Web site: www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/037/qlsoft.htm (not active) | sites.google.com/site/ql68kos/
Origin: United Kingdom
Category: Desktop
Desktop environment: CLI
Architecture: Motorola 68008
Based on: Independent
Wikipedia: 68K/OS
Media: Install
The last version | Released: 1984
68K/OS – a computer operating system developed by GST Computer Systems for the Sinclair QL microcomputer.
The Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap) is a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in 1984, as an upper-end counterpart to the ZX Spectrum.
It was commissioned by Sinclair Research in February 1983. However, after the official launch of the QL in January 1984, where the QL with 68K/OS was demonstrated to the press in the Intercontinental Hotel, 68K/OS was rejected. Production QLs were shipped with Sinclair’s own QDOS operating system, developed in-house.
GST later released 68K/OS as an alternative to QDOS, in the form of an EPROM expansion card.
68K/OS was well designed, multi-windowing, single user, multi-tasking system. It had no built-in BASIC language, nor command line shell interpreter. Instead, 68K/OS had “ADAM” user interface with windows and menus.
The operating system was developed by Chris Scheybeler, Tim Ward, Howard Chalkley and others.
Sinclair has taken on the GST Assembler, may be as reparation for not using the Company’s 68K-OS as the QL operating system. As the assembler does not have an integrated editor it has been packaged with the Metacomco full screen editor. That provides facilities for entry of any ASCII text file so you can also use it to edit Basic programs.
All 68000 instructions can be used with the product which contains a series of impressive utilities to make life easier for the programmer. One such utility is the INCLUDE directive which enables you to link in other source file subroutines – macros – from microdrive as if they were part of the main source code.
