Welcome to the Wonderfully Ancient World of CP/M
The CP/M 86 and CP/M 80 Museum


Digital Research
Dr. Gary A. Kildall
Computer pioneer Kildall vindicated

Introduction

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:

http://www.nekochan.net/weblog/archives/2008/09/the-mysterious.html

Emulators that run CP/M on Windows Machines are fairly prevalent online (The myz80 emulator is one of the best).

For the Apple //e AppleWin now handles CP/M disk images:

AppleWin Emulator (AppleWin1.15.0.4-beta.zip)


Utilities even exist for making real floppy disks that will boot a modern Windows machine into CP/M 86. Internet archives of CP/M disk images exist and they can run in emulators and be transferred to real disks to be run on real CP/M machines.

My Apple running Softcard CP/M 60K Version 2.23


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.

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Caveat Emptor

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.