Cromemco DOS or CDOS (an abbreviation for Cromemco Disk Operating System) is a
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/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...
-like
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
by
Cromemco
Cromemco, Inc. was a Mountain View, California microcomputer company known for its high-end Z80-based S-100 bus computers and peripherals in the early days of the personal computer revolution.
The company began as a partnership in 1974 between ...
designed to allow users of Cromemco
microcomputer
A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...
systems to create and manipulate disk files using symbolic names.
Overview

CDOS was written in
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be Backward compatibility, software-compatible with the ...
machine code
In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonb ...
. Due to the number of available programs available to run under
Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a privately held American software company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser ...
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/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...
at that time, CDOS was designed to be upwards CP/M-compatible. Many programs written for CP/M versions up to and including version 1.33 run without modification under CDOS. However, programs written for CDOS generally do not run under CP/M.
The
Cromemco Z-2
Z-2 is a series of microcomputers made by Cromemco, Inc. which were introduced to the market in the middle to late 1970s. They were S-100 bus machines powered by the Zilog Z80 processor and typically ran on the CP/M operating system.
They were or ...
had the ability to run Cromemco DOS.
Besides CP/M 2.2 and
Cromix, the
Cromemco System One can also run Cromemco DOS.
The
Cromemco C-10 personal computer
A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...
, introduced in 1982, also ran CDOS.
An
emulator
In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
for a Cromemco CDOS system exists.
Commands
The following list of
command
Command may refer to:
Computing
* Command (computing), a statement in a computer language
* command (Unix), a Unix command
* COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS
* Command key, a modifier key on A ...
s are supported by Cromemco DOS.
Intrinsic commands
*
BYE
*
DIR
*
ERA
An era is a span of time.
Era or ERA may also refer to:
* Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time
* Calendar era
Education
* Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school
* ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia
* E ...
*
REN
*
SAVE
*
TYPE
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* ...
Later versions also support the
ATTR
In computing, ATTRIB is a command in Intel ISIS-II, DOS, IBM OS/2, Microsoft Windows and ReactOS that allows the user to change various characteristics, or "attributes" of a computer file or directory. The command is also available in the EFI s ...
command.
Extrinsic command programs
* @ (Batch)
* DUMP
* EDIT
* INIT (Initialize)
* STAT (Disk Status)
* WRTSYS (Write System)
* XFER (Transfer)
Later versions also support the
MEMTEST
command.
See also
*
Harry Garland
Harry T. Garland (born 1947) is a scientist, engineer, author, and entrepreneur who co-founded Cromemco Inc., one of the earliest and most successful microcomputer companies. He received the B.A. degree in mathematics from Kalamazoo College, and ...
*
Roger Melen
Roger Douglas Melen (1946–2024)
was an electrical engineer recognized for his early contributions to the microcomputer industry, and for his technical innovations.
Dr. Melen was co-founder of Cromemco, one of the earliest microcomputer compa ...
References
External links
x:\static\S100\cromemco\CDOS
Discontinued operating systems
Disk operating systems
Microcomputer software
Proprietary operating systems
Cromemco
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