Model II Operating Systems (in chronological order)
Tandy
TRSDOS Model II Version 1.1/1.2 The original Model II Z80 operating system which was released with the first Model II in 1978. Supports SSDD 8” floppy drives only. Was replaced by 2.0 fairly quickly.
TRSDOS 2.0 The second OS release for the Model II probably circa 1979. Many bug fixes and enhancements over TRSDOS 1.1/1.2 but they are completely incompatible formats. Referred to as 2.0a once 2.0b became available.
TRS-80 Model II Disk Operating System Reference Manual
TRSDOS 2.0b Released with the Model 16 in 1982 with support for the Thinline Tandon 848 drives. Otherwise the same as 2.0a.
TRSDOS 2.0d This was an officially unreleased TRSDOS 2.0 version that supported both the SSDD Model II and the DSDD Thinline Model 12/16 drives.
TRSDOS HD There are references to TRSDOS-HD in the Model 16 documentation set but I have never seen it and not sure if it ever was released. This is in all likelihood an early name for what turned out to be TRSDOS-II 4.0.
TRSDOS-II 4.0 Completely new third Model II OS with HD support. This release actually requires a hard drive adapter because the OS requires 64k + 16K (found on the HDA). The hard drive needed to be initialized with the Hard Disk Initialization System which ran under TRSDOS 2.0.
TRSDOS-II 4.1 Introduced with the Model 16. Added support to bootstrap the new TRSDOS-16. OS could now use 16k from the 68000 memory on a Model 16 so it did not require a HDA on these machines.
TRSDOS-16 First 16 bit operating system released for the Model 16. Uses TRSDOS II 4.1 as a boot loader. Makes extensive use of TRSDOS || 4.1 under the covers. The most hybrid and hence most complicated and hence most problematic Tandy OS released.
TRSDOS-16 Disk Operating System
TRSDOS-II 4.2 Introduced with the Model 12. The OS could now also use the additional 16K from the B design machine’s motherboard so it did not require a HDA on these machines. This was the first release with complete HD support and did not require the external TRSDOS 2.0 based hard drive initialization utility. There were many iterations of 4.2.x which supported different combinations of HD adapters and controllers.
TRSDOS-II 4.3 Added Arcnet support.
TRSDOS-II 4.4 Unreleased final version of TRSDOS-II
UNOS Unreleased multi-user operating system for the Model 16. This was a port of Charles River Data Systems UNOS multi-user operating system for the MC68000 CPU. It was completed and ready for testing before a last minute deal between Microsoft and Tandy killed the project.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNOS_(operating_system)
TRS-XENIX 1.x Released for the Model 16 after Tandy realized TRSDOS-16 was a flop and UNOS was killed off. Licensed from Microsoft.
TRS-XENIX 3.x Released for the Model 6000. Requires the 8Mhz 68000 CPU board found in the 6000. The 6Mhz board in the 16B can be upgraded to 8Mhz according to Tech Bulletin 12/16B:044.
CP/M
P&T CP/M 2.2 Pickels and Trout CP/M is considered by many to be the de-facto Model II CP/M implementation.
Lifeboat CP/M
Aton CP/M
CP/M-68K A 68000 version of CP/M that runs on the 68K subsystem in the TRS-80 that requires any one of the z80 CP/M 2 operating systems to be installed. It is similar to TRSDOS-16 in that it uses the underlying 8-bit operating system as a boot loader and I/O system. A very interesting feature is that you can switch between z80 CPM and 68k CPM and back without losing the 68k context.
TriSoft CP/M-68K TRS-80 User’s Guide
CP/M Plus Tandy badged version of CP/M 3 from DRI. It supported bank switching on the Model 12/16B/6000 so could utilize 128K of z80 memory if the machine was upgraded appropriately. See Tech Bulletin 12/16B:18.
FMG CP/M 2.2 supported Model II 64K up to four DSDD but no harddisk driver. Included a utility COPYFILE.COM that allowed copying a file between diskettes of different sides and density.
Rare CP/M
These operating systems were announced or advertised but there is no evidence they were ever shipped or used. No known copies exist today.
Multi/OS Announced by InfoSoft Systems of Westport, CT in the March 15, 1982 issue of Infoworld magazine. Multi/OS allowed two or three users with added memory of 64K, 128K or 196K. It is unknown if this OS was ever shipped.
I/OS Also announced by InfoSoft Systems in the March 15, 1982 issue of Infoworld magazine. I/OS was compatible with Cromemco’s CDOS, SDOS of SD Systems and Mostek’s M/OS. It is unknown if this OS was ever shipped.
TPM II Includes many features not found in CP/M such as independent disk directory partitioning for up to 255 user partitions, space, time and version commands and direct disk I/O. This OS was advertised on page 27 in the July 1983 issue of Microcomputing magazine.
Non-Tandy Other
LS-DOS 6.3.1A Compatible with the Model 4 version of LS-DOS 6.3.1. Can also utilize the optional additional z80 64K on the main logic board on the 12/16B/6000. See details below. Can be downloaded here.
DOSPLUS II
OASIS A multi-user operating system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THEOS
Corvus CoreDos This was an enhanced TRSDOS 2.0 operating system which allowed the use of the Corvus Hard Drives with the Model II.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a172271.pdf
RM/COS Ryan McFarland Commercial Operating System. RM/COS was a multi-user operating system for the Model 16 specifically for running advanced RM/COBOL environments.
Regarding DOSPLUS for the Model II, in 2005 I contacted Steve Pagliarulo asking if he had the source code still and unfortunately he said he had looked but could not find it.
>>>
Steve Pagliarulo
5/29/05
Hi David,
It’s fun to go back and remember what was. Thanks. I’ve checked my attic/garage, etc. and can’t find anything I can donate or lend. I’m sorry. If however I open an unopened storage box in the future and discover something, I’ll let you know. Feel free to contact me any time.
Best Wishes,
Steve
From: David Sutherland
Reply-To: David Sutherland
To: Steve Pagliarulo
Subject: Re: TRS-80 / DOSPLUS-II Disks?
Date: Sun, 22 May 2005 17:31:17 -0500
Steve,
I apologize for being so brief in my email–I wasn’t sure I had a valid
email address so intentionally left out a lot of information.
I think I tracked you down last night via a google usenet search. It seems
useful these days to have a name other than “Steve Smith”–fortunately for
me, your name is unique!
I was prompted to write after reading a recent 80-US Journal article
interview with you and Kim Watt. This issue has recently been scanned and
posted at the trs-80.com TRS-80 information archive, if
you are interested in re-reading some TRS-80 lore.
I believe Kim had loaned out his TRS-80 diskette archive to Tim Mann and to
Ira @ the trs-80.com site. At one time on the
trs-80.comsite there were some partial source code
listings of DOSPLUS II. …
Is there any chance you still have Model 1/3 or Model 2 source code that
you’d be willing to allow to be publicly archived?
Hope if nothing else these were memories of good times for you.
Thanks for considering this. Hope you might have kept a few boxes of disks
in your attic.
>>>
Also, Aaron Brockbank got in touch with Steve Pagliarulo and was attempting to recreate DOSPLUS from source code:
I trust sharing this is not a breach of any privacy:
”
Dec 17, 2007
Aaron,
Thank you for the source. After examining it, I realize that I barely even remember writing it… However, the source was compiled with the MZAL assembler on a Model 4 as I recall. Reasons the binaries are hard to re-create:
1) Access to Model 4 (or simulator)
2) Access to MZAL assembler for Model 4. I don’t believe the Model III MZAL had enough memory.
3) Not sure ALL the source code still exists
4) A special tool was used to create the disk images (no longer exists)
Regarding the patch, I remember there being an upgrade but the details escape me. Sorry.
Steve”
Aaron mentioned DOSPLUS-II versions and patches also, which might be helpful to anyone looking for more information on this OS. That is the question above which Steve was responding to.
> There is a letter attached to the copy of the DOSPLUS-II manual that I
> got from ebay (sadly, no disk). It mentions DP-II A.01, an upgrade to
> DOSPLUS-II. Also mentioned is a separate patch to allow dates past
> 1987. Do you recollect anything about these?
Excellent comprehensive DOS guide. Please update the CP/M 2.2 section and include the FMG CP/M 2.2.
FMG CP/M 2.2 version 2.21 1980, supported Model II 64K up to four DSDD but no harddisk driver. Included a utility COPYFILE.COM that allowed copying a file between diskettes of different sides and density.
Thanks for the update!
I used an operating system called Oasis on the TRS-80 Model II. It supported two concurrent processes. The command language of Oasis reminded me of a mainframe OS called VM/370. Very elegant. In the early 1980’s, I wrote a word processing program in assembler to run on Oasis on the TRS-80 II.
Hi Pete.
I found a TRSDOS2.0D disk in a set of disks I bought from a collector.
It is a bootable version and there is a copy of Scripsit on it too.
Do you have this version in your ‘personal’ repository or is it useful to image the disk.
There are a lot of different disk in this collection, I’am checking them all if there are more unknown disks among them.
Hans
Hi Hans,
The TRS8TEST diagnostics disk is TRSDOS 2.0d, but I’m not sure if it is complete. If you could image your copy of TRSDOS 2.0d it might be helpful to help reconstruct a pure OS system disk. Thanks!
Pete