Data General RDOS

RDOS is capable of multitasking, with the ability to run up to 32 tasks (similar to the current term threads) simultaneously on each of two grounds (foreground and background) within a 64 KB memory space. Later versions of RDOS are compatible with Data General's 16-bit Eclipse minicomputer line.{{cite book|author1=Sidney W. Frost|author2=James C. Dunlap|title=Automated law office systems: a survey of today's tools and techniques|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzA8AQAAIAAJ|year=1983|publisher=West Pub. Co.}}

A cut-down version of RDOS, without real-time background and foreground capability but still capable of running multiple threads and multi-user Data General Business Basic, is called Data General Diskette Operating System{{cite journal |title=Data General Adds Diskette System |journal=Computerworld |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBOeYXRzQG4C&pg=PA18|date=9 July 1975|publisher=IDG Enterprise|pages=18–|issn=0010-4841}} (DG-DOS or now—somewhat confusingly—simply DOS); another related operating system is RTOS, a Real-Time Operating System for diskless environments. RDOS on microNOVA-based "Micro Products" micro-minicomputers is sometimes called DG/RDOS.{{cite book|title=Trade Cases|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d15sAAAAIAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Commerce Clearing House}}

RDOS was superseded in the early 1980s by Data General's AOS family of operating systems, including AOS/VS and MP/AOS (MP/OS on smaller systems).

The following list of commands are supported by the RDOS/DOS CLI.[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_dgsoftwareCommandLineInterpreter_21045936/page/n5 RDOS/DOS Command Line Interpreter User's Manual]

{{div col|colwidth=9em}}

• ALGOL
• APPEND
• ASM
• BASIC
• BATCH
• BOOT
• BPUNCH
• BUILD
• CCONT
• CDIR
• CHAIN
• CHATR
• CHLAT
• CLEAR
• CLG
• COPY
• CPART
• CRAND
• CREATE
• DEB
• DELETE
• DIR
• DISK
• DUMP
• EDIT
• ENDLOG
• ENPAT
• EQUIV
• EXFG
• FDUMP
• FGND
• FILCOM
• FLOAD
• FORT
• FORTRAN
• FPRINT
• GDIR
• GMEM
• GSYS
• GTOD
• INIT
• LDIR
• LFE
• LINK
• LIST
• LOAD
• LOG
• MAC
• MCABOOT
• MDIR
• MEDIT
• MESSAGE
• MKABS
• MKSAVE
• MOVE
• NSPEED
• OEDIT
• OVLDR
• PATCH
• POP
• PRINT
• PUNCH
• RDOSSORT
• RELEASE
• RENAME
• REPLACE
• REV
• RLDR
• SAVE
• SDAY
• SEDIT
• SMEM
• SPDIS
• SPEBL
• SPEED
• SPKILL
• STOD
• SYSGEN
• TPRINT
• TUOFF
• TUON
• TYPE
• VFU
• XFER

{{div col end}}

In the late 1970s, Data General was sued (under the Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts){{cite book|title=Santa Clara computer and high-technology law journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0JMAQAAIAAJ|year=1986}} by competitors for their practice of bundling RDOS with the Data General Nova or Eclipse minicomputer.{{cite web|title=In Re Data General Corp. Antitrust Litigation, 529 F. Supp. 801 (N.D. Cal. 1981)|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/529/801/2355387/|website=Justia|access-date=26 December 2016}} When Data General introduced the Data General Nova, a company called Digidyne wanted to use its RDOS operating system on its own hardware clone. Data General refused to license their software and claimed their "bundling rights". In 1985, courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against Data General in a case called Digidyne v. Data General. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear Data General's appeal, although Justices White and Blackmun would have heard it. The precedent set by the lower courts eventually forced Data General to license the operating system because restricting the software to only Data General's hardware was an illegal tying arrangement.{{cite journal |last=Myers |first=Gary |title=Tying Arrangements and the Computer Industry: Digidyne Corp. vs. Data General |journal=Duke Law Journal |volume=1985 |issue=5 |pages=1027–1056 |date=November 1985 |doi=10.2307/1372482 |jstor=1372482|url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2927&context=dlj |url-access=subscription }}

In 1999, Data General was taken over by EMC Corporation.{{cite journal|author=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.|title=InfoWorld|journal=InfoWorld: The Newspaper for the Microcomputing Community|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YUoEAAAAMBAJ|date=16 August 1999|publisher=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YUoEAAAAMBAJ/page/n67 12]–|issn=0199-6649}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102685123 RDOS documentation at the Computer History Museum]
• [http://www.telegraphics.com.au/svn/dpa/trunk/nova/rdos/paru.sr RDOS 7.50 User Parameters definition]
• [http://www.simulogics.com/ SimuLogics' ReNOVAte - Emulator to run NOVA/Eclipse Software on DOS / WindowsNT / UN*X / VMS]

{{Disk operating systems}}

{{Data General}}

Category:Data General

Category:Disk operating systems

Category:Real-time operating systems