# How many operating systems have you had to learn (and forget)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979 "2004-10-25T02:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/1 "2004-10-25T02:22:58Z")
I’m not a geek. There are many here who are much more so (I think). But a quick head-scan tells me I’ve dealt with: - (don’t know if this counts) TI Basic (all you could get on a TI-99/4A) - DOS 2.something - DOS 3.31 - DOS 4.01 - DOS 5.0 - Windows/286 - Windows/386 - Windows 3.0 - Windows 3.1 - WFWG 3.11 - NT 3.5 - NT 3.51 - NT 4.0 - Windows 95 - Windows 2000 Professional - Windows XP Professional Obvously, I’ve skipped a few. While I have had to get on, say, a Win98 machine and do something, I’m only including the systems I’ve lived with and learned, to some degree. Not an IT guy here, just somebody who’s had to deal with all of these systems, learn what I needed to know and then forget it. I’d have to study up to get a WFWG machine on a network, although I was comfortable with that a dozen years ago. _Gahhhh_! I think I’m just thinking about how much we have to learn and forget in a relatively short time frame these days. How many versions of Excel, Word, CorelDRAW, Surfer, Kingdom, etc. have I lived through? I began using Pagemaker in the late '80s (when it ran in run-time Windows) and became quite proficient, spewing out nifty documents from version 2.0 through 4.0. Then, I abandoned it for other things. I doubt I could be quickly productive in the current version (if it still exists). And there’s another rub. We based our business in the '90s partly around a DB front end called PerFORM Pro. While it served us well, the demands of time’s progression forced upgrades to better machines and newer OSs that no longer worked well with the by now orphaned database software. Is it worth learning technology that is probably going bye-bye pretty soon? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/2 "2004-10-25T02:32:06Z")
Hmmmm, I had a TI99/4A (I called it Tina), a Commodore 128, which had THREE operating systems, and several flavors of Windows. Usually I only learn enough about each OS to be able to load up my games, then I’m not interested in any other tricks it can perform. I still have fond memories of some of the TI’s games, such as Tunnels of Doom and Reversi. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/3 "2004-10-25T02:37:46Z")
I’m not very exciting. First Internet-compliant Device: Brother Word Processor (don’t know the OS, but obviously some proprietary Brother OS). Dated late 1997. First computer: Windows 3.11 Upgraded to Windows 95 New computer, Windows 98 First Mac, Mac OS 8.1 Upgrade to Mac OS 8.6 New Mac, Mac OS 9.1 and Mac OS X (dual boot) New Mac, OS X.2 (“Jaguar”) New PC, Windows XP Pro That’s it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/4 "2004-10-25T02:54:21Z")
**Lynn** , your post reminds me of a tale I’ve probably told before, but not for a long time. With parents we struggle, typically, to give them meaningful gifts at those gift giving times. I gave my father many neckties and bottles of cologne. Well, nice try. My mom got a TI99/4A at the same time I did. She was in her mid-60s then. I’d noticed, as I drove past her house on the way home from the bars, that blue light of a television screen keeping her up and concentrated until the wee hours of the morning. I soon learned that she’d become a _Space Invaders_ fanatic. That Christmas I gave her the only present I’ve ever felt was worth it for her, joysticks for the TI99/4A. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/5 "2004-10-25T03:10:33Z")
Ah, you young whippersnappers, with your computers that come with software _already installed._ My first computer was an IMSAI 8080, ca. 1976 (1978?). After I finished hand-soldering all 2200 pins on the motherboard and N number of pins on the CPU board, I discovered the basic kit didn’t include any RAM or even any sockets to put it in. After soldering up a few 4K memory boards with a hundred chips on each, I tackled the problem of having no operating system by writing my own. The next generation was CP/M, which required only a little bit of code writing to get it to run. Far in the future was DOS 1.0 and hard drives were only a dream… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/6 "2004-10-25T03:23:49Z")
Well enough to klunk around in: DOS (from about version 3.30 onwards) Windows 3.1/3.11 Windows 95 Windows NT Red Hat Linux FreeBSD Not really well enough to even klunk around in, but could do specific tasks: VMS CP AmigaOS Well enough to be 1st-tier tech support: MacOS X (from 10.0 thru 10.3.5) Well enough to be the person 1st-tier tech support escalates their calls to: Macintosh Systems 3, 4, 6, and 7; MacOS 8, 9 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/7 "2004-10-25T03:54:05Z")
I guess the most exotic I have used is TSS, which is a Honeywell OS from the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/8 "2004-10-25T04:07:51Z")
Many of the above: tons of varients of CP/M, MS-DOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD. But also of interest, I wrote my own Forth kernel on my TRS-80 way back, and used it again as a replacement for CP/M on a Z80 machine (Kaypro). So, for a year or two there, I used pretty much exclusively an OS of my own construction, written completely from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/9 "2004-10-25T04:47:27Z")
My list is fairly long. - Whatever the heck the old commodores ran - DOS 3.31 - DOS 4.01 - DOS 5.0 and up - Dr. DOS - Windows/286 - Windows/386 - Windows 3.0 - Windows 3.1 - WFWG 3.11 - NT 3.5 - NT 3.51 - NT 4.0 - Windows 95/98 - Windows ME - Windows 2000 Professional - Windows XP Professional - AIX - Solaris - NetBSD - FreeBSD - Red Hat Linux - Solaris - HP-UX - AS400 (The most annoying OS ever) - VOS (I had root on a major ISP’s mail system, which ran VOS, with no training. Just a manual. I had to fix a couple processes. That was scary) - Mac OS 3 until 9.something Slee ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/10 "2004-10-25T05:01:32Z")
DOS (most variants) Early MAC Windows (most variants, except early NT) and a smattering of BASIC, RSTS, and UNIX. Some commands submitted from a terminal (SPSS/BMSP - stat packages, not OS) and some with punch cards. _shudder_ With any luck, the Great and Horrible CDC Cyber 7000 God would vomit back page after page of mystery output. Too often, we’d just be cyburped off the system. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/11 "2004-10-25T05:32:20Z")
Windows 98, 2000, and XP. I’m not much of a computer person, obviously. I just hit the button on the tower and go. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/12 "2004-10-25T05:55:20Z")
OS/SVS OS/MVS .9 release (Actually it was 3.8, but it was public domain and seemed like an Alpha release) MVS/SP MVS/XA MVS/ESA OS/390 zOS DOS (the real one that turned into VSE) VSE/XA VSE/ESA Win 95 Win 2000 Win NT 4.0 Burroughs 4800 ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/13 "2004-10-25T09:25:02Z")
What, no one else who started with DEC’s RSX-11M? Various flavors of Unix? Novell Netware 3.11? Youngsters! ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/14 "2004-10-25T09:26:37Z")
Oh, and how about BTOS and CTOS? Damn, I’ve hit some obscure ones… ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/15 "2004-10-25T09:42:45Z")
MULTICS anybody? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/16 "2004-10-25T10:55:18Z")
Some of these I only had sporadic contact with and didn’t really get to know deeply, nevertheless: NetWare versions 2.0c, 2.12, 2.15, EFT2, 3.0, 3.10, 3.11, 3.2, 4.0, 4.01, 4.10, 4.11, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.5 DOS versions 2.something up to 6.22 DRDOS5 and up to 7.2 Windows 2.11, 3.0, 3.10, 3.11, NT3.5x, NT4, Win95, win98, WinME, win2000, winXP BTOS - does anyone reading this know what BTOS was? If so, Wow. DOS (not MSDOS!) on the Apple ][+,][e, and then on the][c, ProDOS! MacOSs from the 128 (1.0) up to OS X 10.3.x Commodore 64, Dick Smith system 80, Tandy TRS 80, Microbee CP/M, S100, Commodore PET, Amiga, Exidy Sorcerer … there were so many of these things then! ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/17 "2004-10-25T10:58:50Z")
> [@AndrewT](#): > > BTOS - does anyone reading this know what BTOS was? If so, Wow. Well, I’m glad _somebody_ was impressed! (You should read before posting. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/18 "2004-10-25T11:00:48Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > Well, I’m glad _somebody_ was impressed! (You should read before posting. 😉 ) I did but it took me two hours’ research to finish my post. AND I’d totally forgotten about CTOS! So thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/19 "2004-10-25T11:04:53Z")
> [@AndrewT](#): > > I did but it took me two hours’ research to finish my post. AND I’d totally forgotten about CTOS! So thanks. Of course, BTOS was just CTOS used by Burroughs under license, so it almost doesn’t count. I’m still hoping for an RSX-11M afficianado to pop up, so we can swap hilarious, obscure “PIP” stories that will bore every other poster to tears. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979/20 "2004-10-25T11:46:37Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > What, no one else who started with DEC’s RSX-11M? Various flavors of Unix? Novell Netware 3.11? Youngsters! I can claim RSX-11 M **and** S, as well as RSTS and VMS. There’s also OS/9 and pSOS feathers in my cap [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-operating-systems-have-you-had-to-learn-and-forget/270979.md?page=2)