DOS/V

DOS/V
Screenshot of IBM DOS J4.0/V
DeveloperIBM and Microsoft
Written inAssembly language, C
OS familyDOS
Working stateNo longer supported
Source modelClosed source
Initial releaseNovember 1990; 34 years ago (1990-11)
Latest releasePC DOS 2000 / July 1998; 26 years ago (1998-07)
Available inJapanese, Chinese, Korean
Platformsx86
Kernel typeMonolithic kernel
Default
user interface		Command-line interface
LicenseCommercial proprietary software

DOS/V is a Japanese computing initiative starting in 1990 to allow DOS on IBM PC compatibles with VGA cards to handle double-byte (DBCS) Japanese text via software alone.[1] It was initially developed from PC DOS by IBM for its PS/55 machines (a localized version of the PS/2), but IBM gave the driver source code to Microsoft, who then licensed a DOS/V-compatible version of MS-DOS to other companies.[1]

Kanji fonts and other locale information are stored on the hard disk rather than on special chips as in the preceding AX architecture. As with AX, its great value for the Japanese computing industry is in allowing compatibility with foreign software. This had not been possible under NEC's proprietary PC-98 system, which was the market leader before DOS/V emerged. DOS/V stands for "Disk Operating System/VGA" (not "version 5"; DOS/V came out at approximately the same time as DOS 5). In Japan, IBM compatible PCs became popular along with DOS/V, so they were often referred to as "DOS/V machine" or "DOS/V pasocom" even though DOS/V operating systems are no longer common by the late 1990s.[2]

The promotion of DOS/V was done by IBM and its consortium called PC Open Architecture Developers' Group (OADG).[1] Digital Research released a Japanese DOS/V-compatible version of DR DOS 6.0 in 1992.[3][4]

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