Multiuser DOS - Concurrent DOS - Concurrent DOS 286 and FlexOS

Concurrent DOS 286 and FlexOS

In January 1985, Digital Research previewed Concurrent DOS 286 in cooperation with Intel. The operating system would function strictly in 80286 native mode, allowing protected mode multi-user, multitasking operation while running 8086 emulation. While this worked on the B-1 step of prototype chip samples, Digital Research, with evaluation copies of their operating system already shipping in April, discovered problems with the emulation on the production level C-1 step of the processor in May, which would not allow Concurrent DOS 286 to run 8086 software in protected mode. The release of Concurrent DOS 286 had been scheduled for late May, but was delayed until Intel could develop a new version of the chip. In August, after extensive testing E-1 step samples of the 80286, Digital Research said that Intel had corrected all documented 286 errata, but that there were still undocumented chip performance problems with the prerelease version of Concurrent DOS 286 running on the E-1 step. Intel said that the approach Digital Research wished to take in emulating 8086 software in protected mode differed from the original specifications; nevertheless they incorporated into the E-2 step minor changes in the microcode that allowed Digital Research to run emulation mode much faster. These same limitations affected FlexOS 286 version 1.0, a derivation of Concurrent DOS 286.

Later versions added compatibility with PC DOS 2.x and 3.x.