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MDOS (short for Myarc Disk Operating System) is an operating system commercialized by Myarc. It was designed and implemented specifically for the Geneve 9640 by Paul Charlton. MDOS was designed to fully emulate the TI-99/4A computer while providing an advanced (for its time) virtual memory operating environment with full support for mouse, GUI, and complex mathematical applications.
| Developer | Myarc, Paul Charlton, MDOS Buyout Group |
|---|---|
| Working state | Current versions 6.70 & 6.71 |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | 1987 |
| Marketing target | Home computer |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
| Default user interface | MDOS CLI |
| License | Public domain |
In 1993, Beery Miller the publisher of 9640 News, organized a group of Geneve 9640 owners and was able to purchase all rights to the source code for MDOS, Advanced Basic, the PSYSTEM runtime module, and the GPL Interpreter from Myarc and Paul Charlton.
Over the years, MDOS has been updated by individuals including T. Tesch, Clint Pulley, Alan Beard, John Johnson, James Schroeder, Mike Maksimik, James Uzzell, Tony Knerr, Beery Miller, and others. Support adding SCSI, IDE, and larger ramdisks were added in the earlier years from the buyout. In late 2020 and early 2021 with the release of the TIPI for the TI-99/4A, the Geneve was interfaced with the TIPI and a Raspberry Pi providing TCP socket access and nearly unlimited high speed hard-drive like file access.
A small but active base of users still exist on www.Atariage.com as of 2021 where T. Tesch, Beery Miller, and others provide support.
MDOS was written specifically for the TMS9995 16-bit CPU and the Yamaha V9938 video display processor.
All source code for the Geneve 9640 is in the public domain.
External links
edit- Myarc Geneve 9640 Family Computer
- Myarc Geneve 9640 Software
- 9640News Software
- Geneve 9640 – a close look at the system board and sales flyer
- Geneve 9640 at the Home Computer Museum
- Geneve items @ Richard Bell's Company
- Photo of Geneve 9640 booting – HD-based vertical PEB system belonging to Gregory McGill
- Photo of Geneve showing swan image – from Mainbyte
- 1988 Dallas TI Fair – mixed Geneve 9640 and TI-99/4A photos
- Geneve 9640 – at old-computers.com
- Heatwave BBS – Telnet BBS operating on a Myarc Geneve 9640 under MDOS.
