DOS
DOS stands for "Disk Operating System" and is a term that describes a general concept, not one specific product. Many companies produced operating systems for devices that were called DOS as a description of the technical implementation of using a magnetic disk as the medium of storing data. These would typically be floppy disks but the term also applies to hard disks.
Due to the prominence of Microsoft's MS-DOS line of products the term "DOS" is commonly confused to specifically mean "Microsoft DOS" which implies software compatibility with systems based on the IBM PC 5150.
Examples of Different DOS Type Operating Systems
IBM PC Compatible
- MS-DOS 4.01
- IBM PC-DOS 3.20 (OEM Rebrand of MS-DOS)
- DR-DOS
- FreeDOS
Digital Research CP/M
CP/M is unique in being supported by many hardware incompatible systems. CP/M for a Zenith Z-100 would not boot on an IMSAI 8080 for example. Versions of CP/M for systems with similar architectures share executables though.
- CP/M - Single User DOS
- CP/M (Plain) - For Intel 8080 Systems
- CP/M-80 - For Zilog Z80 systems
- CP/M-86 - For IBM PC Compatibles
- MP/M - Multi User DOS