MS-DOS 2.0 for Vector Graphic Inc. Vector 4

[mrpijey]

Well, here's a little gem I recently received, I thought of sharing some pics and info about it, perhaps someone here has heard of this and can give some more info...

First a little pic of the floppy:



I have this scan in 600dpi and will be released with the floppy dump once the product has been properly identified and dumped.

So, some basic info I could find out about this system:

• Vector Graphic Inc., operated between 1976 and 1984. An american company making mainly Z80-based computers (mainly the Vector 1, Vector 3, MZ and Vector 4 (all including various sub-models).
• Ran mainly various CP/M versions but apparently also this MS-DOS version (Vector 4).
• Used a 5.25" floppy drive (originally Micropolis, but later Tandon).
• Floppies used a non-standard size compared to the later IBM-PC formats, 5.25" 96tpi would translate to roughly 720kb (if I intepret it correctly?). When doing a dump of the floppy using the Kryoflux device I managed to dump all 80 tracks, however after analyzing the image it only uses a small portion of it. The dump has been sent to Kryoflux for proper identification and preserving.

After dumping it and saving it to a regular img (720KB) I managed to get the following file list:



I had some issues extracting the files, but this may be because of the weird floppy format, I got some odd errors when dumping this into img (using the "MFM sector image" in the dumper for those of you that know what I mean) so the resulting image could be bad, however I had no reading errors when making the raw dump so hopefully we could get a proper image and some info soon from the guys at Kryoflux.

However, after digging through the image I found some strings that could be of interest:

Code: Select all

VECTOR GRAPHIC MS-DOS 2.0 VERSION 1.0 (AB)

Code: Select all

COPYRIGHT (C) 1983 VECTOR GRAPHIC INC

Code: Select all

$S-DOS version 2.00
Copyright 1981,82,83 Microsoft Corp.

Code: Select all

Command v. 2.02

Code: Select all

Vector 3 compatible mode

So judging by the floppy scan and info this MS-DOS version is from 1992, but licensed and released by Vector Graphic Inc. in 1993. Judging by the string in the floppy this was either meant for the Vector 3, or it could be used on both Vector 1 and 3. It's been verified as meant for the Vector 4 system as it's in the only one capable of running MS-DOS on its hybrid Z80/i808x architecture.

I will add any additional info I can find about this, and once the system is properly identified and the floppy can be properly dumped I will make this image available to everyone here.

I hope we find more gems like this! .

Addition: This floppy may even be for the Vector 4 system which was a Z80/i8088 (i8086 with an upgrade) hybrid. Some more strings in the image point to communication tools meant for the Vector 4 model which had a token ring network card as an option. This system was the only Vector system that could run MS-DOS.

Addition: This is definately for the Vector 4 system (released in 1983 according to unverified sources) as it's the only one capable of running MS-DOS. So that's nailed down. Title changed to reflect this.

[MacFan]

Interesting. I seem to remember seeing a Vector system for sale locally a few years back. I was going for around NZD$75 starting bid.

[WinPC]

Interesting find!

Do you know of any emulators for this? If so, I would be glad to help, and possibly even add it to my list of emulators for each operating system that I'm working on for the site.

But anyway, I hope that you decide to upload this to the FTP server as soon as possible.

[mrpijey]

Unfortunately no, there's no emulator that can run this properly. MESS can only emulate the Z80 mode of it, not the i8088 mode needed for booting MS-DOS. Perhaps it can boot on a S-100-based (the base architecture of Altair 8800 and other systems) i8088 system but I need to find such system first. The only other system I could find that had both Z80 and i8088 and that is (partially) emulated by MESS is the Rainbow 100B, but either way I still need an image before I can test it out. MESS can boot IPF images but I need the SPS community to make one for me first.

But you should definately add MESS to your emulator list as it emulates over 1500 systems (some very badly, some very well), take a look at it.

As for releasing this, it won't be possible until I can make a proper dump of the floppy, which I can't at the moment.

[carlaum1]

There's a brazilian DOS clone for hybrid Z80/i8088 PCs: Itautec SIM/DOS 2.0. I don't know if there's a relationship between this clone and the oficial Microsoft version also made for that kind of computer.

Download link: http://www.datacassete.com.br/uploads/p ... os_2.0.zip

[George_528]

Sounds interesting.

[cantasan99]

What is this? A graphic driver?

[CaptainPeanut]

What is this? A graphic driver?

Now it's obvious that you've read the whole topic.

Sarcasm aside : NO.

[George_528]

Is it possible to run this MS-DOS 2.0 in QEMU or Virtual PC ?

[mrpijey]

No, since it's not an IBM PC-compatible operating system. I did type a few posts up that there's no proper emulation for this...

[cantasan99]

I understood it: This is a special DOS for another machine.

[voidp]

I found this blurb about the disk:

Vector 4 MS-DOS 2.0 Operating System (Type 61) Version 1.0 Release 1 (AC) ERO #0006 Copyright by Microsoft 1982 Part number 6000-9039 Serial number MS2S-72

And a blurb about Vector:

Vector Graphic is an early microcomputer from the mid-1970s. It is from the pre-IBM PC era as along with the NorthStar Horizon, IMSAI, and MITS Altair.

It is based on the S-100 bus using the Z80 microprocessor. There were several Vector Graphic models produced. Although primarily used with theCP/M operating system, it ran several others including OASIS, Micropolis Disk Operating System (MDOS), and Micropolis Z80 Operating System (MZOS).

Early Vector Graphic models used the Micropolis floppy disk controller and Micropolis floppy disk drives. Later models were designed with the integrated Floppy Drive/Hard Drive controller and used Tandon floppy drives. Almost all used unusual 100 track per inch 5.25" floppy drives and 16 sector hard sector media. Some models included 8" floppy drives and hard disk drives.

Vector Graphic computers had many innovations such as the Flashwriter integrated video and keyboard controller. Vector Graphic is commonly known for their MEMORITE word processing application. When combined with the Flashwriter, the Vector Graphic MEMORITE software gave low cost word processing capability which had previously only been available with dedicated word processors.

[FronzelNeekburm]

Very interesting historic find. If you want to run other Vector Graphic machines like the Vector 3 or earlier there is an emulator called SIMH. Unlike the name of the company suggests the screens of these machines were NOT Vector displays (Like in the VECTREX home console) but rather traditional CRT screens.

[mrpijey]

I got some new information provided by my contribution to the SPS community regarding the image:

It is a 720 kB disk consisting of 2 sides, 80 tracks per side and 9 sectors per track, with a target rpm of 300. I've never seen that combination before, but generally anything is possible as long as the floppy controller supports it.

The dump generally seems to be good, i.e. no read errors or modification. Also I had no problems extracting files from the sector image. It is possible that the Vector system used a different disk side numbering, this would at least explain the warning. It will have to be analyzed later, with hopefully some more dumps of Vector disks which would serve as further examples.

I have recently managed to get a Vector 4 and I am waiting for its arrival. With it there should be a full set of installation floppies including some kind of office software common for the era, I will submit all that to SPS as well as BA and hope that we can preserve this. Hopefully we will also get proper IPF images made of these stream files so we can properly archive the software. Scans of all the media will of course be made and included with both the release and submitted into my media gallery (and in the future the BA gallery).

[wschne@west.net]

I am very familiar with Memorite having used it since 1980. Memorite II was used on the Z80 Vector Graphic systems; Memorite III was released for CP/M. The Vector 4 was a dual processor machine; it could run CP/M or MS-DOS. Vector 4s used a double sided, 16 hard sector Tanden drive. I have a Vector 4, but I don't have your version of Memorite. I will send you a disk, and you can make me a copy, if you can, or I could make a copy of your disk, and return it.

Bill