This website is a Work In Progress dedicated to CP/M (Control
Program for Microcomputers) which was (and is) an operating system similar
to MS-DOS but which predated MS-DOS, and which is in fact
the operating system that MS-DOS descended from. But CP/M is much
more than simply an early version of MS-DOS and CP/M is very much alive
in online communities of Enthusiasts and Others who still use
CP/M in Old (and sometimes newer) Computers and Emulators.
Since this website is a Work in Progress it will be expanded over time.
"In 1974, Dr. Gary A. Kildall, while working for Intel Corporation,
created CP/M as the first operating system for the new microprocessor. By
1977, CP/M had become the most popular operating system (OS) in the fledgling
microcomputer (PC) industry. The largest Digital Research licensee of CP/M
was a small company which had started life as Traf-0-Data, and is now known
as Microsoft. In 1981, Microsoft paid Seattle Software Works for an
unauthorized clone of CP/M, and Microsoft licensed this clone to IBM which
marketed it as PC-DOS on the first IBM PC in 1981, and Microsoft marketed it
to all other PC OEMs as MS-DOS."
(The First PC Operating System)
In 1982, Bill Gates said in an interview with PC Magazine "the greatest
installed base of CP/M-80 machines are the users
of Microsoft softcards which
plug into Apple computers"
(The Man Behind The Machine).
Today, over a quarter century later and
although they are not plentiful, new and used Softcards and Softcard clones,
and Apple II computers are still used, bought and sold (mostly online at sites
like ebay). Other real CP/M Machines can be found in use or for sale as well.
The Apple //e shown below has a Softcard clone that was bought through
Atlaz International and is reviewed here:
For example, memory cards can
be plugged into the USB port of a Windows Computer to be
populated with CP/M disk images, then plugged into an Apple II as a
type of hard disk (mine is shown above), where the real CP/M disks can be recreated and run.
Disk images can be created on the Apple to be transferred to the
Windows computer and put online.
CP/M like many other old operating systems still lives on in the hearts
and computers of hobbyists and enthusiasts and it has never been better, so...
Welcome to the Wonderfully Ancient World of CP/M and
The CP/M 86 and CP/M 80 Museum. Enjoy your visit.
This website is maintained by Bill Buckels. Its
contents are either owned and Copyrighted by Bill Buckels or provide
their own licencing from their respective Copyright Holders. In any case
you are free to download from here.
It is provided in the hope that it will be interesting or useful or both,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. In particular, Bill Buckels has no warranty
obligations or liability resulting from its use in any way whatsoever.
