Optimized Systems Software (OSS) was a company that produced disk operating systems,

programming languages A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

with integrated development environments, and applications primarily for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

of home computers. OSS was best known for their enhanced versions of

Atari BASIC Atari BASIC is an interpreter (computing), interpreter for the BASIC programming language that shipped with the Atari 8-bit family of MOS Technology 6502, 6502-based home computers. Unlike most American BASICs of the home computer era, Atari BAS ...

and the

MAC/65 MAC/65 is a 6502 assembler written by Stephen D. Lawrow for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. MAC/65 was first released on disk by Optimized Systems Software in 1982, with the program requiring 16 KB RAM. A bank switched "SuperCartridg ...

assembler, both of which are much faster than Atari's products, and the Action! programming language. OSS also sold some products for the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

. OSS transitioned to 16-bit platforms with Personal Pascal for the

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

and Personal Prolog for

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

(which was also advertised for the Atari ST, but may not have been released). OSS was not as significant in those markets.

History

Optimized Systems Software was formed in early 1981 by Bill Wilkinson, Mike Peters, Paul Laughton, and Kathleen O'Brien. Laughton, the primary author of

, was still employed by Atari, Inc. at the time, and had permission to be involved with OSS from his manager. O'Brien wrote the

Atari Assembler Editor Atari Assembler Editor (sometimes written as Atari Assembler/Editor) is a ROM cartridge-based development system released by Atari, Inc. in 1981. It is used to edit, assemble, and debug 6502 programs for the Atari 8-bit family of home computer ...

for Atari. Laughton and O'Brien (married) were not as involved with the company and were bought out by Peters and Wilkinson. OSS purchased

Atari DOS Atari DOS is the disk operating system used with the Atari 8-bit family of computers. Operating system extensions loaded into memory were required in order for an Atari computer to manage files stored on a disk drive. These extensions to t ...

, and the

product from

Shepardson Microsystems Shepardson Microsystems, Inc. (SMI) was a small company producing operating systems and programming languages for CP/M, the Atari 8-bit family and Apple II computers. SMI is most noted for the original Apple II disk operating system, Atari BASI ...

who had concluded that their BASIC and DOS products were not viable. The new company enhanced the products, renaming them OS/A+ (the Disk Operating System), BASIC A+ (a disk-based language), and EASMD (an update to the Assembler Editor). OSS continued to work with

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

(who had previously contracted with SMI) on enhanced products, most of which never reached the market. OSS debuted at the

West Coast Computer Faire The West Coast Computer Faire was an annual computer industry conference and exposition most often associated with San Francisco, its first and most frequent venue. The first fair was held in 1977 and was organized by Jim Warren (computer spec ...

in March 1981. The products they released over the next several years became respected among Atari programmers, particularly the

assembler, the Action! programming language, and BASIC XL. In a 1984 interview, Bill Wilkinson said the company consisted of 15 people. In January 1988, OSS merged with ICD (the makers of

SpartaDOS Atari DOS is the disk operating system used with the Atari 8-bit family of computers. Operating system extensions loaded into memory were required in order for an Atari computer to manage files stored on a disk drive. These extensions to ...

and various Atari computer hardware add-ons). In 1994,

Fine Tooned Engineering Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...

obtained limited rights to ICD's 8-bit products before disappearing.

Disk Operating Systems

OS/A+

Atari ''DOS 2.0S'' consisted of two portions, a memory-resident portion that facilitated access to disk files by programs, and a disk-resident portion providing menu-driven utilities to format, copy, delete, rename, and otherwise manipulate files on Atari's 810 disk drive. The menu system was too large to keep memory-resident, but the necessity to reload the menu system after every program was frustrating to many users. * ''OS/A+ 2.0, 2.1'' was a disk-based replacement for the Atari DOS and the Apple II DOS. It replaced the menu-driven utilities with a compact command line approach similar to

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...

(and later,

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

). The command line was small enough to remain in memory with most applications, removing the need for the dreaded post-program reload. When first introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire, the program was named CP/A, but a lawyer from Digital Research (owners of CP/M) visited the booth and the name was changed. OSS couldn't have afforded even a court filing fee. * ''OS/A+ 4.1'' OSS extended the successful OS/A+ product with additional capabilities for version 4, many of which were arguably ahead of their time. For example, the strict "8.3" naming scheme (eight alphanumeric characters with a three character extension) was replaced by "long" filenames, similar to the Microsoft DOS transition to

VFAT File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by c ...

in 1995. However, unlike VFAT, ''OS/A+ 4.1'' disks were not backward compatible with earlier systems; Atari DOS or ''OS/A+ 2.1'' could not read disks formatted by ''OS/A+ 4.1'', breaking backward compatibility. The memory footprint was larger as well, resulting in insufficient memory to run some popular applications. As a result of these drawbacks, ''OS/A+ 4.1'' did not achieve the market penetration as the earlier product. OSS did reissue ''OS/A+ 4.1'' for a brief period when they decided not to modify ''DOS XL'' for double-sided disk support.

DOS XL

DOS XL DOS XL is a discontinued Disk Operating System (DOS) written by Paul Laughton, Mark Rose, Bill Wilkinson, and Mike Peters and published by Optimized Systems Software (OSS) for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was designed to be com ...

was designed to replace ''OS/A+''. Included support for single and double-density disk drives. Utilized the command-prompt of ''OS/A+'' but also included a menu program. Featured extensions that took advantage of unused memory space in Atari XL/XE computers and OSS supercartridges. Included support for Indus GT Synchromesh. Due to lack of demand and Atari working on a new version of DOS, OSS decided to halt development of ''DOS XL 4'' and reissue ''OS/A+'' version 4.1.

BASIC

The team that developed Atari BASIC while at Shepherdson Microsystems developed a series of three increasingly sophisticated

BASIC interpreter A BASIC interpreter is an interpreter that enables users to enter and run programs in the BASIC language and was, for the first part of the microcomputer era, the default application that computers would launch. Users were expected to use the BAS ...

s at OSS.

BASIC A+

was designed to fit in an 8K cartridge, with an optional cartridge for the second slot of the Atari 800 adding additional capability. The second cartridge was never produced. Instead, OSS produced the disk-based BASIC A Plus (or BASIC A+), which is compatible with Atari BASIC, corrects several bugs, and adds many new features. It includes PRINT USING (for formatted output), trace and debug enhancements, direct DOS commands, and explicit support for the graphics hardware including player/missile graphics. Because BASIC A+ had to be purchased, programs developed using its extended features could not be shared with people who did not own the interpreter.

BASIC XL

BASIC XL is a bank-selected cartridge version of the language that replaced BASIC A+. It fixes bugs and has even more features. The BASIC XL Toolkit contains additional code and examples for use with the BASIC XL and a runtime package for redistribution. A significant change in BASIC XL is the handling of line number lookups in GOTO/GOSUB and FOR...NEXT loops. In Atari BASIC, any GOTO searches the entire program for the provided line number, and FOR...NEXT loops use the same code. Microsoft BASIC simply jumps to a FOR statement via its address. The BASIC XL FAST command replaces constant targets of GOTO/GOSUB/NEXT with addresses. This gives a huge performance boost, making loops run as fast as Microsoft BASIC, and the program as a whole even faster. The downside is that an address becomes invalid if the program is edited during runtime, preventing it from being CONTinued, unlike Atari BASIC which generally allows this after any edit. ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...

'' in 1984 stated that "BASIC XL is the fastest and most powerful version of BASIC available for Atari computers", with "exceptional" documentation. The magazine concluded that "This is the language that should be built into Atari computers. Is anyone at Atari listening?"

BASIC XE

BASIC XE is an enhanced version of the BASIC XL bank-selected cartridge, with additional functions and high-speed math routines. Because it requires 64KB, it only runs on an XL/XE systems. A runtime package was not released. The ''BASIC XL'' runtime can be used, but restricted to XL functions.

Assemblers

EASMD

EASMD (Edit/ASseMble/Debug) is the first editor/assembler from OSS. Based on the original

, it was released in 1981 on disk. It was superseded by

MAC/65

MAC/65 is a

6502 The MOS Technology 6502 (typically pronounced "sixty-five-oh-two" or "six-five-oh-two") William Mensch and the moderator both pronounce the 6502 microprocessor as ''"sixty-five-oh-two"''. is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small te ...

editor and

assembler Assembler may refer to: Arts and media * Nobukazu Takemura, avant-garde electronic musician, stage name Assembler * Assemblers, a fictional race in the ''Star Wars'' universe * Assemblers, an alternative name of the superhero group Champions of A ...

originally released on disk in 1982, then on a bank-switched "supercartridge" in 1983 which includes an integrated debugger (DDT). Like

, MAC/65 uses line-numbered source code and tokenizes each line as it is entered. It is significantly faster than Atari's assemblers. The MAC/65 Toolkit disk contains additional code and examples.

BUG/65

BUG/65 is a machine language

debugger A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program used to software testing, test and debugging, debug other programs (the "target" program). The main use of a debugger is to run the target program under controlled conditions that permit the pr ...

. It was initially included with MAC/65, but the cartridge-based version of the assembler added its own debugger, DDT. BUG/65 was later added to DOS XL.

Other languages

Action!

A cartridge-based development system for a readable

ALGOL ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

-like language that compiles to efficient

code. Action! combines a full-screen editor with a compiler that generates code directly to memory without involving disk access. The language found a niche for being over a hundred times faster than

, but much easier to program in than assembly language. Compiled Action! programs require the cartridge to be present, because standard library functions are on the cartridge. The separately available Action! Run-Time Package overcomes this limitation and allows distribution of Action!-compiled projects. The Action! Toolkit (originally called the Programmer's Aid Disk, or PAD) contains additional code and examples for use with the Action! language.

C/65

C/65 is a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

developed by LightSpeed Software for a subset of the

C programming language ''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as ...

. C/65 outputs assembly source code. An assembler like

is needed to create an executable file.

Tiny C

Tiny C, stylized as tiny-c, is an interpreter for a subset of the

; it was developed by Tiny C Associates.

Personal Pascal

A one-pass, machine code generating compiler for the Pascal language developed by J. Lohse for the Atari ST and released by OSS in 1987. It came with a 500+ page manual.

Applications

The Writer's Tool

A word processing application available in a bank-selected cartridge and a double-sided disk (master disk on one side, dictionary disk on the other side). It was developed by Madison Micro and published by OSS in 1984. According to Bill Wilkinson, OSS was already building a word processor, but stopped when ''The Writer's Tool'' was submitted.

SpeedRead+

SpeedRead+ is a

speed reading Speed reading is any of many techniques claiming to improve one's ability to read quickly. Speed-reading methods include chunking and minimizing subvocalization. The many available speed-reading training programs may utilize books, videos, s ...

tutor developed for the Atari 8-bit and Apple II computers.

Sales

According to Bill Wilkinson, OSS sold about 12,000 copies of ''Basic XL'' before the ICD merger. ''Basic XL'' outsold ''Action!'' by about 2.5 or 3 to 1. ''MAC/65'' outsold ''Action!'' by about 1.5 to 1. ''Basic XE'' sold poorly, a money-loser. Personal Pascal sold over 10,000 copies.

References

;Notes * Wilkinson, Bill (1983). ''The Atari BASIC Source Book''. Compute! Books. . * ''A User's Guide and Reference Manual for DOS XL 2.30'', 1983 * ''OSS Newsletter - Spring 1984'' * ''OSS Newsletter - October 1984''

External links

Dan's tribute to OSS
— A site dedicated to the products produced for Atari 8-bit computers by Optimized Systems Software.

Basic XE from O.S.S. (Product Review) {{Authority control Defunct software companies of the United States Atari 8-bit family Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Cupertino, California American companies established in 1981 Software companies established in 1981 Software companies disestablished in 1988 1981 establishments in California 1988 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area