View source for Data General RDOS

{{Short description|Operating system for DG Nova}}
{{Infobox OS
| name                   = RDOS
| logo                   = Data General logo.svg
| screenshot             = 
| caption                = 
| family                 = Data General
| source_model           = [[Closed source]]
| developer              = [[Data General]]
| released               = {{Start date and age|1970}}
| latest_release_version = RDOS 7.5
| latest_release_date    = {{Start date and age|1986}}
| latest preview version = 
| latest preview date    = 
| language               = 
| kernel_type            = [[Monolithic kernel|Monolithic]]
| ui                     = [[Command-line interface]]
| working_state          = Discontinued
| website                = 
| supported_platforms    = [[Data General Nova|NOVA]], [[Data General Nova|microNOVA]], [[Data General Eclipse|Eclipse]]
| updatemodel            = 
| package_manager        = 
| license                = restricted, per machine
}}
The ''' Data General RDOS''' ('''''R'''eal-time '''D'''isk '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem'') is a [[real-time operating system]] released in 1970.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Electronic Engineer: EE.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DU07AQAAIAAJ|year=1969|publisher=Chilton Company}}</ref> The software was bundled with the company's popular [[Data General Nova|Nova]] and [[Data General Eclipse|Eclipse]] [[minicomputer]]s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Computer Law Reporter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QD47AQAAIAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Computer Law Reporter Incorporated}}</ref>

==Overview==
RDOS is capable of [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]], with the ability to run up to 32 tasks (similar to the current term [[Thread (computing)|threads]]) simultaneously on each of two [[Process (computing)|grounds]] ([[Foreground-background|foreground and background]]) within a 64&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KB]] memory space. Later versions of RDOS are compatible with Data General's [[16-bit]] Eclipse minicomputer line.<ref name="FrostDunlap1983">{{cite book|author1=Sidney W. Frost|author2=James C. Dunlap|title=Automated law office systems: a survey of today's tools and techniques|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzA8AQAAIAAJ|year=1983|publisher=West Pub. Co.}}</ref>

A cut-down version of RDOS, without real-time background and foreground capability but still capable of running multiple threads and multi-user [[Data General Business Basic]], is called Data General Diskette Operating System<ref name="Enterprise1975">{{cite journal |title=Data General Adds Diskette System |journal=Computerworld  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBOeYXRzQG4C&pg=PA18|date=9 July 1975|publisher=IDG Enterprise|pages=18–|issn=0010-4841}}</ref> (DG-DOS or now—somewhat confusingly—simply DOS); another related operating system is RTOS, a Real-Time Operating System for diskless environments.  RDOS on [[Data General Nova#microNOVA|microNOVA]]-based "Micro Products" micro-minicomputers is sometimes called DG/RDOS.<ref>{{cite book|title=Trade Cases|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d15sAAAAIAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Commerce Clearing House}}</ref>

RDOS was superseded in the early 1980s by Data General's [[Data General AOS|AOS]] family of operating systems, including AOS/VS and MP/AOS (MP/OS on smaller systems).

===Commands===
The following list of [[command (computing)|commands]] are supported by the RDOS/DOS CLI.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_dgsoftwareCommandLineInterpreter_21045936/page/n5 RDOS/DOS Command Line Interpreter User's Manual]</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=9em}}
* [[ALGOL]]
* [[append|APPEND]]
* [[Assembly language|ASM]]
* [[BASIC]]
* BATCH
* BOOT
* BPUNCH
* BUILD
* CCONT
* CDIR
* CHAIN
* CHATR
* CHLAT
* CLEAR
* CLG
* COPY
* CPART
* CRAND
* CREATE
* DEB
* [[del (command)|DELETE]]
* DIR
* DISK
* DUMP
* EDIT
* ENDLOG
* ENPAT
* EQUIV
* EXFG
* FDUMP
* FGND
* FILCOM
* FLOAD
* [[Fortran|FORT]]
* [[Fortran|FORTRAN]]
* FPRINT
* GDIR
* GMEM
* GSYS
* GTOD
* INIT
* LDIR
* LFE
* [[Ln (Unix)|LINK]]
* LIST
* LOAD
* LOG
* MAC
* MCABOOT
* MDIR
* MEDIT
* MESSAGE
* MKABS
* MKSAVE
* MOVE
* NSPEED
* OEDIT
* OVLDR
* PATCH
* POP
* [[PRINT (command)|PRINT]]
* PUNCH
* RDOSSORT
* RELEASE
* [[ren (command)|RENAME]]
* REPLACE
* REV
* RLDR
* SAVE
* SDAY
* SEDIT
* SMEM
* SPDIS
* SPEBL
* SPEED
* SPKILL
* STOD
* SYSGEN
* TPRINT
* TUOFF
* TUON
* [[TYPE (DOS command)|TYPE]]
* VFU
* XFER
{{div col end}}

==Antitrust lawsuit==
In the late 1970s, Data General was sued (under the Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts)<ref>{{cite book|title=Santa Clara computer and high-technology law journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0JMAQAAIAAJ|year=1986}}</ref> by competitors for their practice of bundling RDOS with the Data General Nova or Eclipse minicomputer.<ref name="Justia1">{{cite web|title=In Re Data General Corp. Antitrust Litigation, 529 F. Supp. 801 (N.D. Cal. 1981)|url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/529/801/2355387/|website=Justia|access-date=26 December 2016}}</ref> When Data General introduced the [[Data General Nova]], a company called Digidyne wanted to use its RDOS [[operating system]] on its own [[Clone (computing)|hardware clone]]. Data General refused to [[Software license|license their software]] and claimed their "bundling rights". In 1985, courts including the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]] ruled against Data General in a case called ''Digidyne v. Data General''. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] [[Certiorari|declined to hear]] Data General's appeal, although [[Associate Justice|Justices]] [[Byron White|White]] and [[Harry Blackmun|Blackmun]] [[List of United States Supreme Court copyright case law#Dissents to denials of certiorari|would have heard it]]. The precedent set by the lower courts eventually forced Data General to license the operating system because restricting the software to only Data General's hardware was an illegal tying arrangement.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Myers |first=Gary |title=Tying Arrangements and the Computer Industry: Digidyne Corp. vs. Data General |journal=Duke Law Journal |volume=1985 |issue=5 |pages=1027–1056 |date=November 1985 |doi=10.2307/1372482 |jstor=1372482|url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2927&context=dlj |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In 1999, Data General was taken over by [[EMC Corporation]].<ref name="Inc.1999">{{cite journal|author=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.|title=InfoWorld|journal=InfoWorld: The Newspaper for the Microcomputing Community|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YUoEAAAAMBAJ|date=16 August 1999|publisher=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_YUoEAAAAMBAJ/page/n67 12]–|issn=0199-6649}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102685123 RDOS documentation at the Computer History Museum]
*[http://www.telegraphics.com.au/svn/dpa/trunk/nova/rdos/paru.sr RDOS 7.50 User Parameters definition]
*[http://www.simulogics.com/ SimuLogics' ReNOVAte - Emulator to run NOVA/Eclipse Software on DOS / WindowsNT / UN*X / VMS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706041052/http://www.simulogics.com/ |date=2012-07-06 }}

{{Disk operating systems}}
{{Data General}}

[[Category:Data General]]
[[Category:Disk operating systems]]
[[Category:Real-time operating systems]]
[[Category:1970 software]]