CP/M, short for Control Program for Microcomputers, was an operating system created by Gary Kildall of Digital Research for 8-bit microcomputers based on the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors. Kildall wrote it in the language PL/M, and by separating the hardware-dependent part into a BIOS he made it easy to adapt to many different machines. It became the standard operating system of business microcomputers in the late 1970s, with thousands of programs, including WordStar and dBase. When IBM planned its personal computer in 1980 it approached Digital Research but ended up with Microsoft's PC-DOS, derived from the QDOS system of Seattle Computer Products, whose interface closely resembled CP/M's. CP/M-86 lost out to DOS. Kildall died in 1994.
Before and after
- 1 December 1973Death of David Ben-Gurion
- 3 December 1973Pioneer 10 flies past Jupiter
- 1974Origins of Berlin Marathon
- 1974Introduction of ngultrum
- 1974Creation of CP/M
- 1974Invention of Sed
- 1974Waterloo
- 1974Construction of Estádio Nacional de Brasília
- 1974Establishment of Amboseli National Park
More in Science & technology
- 1945Discovery of promethium
- 1950Discovery of californium
- 1952Discovery of einsteinium
- December 1952Discovery of fermium
- 29 August 1982Discovery of meitnerium
- June 2002Discovery of oganesson
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.