I am working on so many separate projects that I forgot that P1 DOS –my improved and more usable version of Central Data DOS– was not published on the website yet. This oversight has now been corrected. On the P1 DOS page you can downloaded the sources, and view the DOS manual.
If you do not have a 2650-equiped, fully restored Central Data board laying around, then why not try the excellent WinArcadia emulator? Using the emulator, the diskette image and the instructions you can try P1 DOS without the hardware.
Central Data DOS has a surprisingly sophisticated security system:
- Multiple users, each with their own sign-on password. A user may be elevated to supervisor, enabling additional capabilities and bypassing access controls.
- Optional access control on all files, with separate controls for Read and Modify operations.
- Access control can be set to require a password or be tied to a particular user. Access control can also be limited to supervisors.
- When a user signs-on a chosen program can automatically be started.
Further utility programs are necessary to make P1 DOS useful. These exist, but are not on the website yet. Central Data has an assembler with a built-in editor, and several Basic interpreters exist. There was a Pascal compiler, and a Forth interpreter as well. Central Data even had a 2650-simulator running on the Central Data board. These will be added to the website eventually. But first, I want to finish reverse-engineering of the TWIN Disk Operating Systems.