CP/M

CP/M
A screenshot of CP/M-86
DeveloperDigital Research, Inc., Gary Kildall
Written inPL/M, Assembly language
Working stateHistorical
Source modelOriginally closed source, now open source[1]
Initial release1974 (1974)
Latest release3.1 / 1983 (1983)[2]
Available inEnglish
Update methodRe-installation
Package managerNone
PlatformsIntel 8080, Intel 8085, Zilog Z80, Zilog Z8000, Intel 8086, Motorola 68000
Kernel typeMonolithic kernel
Influenced byRT-11, OS/8
Default
user interface
Command-line interface (CCP.COM)
LicenseOriginally proprietary, now BSD-like
Succeeded byMP/M, CP/M-86
Official websiteDigital Research CP/M page

CP/M,[3] originally standing for Control Program/Monitor[4] and later Control Program for Microcomputers,[5][6][7] is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. CP/M is a disk operating system[8] and its purpose is to organize files on a magnetic storage medium, and to load and run programs stored on a disk. Initially confined to single-tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors.

CP/M's core components are the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), the Basic Disk Operating System (BDOS), and the Console Command Processor (CCP). The BIOS consists of drivers that deal with devices and system hardware. The BDOS implements the file system and provides system services to applications. The CCP is the command-line interpreter and provides some built-in commands.

CP/M eventually became the de facto standard and the dominant operating system for microcomputers,[9] in combination with the S-100 bus computers. This computer platform was widely used in business through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s.[10] CP/M increased the market size for both hardware and software by greatly reducing the amount of programming required to port an application to a new manufacturer's computer.[11][12] An important driver of software innovation was the advent of (comparatively) low-cost microcomputers running CP/M, as independent programmers and hackers bought them and shared their creations in user groups.[13] CP/M was eventually displaced in popularity by DOS following the 1981 introduction of the IBM PC.

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  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mann83 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference CPM.NYT83 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kildall.NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kildall_1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Newton_2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference byte1983_07 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Proven, Liam (2024-08-02). "50 years ago, CP/M started the microcomputer revolution". The Register.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Compupro816 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference InfoWorld May 1981 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference InfoWorld July 1982 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Commodore_128 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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