ISIS (operating system)
Encyclopedia
ISIS is an operating system, created by Intel for their Intel Microprocessor Development System around 1976 and adopted as ISIS-II for systems with floppy drives. User interface is Unix-like, even from the program interface point of view, communication with the kernel is this way (i.e., for file opening program should send the name of file and gets back a handle). On the diskette, there was no subdirectory; instead of this, each device has its name, which can be written between a pair of colons (:F0: and :F1: were floppies, :LP: was printer, etc.). ISIS-II has been distributed as part of the Intel Microprocessor Development System and includes standard operating system commands (copy, delete, dir, rename, format) and debugging software (assembler, linker and debugger for external debugging in developed device). There were two editors, one of which, AEdit, contains editing macros support. File editing was provided directly on disk (the .BAK file was always created).
For running ISIS-II, at least 32 kilobytes of RAM was demanded (maximum was 64 kilobytes minus the boot system size). Floppy disk
format was 8-inch single density, 250 kB single sided, or 500 kB double sided, later replaced with 5¼ inch double sided single density. Operating system itself was independent of device. Communication with user was terminal-like.
For running ISIS-II, at least 32 kilobytes of RAM was demanded (maximum was 64 kilobytes minus the boot system size). Floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
format was 8-inch single density, 250 kB single sided, or 500 kB double sided, later replaced with 5¼ inch double sided single density. Operating system itself was independent of device. Communication with user was terminal-like.