Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:56:11 -0600 From: Scott Bennett <bennett@sdf.org> To: ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com Cc: steve@sohara.org, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: terminology and history (was Re: Re updating BIOS) Message-ID: <202002160656.01G6uBYm008146@sdf.org> In-Reply-To: <CAEJNuHwebNQjGTFWFaJGqnA3BVwxqVYM9Ufrr6i69iwVmTknBg@mail.gmail.com> References: <202002120724.01C7OcSW005991@sdf.org> <CAEJNuHwebNQjGTFWFaJGqnA3BVwxqVYM9Ufrr6i69iwVmTknBg@mail.gmail.com>
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Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Feb 2020 at 07:24, Scott Bennett <bennett@sdf.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Sun, 9 Feb 2020 08:41:11 +0000 Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve@sohara.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >On Sun, 09 Feb 2020 02:09:59 -0600
> > >Scott Bennett <bennett@sdf.org> wrote:
> > >
> > >> The first part of the above, mispunctuated pair of sentences is
> > >> correct, but the latter part is not. FreeDOS, like PC-DOS and MSDOS
> > >> before it, is/was not an operating system, but rather a more primitive
> > >> creature known as a monitor system.
> > >
> > > The DOS part of those names is an abbreviation of 'Disc Operating
> > >System' - clearly at the time they were considered operating systems even
> >
> > They may have been considered that by amateurs from the ham radio
> > community
>
> Stopped reading here.
>
> The "amateurs from the ham radio community" are (and at least were
> back in the 70s) much more skilled than you paint them. The first form
Really? That was not my experience in the United States. Here there
appeared to be very little overlap between computer programmers and ham radio
operators. When CPU chips with word lengths greater than four bits appeared in
'75 or '76, both communities began to take interest. Once kits and already built
small computers were available on the market, quite a few members of the ham
community began learning how to program, but it was several more years before a
large percentage knew much about programming. By the same token, it was quite a
while before many programmers got into building hardware. I suspect that the
electrical engineering community may have had much more overlap with hams and
with programmers, but as the mostly distinct groups at that time. By the early
1980s the ham community did include many people with susbstantial programming
knowledge.
Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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