASE
  • FORMAT
  • MODE
  • PAUSE
  • REM
  • REN
  • RENAME
  • TIME
  • TYPE
  • VERIFY


Development history

MSX-DOS version history
Version Date
1.00 June 1984
1.01 March 1985
1.02 July 1985
1.03 August 1985
2.20 July 1988
2.22
2.30 November 1990
2.31 December 1991

On 10 August 1983, Paul Allen called Tim Paterson, original author of 86-DOS and MS-DOS 1.x, asking him to do a "Z80 version of MS-DOS" for the MSX standard.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag


  • ASSIGN
  • ATDIR
  • ATTRIB
  • BASIC
  • BUFFERS
  • CD
  • CHDIR
  • CHKDSK
  • CLS
  • COMMAND2
  • CONCAT
  • COPY
  • DATE
  • DEL
  • DIR
  • DISKCOPY
  • ECHO
  • ERA
  • ERASE
  • EXIT
  • FIXDISK
  • FORMAT
  • HELP
  • MD
  • MKDIR
  • MODE
  • MOVE
  • MVDIR
  • PATH
  • PAUSE
  • RAMDISK
  • RD
  • REM
  • REN
  • RENAME
  • RMDIR
  • RNDIR
  • SET
  • TIME
  • TYPE
  • UNDEL
  • VER
  • VERIFY
  • VOL
  • XCOPY
  • XDIR


In addition, ASCII provided the following MSX-DOS2 Tools.[5]



See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.msx.org/wiki/The_History_of_MSX-DOS The History of MSX-DOS
  2. ↑ SVI MSX User Manual (M-246) 1985 (Spectravideo MSX DOS Disk Operating System) Getting Started section 2.1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Chapter 3 - MSX-DOS". MSX2 Technical Handbook. ASCII Corporation. 1987. https://github.com/Konamiman/MSX2-Technical-Handbook/blob/master/md/Chapter3.md. Retrieved 2020-03-27. 
  4. ↑ MSX Technical Data Book
  5. ↑ (in ja, en) MSX-DOS 2 Tools (User's Manual). ASCII Corporation. 1989. https://archive.org/details/MSXDOS2TOOLS. Retrieved 2020-03-27. 



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