Coherent (operating system)

The Coherent operating system was introduced in 1983 by the now-defunct Mark Williams Company as one of the first Unix-like systems for IBM PC-compatible Personal computer. Coherent was capable of running on most Intel-based PCs with Intel 80286, Intel 80386, and Intel 80486 Microprocessor and, like a true Unix, was capable of computer multitasking and of having multiple users. Coherent also had support for X Window System.

Coherent is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Coherent Unix , which is incorrect. Coherent was based on the specifications of Unix Version 7, without reference to any of the Unix source code, either from Bell Labs or Berkeley Software Distribution.

Much of the operating system was written by ex-students from the .

The Mark Williams Company went Bankruptcy in 1995.

At some point after the death of MWC, Coherent was released as Open Source software. While it does not have the features of a modern Unix-like OS such as Linux, it is still a viable solution for those looking to run Unix on a very old computer such as a 286-based machine.

=External links=

*[http://groups.google.com/groupsselm=9506041157.AA2295.V3.4%40taco.tlug.org&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain comp.os.coherent FAQ link] *[http://www.landibase.com/coherent.html Andrzej Popielewicz s GNU stuff for Coherent website] *[http://www.nivel0.net/Coherent Victor M. Varela Coherent page] *[ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/coherent/ FTP archive for Coherent at Demon Internet] *[http://neil.franklin.ch/Usenet/alt.folklore.computers/20001107_Coherent Coherent history archive]