Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!gatech!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: PC-DOS on compatible system
Summary: Sorry, MS-DOS != PC-DOS
Message-ID: <2931@rti.UUCP>
Date: 6 May 89 02:41:38 GMT
References: <3816@peora.ccur.com> <1792@ubu.warwick.UUCP>
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 31

In article <1792@ubu.warwick.UUCP>, dalm@warwick.UUCP (D A L Michael) writes:
> In article <3816@peora.ccur.com> tran@peora.ccur.com (Nhan Tran) writes:
> >
> >I have IBM-DOS 3.3 (not MS-DOS).  Can I use it on an AT-compatible?  I
> >remember a while ago I cannot use BASIC supplied on IBM-DOS disk on a
> >compatible system at all.   I am not sure if I can boot a compatible with
> >IBM-DOS.  I appreciate any comment you have.
> >
> 
> Yes, IBM DOS will work in any machine that will run MS DOS, they are
> essencially the same thing, only IBM have stuck their name on it.

This is not accurate, although it is an understandable mistake.  PC-DOS
is the IBM version of MS-DOS (licensed from Microsoft, with IBM changes/
additions and the IBM BIOS).  It will certainly NOT work in just any old
machine that will run MS-DOS!  Normally, when a manufacturer builds a PC,
they license MS-DOS from Microsoft and customize it with their own BIOS
(sometimes licensed from software houses such as Phoenix).  There is NO
technical reason why the manufacturer should choose to have the BIOS look
like an IBM BIOS ... the reason is entirely market-driven.  The market
has spoken and said that they will only buy machines that have an IBM-
compatible BIOS (in no small part because of the number of application
programs out there that make BIOS - or even worse, hardware - calls that
depend on the IBM PC architecture).

IBM's BASICA interpreter (distributed with DOS, licensed again from
Microsoft) knows quite a bit about the PC (including bits of the BASIC
interpreter in the IBM ROM-BIOS) and will NOT run on anything but a
real IBM PC.

						Bruce C. Wright