QDOS
<operating system> The Sinclair QL's proprietary operating system. The
origin of the name is uncertain (a weak pun on kudos, perhaps, as Unix was on
Multics). There was another OS around from the birth of personal computers
called Q.D.O.S. - Quick And Dirty Operating System. QDOS might also stand for QL
Data/Disk/Drive/Device Operating System.
QDOS did the usual OS sorts of things, as well as multitasking. It was unusual
in several ways. It treated all devices (serial ports, mouse ports, screen,
microdrive, disk drive, keyboard, etc.) uniformly, so you could print a text
file direct to disk or save a binary to the screen for example.
Also logical channels could be assigned to particular physical devices. Output
directed to a channel would go to the appropriate in/output. This also meant you
could have many windows on screen (the QL booted up from internal ROMs with 3
windows - command line, output and program listing) all independent to some
extent. Channels could be redirected without affecting the way the process sent
or received the data.
(1996-07-22)
Nearby terms:
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