Frequently Asked Questions - OS-9 General

OS-9 is modular, allowing new devices to be added to the system simply by writing new device drivers, or if a similar device already exists, by simply creating a new device descriptor. All I/O devices can be treated as files, which unifies the I/O system. In addition, the kernel and all user programs are ROMable. Thus, OS-9 can run on any supported hardware platform from simple diskless embedded control systems to large multiuser minicomputers.

Originally developed for the 6809 microprocessor, OS-9 was a joint effort between Microware and Motorola. The original version of OS-9 (OS-9 Level I) was capable of addressing 64 kilobytes of memory. OS-9 Level II took advantage of dynamic address translation hardware, and allowed a mapped address space of one megabyte on most systems, and up to two megabytes on others, most notably the Tandy Color Computer 3.

In the 1980's, Microware ported OS-9 to the 68000 family of microprocessors, creating OS-9/68000, which is used in a variety of industrial and commercial arenas, including Philips' CD-i and most recently, set-top boxes for interactive television. Microware is constantly added processor support to OS-9000. Currently supported processors include 68xxx, PPC, X86, ARM, Intel SARM / IXP, MIPS, Hitachi SH4.

OS-9 is currently owned by Microware LP which is a partnership of Freestation Inc. Microsys Gmbh, and RTSI LLC.   We are continually updating and adding to OS-9.

What is OS-9?

OS-9 is modular, allowing new devices to be added to the system simply by writing new device drivers, or if a similar device already exists, by simply creating a new device descriptor. All I/O devices can be treated as files, which unifies the I/O system. In addition, the kernel and all user programs are ROMable. Thus, OS-9 can run on any supported hardware platform from simple diskless embedded control systems to large multiuser minicomputers.

Originally developed for the 6809 microprocessor, OS-9 was a joint effort between Microware and Motorola. The original version of OS-9 (OS-9 Level I) was capable of addressing 64 kilobytes of memory. OS-9 Level II took advantage of dynamic address translation hardware, and allowed a mapped address space of one megabyte on most systems, and up to two megabytes on others, most notably the Tandy Color Computer 3.

In the 1980's, Microware ported OS-9 to the 68000 family of microprocessors, creating OS-9/68000, which is used in a variety of industrial and commercial arenas, including Philips' CD-i and most recently, set-top boxes for interactive television. Microware is constantly added processor support to OS-9000. Currently supported processors include 68xxx, PPC, X86, Intel SARM / IXP, MIPS, SPARC, Hitachi SH.

What is OS-9000?

OS-9000 is a portable version of OS-9, written primarily in C. It is available for the Intel (386 and higher), PowerPC processors, ARM, StrongArm, SH, MIPS, and Sparc. Code is portable across OS-9000 platforms and between OS-9 at the source code level. Theoretically, OS-9000 can be ported to any modern computer architecture. Currenlty Microware refers to all ports of OS-9000 as OS-9.

OS-9/6809 runs on a variety of platforms, perhaps the most (in)famous being the Tandy Color Computer. Other systems include the SWTPC SCB-69, the Gimix 6809, Smoke Signal Broadcasting's Chieftain 6809, FHL's TC-9, the Febe, and a host of others, most of which are SS-50 bus machines. Note that OS-9/6809 is no longer supported by Microware, but many user groups, BBSes, and a handful of FTP sites offer help and maintain software collections for OS-9/6809.

OS-9/68K  runs on all 68XXX family CPU's

OS-9/OS-9000 runs on Most PPC, ARMv5 and ARMv7-A, X86 Pentium class or better, SH4/SH4a, and other  CPU's.

The answer is to setup your VBOX enviornment to use bridging instead of NAT.   This will allow for proper routing of packets to the VBOX OS.

OS-9 / OS-9000 falls under export control EAR99 / 4D993.c /AT ( Anti Terrorism) Column 1,  Operating system “software” “specially designed” for “real-time processing” equipment that guarantees a “global interrupt latency time” of less than 20 microseconds.

    This requires any system using OS-9 / OS-9000 to get an export license if the system is sent to any county listed in section 740, supplement 1, Country Group E.    OpenSSL is not subject to export controls because it is publicly available.   Our changes do not change the functionality or definition of OpenSSL.   However any system using OS-9 / OS-9000 & OpenSSL would be subject to the license requirement of the 4D993.c and the licensing of software using encryption.    This would be on the customer to get the export license.