Tim Paterson Releases Original 86-DOS Source Code From Printed Listings Found in His Garage
The original developer of 86-DOS and MS-DOS has published printed source code listings for 86-DOS 1.00 and related software. The code was discovered on printer paper in Tim Paterson’s garage, and the release includes assembler listings for the 86-DOS 1.00 kernel, development snapshots of PC-DOS 1.00, and utility source code such as CHKDSK. The documents contain handwritten notes, which complicate transcription.
"The code was discovered on printer paper in Tim Paterson’s garage."
Background
86-DOS was originally released in 1980 by Tim Paterson. Microsoft licensed the operating system in 1981 and subsequently purchased it. The software served as the precursor to both MS-DOS and IBM PC-DOS.
Availability
The transcribed source code is available on GitHub, and original scans of the printed documents are available on Archive.org. Of ten bundles of materials, eight have been transcribed so far. The transcribed code includes 86-DOS 1.00, MS-DOS 1.25, and PC-DOS 1.00-dev. The transcribed code requires the Seattle Computer Products assembler to be compiled.
Project Details
The project page includes blog posts with technical details about the code. The maintainers have invited contributions for further transcription and testing.