DOS

Group of closely related IBM PC-compatible operating systems / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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DOS (/dɒs/, /dɔːs/) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers.[1] The DOS family primarily consists of Microsoft's MS-DOS and a rebranded version, IBM PC DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible systems from other manufacturers include DR DOS (1988), ROM-DOS (1989), PTS-DOS (1993), and FreeDOS (1998). MS-DOS dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995.

The boot screen and command-line interface of MS-DOS 6, with an example of its directory structure
The boot screen and command-line interface of FreeDOS, showing version information and an example of its directory structure

Although the name has come to be identified specifically with this particular family of operating systems, "DOS" is a platform-independent acronym for "disk operating system",[2] whose use predates the IBM PC. Dozens of other operating systems also use the acronym, beginning with the mainframe DOS/360 from 1966. Others include Apple DOS, Apple ProDOS, Atari DOS, Commodore DOS, TRSDOS, and AmigaDOS.