List of operating systems
Categorization of operating systems
Operating systems can be categorised by technology (Unix-like or others such as Windows), ownership and licence (proprietary or open source), working state (historic like DOS and OS/2 or current like Linux and Windows), application (general like Linux, Windows), desktop only (DOS, Apple), mainframe only (AIX), real-time or embedded only (QNX), PDA, or purpose (production, research, hobby). Naturally, these groupings overlap.
See also: Category:Operating systems, Category:Unix-like, Category:Open source
Early, and historically important
- CTSS (The Compatible TimeShare System, developed at MIT by Corbato, et al)
- Incompatible_Timesharing_System (The Incompatible Timeshare System, developed at MIT for the DEC 10 / 20 mainframes)
- THE operating system (by Dijkstra et al)
- Multics (joint OS development project by Bell Labs, GE, and MIT)
- Master programme developed for Leo Computers, Leo III in 1962.
- See Operating systems timeline.
Early, proprietary microcomputer OS
- Apple Computer (initial version was ROM'd firmware together with Integer BASIC; later versions included a Microsoft BASIC)
- Business Operating System (BOS) - cross platform, command-line based
- Commodore PET, Commodore 64, and Commodore VIC-20,
- The very first IBM-PC (3 OS offered to start, UCSD p-System, CPM-86, PC-DOS)
- Sinclair Micro and QX, etc
- TRS-DOS, ROM OS's (largely Microsoft BASIC implementations with file system extensions)
- TI99-4
- Flex (by Technical Systems Consultants for Motorola 6800 based microcomputers: SWTPC, Tano, Smoke Signal Broadcasting, Gimix, etc)
- FLEX9 (by TSC for Motorola 6809 based micros)
- mini-FLEX (by TSC for 5.25" disks on 6800 based machines)
- OS-8
- ITS (for the PDP-6 and PDP-10)
- TOPS-10 (for the PDP-10)
- WAITS
- TENEX (from BBN)
- TOPS-20 (for the PDP-10)
- RSTS/E (ran on several machines, chiefly PDP-11s)
- RSX-11 (multiuser, multitasking OS for PDP-11s)
- RT-11 (single user OS for PDP-11)
- VMS (by DEC for the VAX mini-computer range; later renamed OpenVMS)
- PC-DOS (originally nearly indistinguishable from Microsoft MS-DOS)
- OS/2 (aka MS-OS/2)
- Basic Operating System (first system released for the System 360, as an interim)
- TOS
- OS/360 (first OS planned for the System 360 architecture)
- DOS/360
- DOS/VSE
- z/VSE (latest version of the VSE line)
- VM/CMS
- z/VM (latest version of the VM line)
- MFT (later called OV/VS1)
- MVT (later called OV/VS2)
- SVS
- MVS (latest variant of MVT)
- TPF
- OS/390
- z/OS, Unix-like, (latest version of IBM mainframe OS)
- OS/400
- AIX (a version of Unix)
- ALCS
- IBSYS
ICT/ICL
- GEORGE
- VME
- DME
- TME
- MS-DOS (version 6.22 is the last release)
- Windows CE (compact edition, for handhelds)
- Microsoft Windows
- Windows 1.0
- Windows 2.0 (for 80286)
- Windows 3.0 the first version to make substantial commercial impact
- Windows 3.1
- Windows 95
- Windows 98 there was a 98 2nd edition as well
- Windows ME
- OS/2
- Windows NT (developed from OS/2 by a team led by David Cutler)
- Windows NT 3.5
- Windows NT 4
- Windows 2000 (aka Windows NT v5.0)
- Windows XP (based on Win2K internally; 2 versions: Home and Professional)
- Windows Server 2003
- Xenix (licensed version of Unix; sold to SCO in '90s)
- Aegis/OS (Apollo Computers)
- Cromix (Unix-emulating OS from Cromemco)
- Coherent (Unix-emulating OS from Mark Williams Co. for PC class computers)
- DNIX
- Digital UNIX (which became HP's Tru64)
- HP-UX from HP
- Idris workalike from Whitesmiths
- IRIX from SGI
- Mac OS X from Apple Computer
- NeXTSTEP
- OS-9 unix-like RTOS. (Unix emulating OS from Microware for Motorola 6809 based microcomputers)
- OSF/1
- OPENSTEP
- QNX (POSIX, microkernel OS; usually a real time embedded OS)
- Rhapsody
- RiscOS
- SCO UNIX (from SCO, bought by Caldera who re-renamed themselves SCO)
- System V (a release of AT&T Unix, 'SVr4' was the 4th minor release)
- UNIflex (Unix emulating OS by TSC for DMA-capable, extended addresses, Mototola 6809 based computers; eg SWTPC, GIMIX, ...)
- Ultrix (DEC's first version of Unix for VAX and PDP-11, based on BSD)
- UniCOS
Nonproprietary Unix-like
- Minix (study OS developed by Andrew S. Tanenbaum in the Netherlands)
- UNIX (OS developed at Bell Labs ca 1970 initially by Ken Thompson)
- Amoeba (research OS by Andrew S. Tanenbaum)
- Plan 9 (networking OS developed at Bell Labs)
- Plan 9, Inferno (networked OS originally from Bell Labs Computer Research)
- BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution, a variant of Unix for DEC VAX hardware)
- Linux
- GNU Hurd
- SSS-PC Developed at Tokyo University
- QDOS (developed at Seattle Computer Products by Tim Paterson for the new Intel 808x CPUs; also called SCP-DOS; licensed to Microsoft -- became MS-DOS/PC-DOS)
- DR-DOS (Digital Research's [later Novell, Caldera, ..] DOS variant)
- FreeDOS (an open source DOS variant)
Research non-UNIX
- Mach (from OS kernel research at CMU; see NeXTSTEP)
- Nemesis Cambridge University research OS - detailed quality of service abilities. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/old-projects/nemesis/
- TUNES, 1994
- V (operating system) from Stanford, early 1980s
Generic/commodity, non-UNIX, and other
- TripOS, 1978
- MorphOS (by Genesi)
- Control Program/Monitor (CP/M)
- GEM (windowing GUI for CP/M and DOS)
- VisiOn (first GUI for early PC machines; not commercially successful)
- 4DOS (command-line user interface for DOS)
- DESQView (multi-tasking windowing user interface for DOS)
- DESQView/X (X-windowing GUI for DOS)
- GEOS (popular windowing GUI for PC,Commodore,Apple computers)
- 4NT (command-line user interface for Microsoft Windows)
- SkyOS (Commercial desktop OS for PCs)
- NetWare (networking OS by Novell)
- FLEX9 (by TSC for Motorola 6809 based machines; successor to FLEX, which was for Motorola 6800 CPUs)
- SSB-DOS (by TSC for Smoke Signal Broadcasting; a variant of FLEX in most respects)
- JavaOS
- UCSD p-System (portable complete programming environment/operating system/virtual machine developed by a long running student project at the Univ Calif/San Diego; directed by Prof Ken Bowles; written in Pascal)
- Oberon operating system/(developed at ETH-Zurich by Niklaus Wirth et al) for the Ceres and Chameleon workstation projects. see also Oberon programming language
- AOS, now called Bluebottle (a concurrent and active object update to the Oberon operating system)
- VME by International Computers Limited (ICL)
- Pick (often licensed and renamed)
- Primos by Prime Computer (sometimes spelled PR1MOS and PR1ME)
- BS1000 by Siemens AG
- BS2000 by Siemens AG
- BS3000 by Siemens AG (functionally similar to OS-IV and MSP from Fujitsu)
- VM2000 by Siemens AG
- OSD/XC by Fujitsu-Siemens (BS2000 ported to a emulation on a Sun SPARC platform)
- OS-IV by Fujitsu (based on early versions of IBM's MVS)
- MSP by Fujitsu (successor to OS-IV)
Hobby OS
- AROS (Amiga Research Operating System)
- Haiku (BeOS workalike)
- ReactOS (Windows NT workalike)
- AtheOS became Syllable
- Syllable (a modern, powerful, independently originated OS)
- Menuet is an extremely compact OS written entirely in assembly language
- Tabos (a rescue/network/desktop system)
- LainOS (FreeBSD-based project that aims to become a next-generation operating system. Inspired by Lain's "Navi" GUI from Serial Experiments Lain)
- Panalix
- Trion Operating System
- NewOS
- Visopsys
- Unununium - Homepage
Applications
Personal digital assistants (PDAs)
- Palm OS from Palm Inc; now spun off as PalmSource
- Pocket PC from Microsoft
- EPOC originally from Psion (UK), now from Symbian, preferred name now is Symbian OS
- Windows CE Windows Compact Edition, from Microsoft
- Linux on Sharp Zaurus and Ipaq
- Windows CE
- Linux MontaVista Linux in Motorola's A760, E680
- Symbian OS
- Contiki
- eCos
- OSEK
- Nucleus
- QNX
- VxWorks
- ITRON
- µCLinux
- TRON OS developed by Ken Sakamura
- ThreadX
- INTEGRITY
- Montavista Linux
- OS-9 by Microware
- LynxOS
- RTOS
Interpreted
Fictional Operating Systems
Operating systems that have only appeared in fiction.
- Finnix - A pun on the Finnish origins of Linux - appears in Cryptonomicon
- ALTIMIT_OS - From .hack
- Hyper OS - From the movie Patlabor
- Wheatonix - April fool's joke.
- Digitronix - From The Hacker Files
- Luna/X - Google's April Fool's joke, 2004 [1]
- Copland OS - From Serial Experiments Lain Navi computer, which is also the codename of a never released Apple Computer OS (see Vaporware).