[HN Gopher] In the beginning was CAOS (1988)
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       In the beginning was CAOS (1988)
        
       Author : nickt
       Score  : 14 points
       Date   : 2021-12-19 15:03 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.devili.iki.fi)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.devili.iki.fi)
        
       | nosianu wrote:
       | > _CAOS stands for the Commodore Amiga Operating System._
       | 
       | It also stands for "Cassette Aided Operation System" - in the
       | GDR. It was used for East Germany's 8 bit computers (KC85 line).
       | 
       | Even as an East German pupil, the physics teacher in my school
       | who started a "computer club" got us ZX Spectrum, C64, C128 and 8
       | bit Atari. I got to use and later own GDR-made KC85 elsewhere.
       | Having used both, for 8 bit machines the KC85, especially the
       | last model KC85/4, was really good - for work (no way to beat the
       | game abilities and huge amount of software of the C64).
       | 
       | I still remember how you told "CAOS" about software loaded into
       | the computer: You had 7F7F (7F is LD A,A in assembler if I
       | remember correctly, so unlikely to be found in any code) followed
       | by a string used as name for the software followed by either 00
       | or 01, I don't quite remember, I think two values existed which
       | lead to two different uses of the name. The program started in
       | the next byte. CAOS would search the RAM for /F/F and display the
       | names in a menu. You select the program you want to start and it
       | jumps there. Software was soooo much simpler. To call an OS
       | routine you put a number into register A and called a fixed
       | memory address. You pretty much knew every single byte of the 64K
       | RAM personally.
       | 
       | I only had a DIS-assembler - which I found in a printed computer
       | magazine and manually entered as HEX code before being able to
       | save it to cassette for later repeat use. To write assembler
       | code, I wrote it all on paper. Then I used a booklet of assembler
       | codes for the Z80 clone U880 CPU to manually convert it into HEX
       | code. I had to do a bit of binary arithmetic especially for
       | relative jumps backwards. Then I used a hex editor to enter the
       | code and used my dis-assembler to check if I had translated it
       | all correctly. Ah, good times.
       | 
       | There were radio broadcasts of software, which you could record
       | to cassette and then read into the KC86 computer. It was actually
       | fairly easy to tell just from the sound if a piece of software
       | was written in BASIC or in Assembler.
       | 
       | I played a bit on a friend's Amiga but in the end got an Atari
       | 1040ST with 70Hz B/W monitor, which for screen work was far
       | superior to the 50Hz of the Amiga. Only black and white though,
       | still, enough for work.
       | 
       | https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_Aided_Operation_Syste...
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KC_85
       | 
       | http://www.mpm-kc85.de/html/CAOS_42.htm
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U880
        
         | nickt wrote:
         | I was unfamiliar with the KC85, what a great system and a good
         | looking machine too - not what I would have expected to come
         | out of East Germany in the 1980's. Thanks for sharing - they
         | were the days!
         | 
         | English link: http://www.mpm-kc85.com/
        
         | flohofwoe wrote:
         | Hah, came here to mention the KC85 too :)
         | 
         | I wrote a KC85/2, /3 and /4 emulator which also runs in
         | browsers. Here are some links if anybody wants to tinker a bit:
         | 
         | - KC85/3: https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html
         | 
         | - KC85/4: https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc854.html
         | 
         | - the best game (once past the intro screens, press Enter to
         | start):
         | https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/kc853.html?mod=m022&file=k...
         | 
         | More (below the C64 and VIC-20 demos):
         | https://floooh.github.io/tiny8bit/
         | 
         | PS: I went to the Amiga side ;)
        
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       (page generated 2021-12-19 23:01 UTC)