Shell And OS

[Nathan]

Hello,
I was thinking about develop a file manager, like GEOS, for the Commodore 64. As people like to say that Windows 3.11 and the other ones are OSes(as I do), this confuses many people, if they are or not considered, but are those shells and file managers(like Windows 3.11) considered OSes and can be discussed on this forums or not?

Also, as Commodore 64 loads cartridges, then every "program" should be considered a OS, as for example, NES games, the console boots every cartridge you put on it. Then I think they should be considered OSes.

Best Regards,
Nathan Paulino Campos

[NickJohnson]

Generally no, not by themselves. Windows/386 and later early Windows systems are sort of an exception, because IIRC, they had their own protected mode kernels which replaced DOS', even though they ran from DOS, so they are much more than just shells.

[Nathan]

Then if I develop something like GEOS for the Commodore 64, then it will be considered a OS, as GEOS was?

[qw]

I wouldn't be bothered if I were you by the question what exactly is or isn't an OS. I am sure you will come up with stuff that members of this forum think is interesting. I haven't programmed for the C64 in more than 20 years. I'm anxious!

[Nathan]

Thanks! I will do a beta version of my C64 OS and will post here, I think that still today I can finish it.

[Gigasoft]

This question could be resolved by looking up Operating System on Wikipedia. The first sentence says: An operating system (OS) is the software on a computer that manages the way different programs use its hardware, and regulates the ways that a user controls the computer.

So, in an OS there is the concept of a program as an independent entity that is managed. For example, the Playstation 2 BIOS is an OS - it loads different modules and provides services to them such as threading and Remote Procedure Calls. A NES game is not an OS, as it is just one big program.

[Nathan]

Then my Commodore 64 project will be considered an OS!
Thanks.

[johank]

Hi Nathan,

wow, I located someone also interested in writing an alternative OS for the C64! Nice to know, please keep me (us?) informed! I haven't done anything on the C64 in 15 years of so, but I'm seriously thinking of devoting at least part of an upcoming sabbatical period to get myself back to that anxious teen years of C64 coding again...

best
Johan