"CP/M compatible" vs. "MS-DOS Compatible" machines?

[Bob Bradlee]

CPM had a bios section that loaded on boot. A bios was built for each and every configuration.
There was no compatibility mod persay. Several vendors had fancy bios configurators that "Built" a bios 
from boiler plate based on desired hardware configuration and linked it up for the faint of heart.
But as for a universally compatible bios that was what ms/pcdos introduced to the masses.

The other Bob


On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:33:47 -0500, Joshua Alexander Dersch wrote:

>scheefj at netscape.net writes: 

>> In the early-mid 80's a program was "well behaved" if it did it's I/O thru 
>> DOS calls. Those programs would run on just about anything.

>Were there similar problems in the CP/M world?  That is, was it commonplace 
>for there to be CP/M programs that bypassed CP/M BDOS calls and wrote 
>directly to a specific machine's hardware?  Seems like CP/M developers were 
>more disciplined in this fashion, but maybe it's just because in the CP/M 
>arena there were so many different pieces of hardware it was the only way to 
>do it?  (Whereas with IBM, the PC was seen as more of a reference standard, 
>even if it wasn't really that way in the beginning?) 

>I'd be interested to hear opinions from people who were there at the time, 
>since it was a little before my time. 


>Josh