User:Black Bullet .357

·*Command.com is the program MS-DOS uses to execute commands you type in the Command Line Interface or CLI at the command prompt ·	The Dos Shell was intended to be an alternative to command .com and was a glimpse of later GUI’s (Graphical User Interface) ·	A graphical user interface is how users interface with computers using graphics (WINDOWS XP has it. It originally started with win1.0 and ended the days of a CLI) ·	The reason we tell you how big command.com is just to tell you how good Microsoft is getting at programming programs to fit smaller sizes ·	A bit is the smallest unit of space on a hard drive and 1000 bits is a byte. A megabyte (MB) is 1000 bytes. A Gigabyte (GB) is 1000 MB etc. ·	RAM is Random Access Memory and erases once you turn your computer off, ROM is Read Only Memory and cannot be written to and is permanent

History of Microsoft Disc Operating Systems

MS-DOS (Microsoft Disc Operating System)- this is the most popular of all the DOS versions for PC’s which included PC-DOS, MS-DOS, Free-DOS, DR-DOS, Novell DOS, Open-DOS, PTS-DOS, and ROM-DOS. Though this is not Microsoft’s first operating system, it is their first DISK OPERATING SYSTEM.

Made by Microsoft in during the year 1981 had 8 major versions all the way until the end of production in the year 2000. It gradually replaced all other versions and is the most widely used. It originally started as Q-DOS (quick and dirty dos), which was written by Tim Patterson, which designed to be run with the Intel 8086 processor. MS-DOS was in a heated competition with IBM’s PC-DOS and whenever a new release of MS-DOS came out, a PC-DOS came out soon after. The final version of MS-DOS was MS-DOS 6.22. MS-DOS interfaces consisted of a simple command line starting with the root drive and commands were typed after. That type of user interface is called the Command Line Interface or CLI.

The versions of MS-DOS are: 1.25 – may 1982- first release for IBM PC compatibles. (Command.com* is 4986 bytes large) had a DOS Shell (at the command prompt i.e. C:\>DOSSHELL and press 

2.0 – march 1983 – introduced subdirectories and used backslashes instead of the regular slashes i.e. C:\ instead of C:/ and a sub directory is C:\mydocuments\blab\ now supports 8-inch floppy disks (320 KB) and Hard Drives

2.11 – March1984 – Non-English language and data format supported (command.com is 16229 bytes)

2.25 – October 1985 - better support for Japanese, kanji, and Korean character sets, shipped to western Pacific countries only

3.0 – August 1984 – added support for IBM’s PC\AT computer, 1.2 MB floppy drives, and disk partitions up to 32 MB (one logical and one primary)

3.1 – November 1984 – now supports Microsoft Networking

3.2 – January 1986 – support for 3-½ inch 120 KB floppy drives (v3.21 command.com is 23612 bytes)

3.3 – August 1987 – supports multiple logical drives [hard drives] (command.com is 25276 bytes)

4.0 – June 1988 – derived from IBM’s codebase rather than Microsoft’s

4.01 – December 1988 – bug-fix release (command.com is 37557 bytes)

5.0 – June 1991 – Memory management, full-screen editor (type edit at the command prompt, i.e. C:\edit then press ), Q-base programming language, online help, and DOS SHELL gains task switcher. Also added file transfer facility licensed from Rupp Technology (FAST LYNX) [command.com is 47845 bytes]

6.0 – March 1993 – added double-space disk compression, disk defragmentation, and other features (command.com is 52925 bytes) [Double-Space was taken from Stac Electronics and Microsoft was sued due to patent infringement]

6.2 – November 1993 – bug fix release (command.com is 54619 bytes)

6.21 – February 1994 – following lawsuit from Stac Electronics, double-space disk compression is removed (command.com is 54619 bytes)

6.22 – June 1994 – last official stand alone version. Double-Space is replaced by a non-infringing Disk Compression tool (command.com is 54645 bytes)

7.0 – August 1995 – shipped embedded with Windows 95. Included logical Block Addressing and LFN (Long File Name) support (DOS SHELL REMOVED)

7.1 – August 1998 – shipped embedded in the OSR/2 and Windows 98 added support for the FAT32 file system

8.0 – September 2000 – Shipped embedded in Windows Millennium Edition (windows ME) Last version of MS-DOS. Removed sys command and adds ability to boot to command line. [Upon startup, keep hitting  until boot menu pops up then select Command Line Only and press  and your computer will only start up to the CLI interface not the GUI interface.]

When Windows was released on November 20 1985, it was a major change from MS-DOS because instead of a CLI, it had a GUI. Microsoft Windows, unlike MS-DOS, was also designed to be a multitasking Operating System in which the individual tasks were opened up in different windows. There were 2 types of windows, Windows, and Windows NT. NT used a different file system from the other windows, which will be talked about later.

The Standard Windows versions are a family of operating systems that can run on a series of platforms such as, PC’s, Internet Payphones, PDA’s, and Servers. Windows was originally thought of as an add-on to MS-DOS. The Windows in the 1.x, 2.x, and 3.x did not come with DOS but required it to run. Windows in the 9x family came with dos. Unlike MS-DOS, Windows could run programs that took up higher RAM than what was available

The first family is windows 1.x, which included versions:

1.0 – November 20 1985 – Overlapping of windows was not supported so limited multitasking was only available. Included only support for existing dos devices. GUI programs ended with .EXE not released to the public. This was apparently a test version.

1.01	– January 1985 – bug fix release of 1.0, was released to the public 1.02	 -