V-OS demo (Amstrad CPC)

An original #Amstrad CPC, 8 bit operating system V-OS — a graphical operating system for the Amstrad CPC 6128 V-OS turns a 1985 Amstrad CPC 6128 into a desktop computer with windows, menus, a mouse and its own programs. It is written entirely in Z80 assembly, and it runs from a standard 3" disc. On the CPC: RUN"VOS". The desktop Four views, a key each: F1 the Desktop: file icons in a window you can move, resize and scroll; F2 the Launcher: programs with their own icons; F3 the Commander: two file panels side by side; F4 Setup. Menus, dialogs, buttons and file lists, with the keyboard or with an AMX mouse. A light or dark theme, and a .SCR picture as the desk's background (with a memory expansion). An overscan screen of 384×272 in mode 1, mode 0 for colour and mode 2 for pages of text, and a mixed screen that shows two modes at once. Files and discs Its own disc driver and file system, compatible with AMSDOS: BASIC reads V-OS files and V-OS reads BASIC's. DATA and SYSTEM formats are both supported. Drives A:, B: and the SD card of an M4 board (DISK), with folders. Copy, delete, rename and open files on any of them, and programs can open and save files there too. Files open by type: a click on a .TXT opens NOTEPAD, a .SCR opens PAINT, a .VDB opens DATABASE. Many programs at once Several programs run together, each picking up where it was left, and the F6 switcher moves between them. Programs keep running in the background, for example the music while you work. A desk accessory (such as the clock) opens over any program. A RAM expansion up to 576K gives each program a 16K data bank of its own. Programs included NOTEPAD: texts up to 16K, a clipboard shared by all programs, and UTF-8 files from a PC. MARKDOWN and READER: Markdown pages from the disc or from the web, through the M4 board. PAINT: pictures with layers and the whole CPC screen, saved as .SCR files that BASIC loads too. SHEET: a spreadsheet with formulas (SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX, ROUND…). DATABASE: "a small Access" with tables, fields, indexes, forms and search, on discs or on the SD card. MUSIC: songs played from the interrupt, without a break while other programs load. WEBGET: downloads files from the internet with the M4 board. SYSINFO, and games: VROUVES (7 stages), MINES, BRICKS, PONG and more. Making programs Studio: programs made of blocks, Scratch style, right on the CPC, with sprites, costumes, music and 128 variables, saved as .VBN programs that run on their own. A blocks editor in the browser (Blockly), with a compiler for the same programs. An SDK for Z80 assembly, with a project template, a documented API of more than 40 calls and relocatable programs. Calls include files, windows, dialogs, menus, sound and the clipboard. There are also databases, formulas, UTF-8, the network and a routine that runs on every interrupt. Six languages Greek, English, French, Spanish, German and Italian, changed in Setup without a restart. One character set for all six, so languages can be mixed in the same text, with their keyboards a key away and sorting that ignores case and accents. The manual is in all six languages, as PDF too. #8bit #retro #OS