I find this a very strange statement since I am pretty sure that Commodore's hard drive for the CBM series came out earlier than that.

They were:
CBM D9060 5 MB Hard Drive with an IEEE-488 port.
CBM D9090 7.5 MB Hard Drive also with an IEEE-488 port.

Check out http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/hds.html

Am I wrong?

PS. Commodore's design meant there was not difference in code for a floppy vs a hard drive, and that there was no need to worry about the drive's size or format.

QNX is free for non-commercial usage, i.e: you can install it on a desktop or use it as a server.

1) Register on qnx.com for a "myQNX Account"
2) Go to the "Product Evaluation" page, http://www.qnx.com/products/evaluation.
3) Download "QNX Neutrino Light" (x86-only ISO, nearly 300M), http://www.qnx.com/download/feature.html?programid=19602.
4) Obtain a free non-commercial serial, no expiry date, from here, http://www.qnx.com/products/evaluation/non-commercial_developer.htm....
5) Now you can burn, boot and install QNX on any old beige box.

Most of the source code is up on Foundry27, you can find most of the kernel and userland there now.. log in using your "myQNX" password.

No, you're not wrong. The OS's for both the Atari 400/800 and Commodore 8-bit computers of the late 70's/early 80's were *YEARS* ahead of OS's like QNX, and they did it using much less RAM.

I have a problem with the original statements, in the 1970s and the early 1980s the term PC did not just mean IBM-86-type machines

"No, you're not wrong. The OS's for both the Atari 400/800 and Commodore 8-bit computers of the late 70's/early 80's were *YEARS* ahead of OS's like QNX, and they did it using much less RAM.

"I have a problem with the original statements, in the 1970s and the early 1980s the term PC did not just mean IBM-86-type machines

"[q]No, you're not wrong. The OS's for both the Atari 400/800 and Commodore 8-bit computers of the late 70's/early 80's were *YEARS* ahead of OS's like QNX, and they did it using much less RAM.

Personal Computer used to refer to the IBM-compatible (and thus, x86) home computers. That's pretty basic knowledge, and I assumed everybody reading OSNews would understand that.

Total and Complete Bullshit. The Atari 400/800 computers had and still have one of the most powerful OS's around.

Hell NASA was using the 8-bit Atari's for thermal imaging work among other things during the 70's and 80's.

You could say that the 8-bit Atari joystick ports and the OS's support of them were the forunners of today's USB ports. Anything and everything wound up being connected to them as an interface port. Modems,Harddrives, Video Cameras,Printers,Scanners,ect.

The problem with people like you is that you know *NOTHING* about the history of computing. You're just a jerk who bought a Windows/Dos based PC and thought that made you hot stuff.

Idiot, they were the *SAME THING*. "Personal Computer" was an IBM marketing term.

I quote Wikipedia: "The standard Atari OS only contained very low-level routines for accessing floppy disk drives." Of course there was ATARI DOS, and maybe you are referring to that. But I consider that more of a "Norton Commander" for the Atari than part of the core OS.

"Total and Complete Bullshit. The Atari 400/800 computers had and still have one of the most powerful OS's around.

The problem with people like you is that you know *NOTHING* about the history of computing. You're just a jerk who bought a Windows/Dos based PC and thought that made you hot stuff.

"Idiot, they were the *SAME THING*. "Personal Computer" was an IBM marketing term.

"Appeal to authority. Yeah, that'll win you an argument.

Dude we're talking about OS support of *HARDWARE*

We *DO* know about people like you. You write the *GARBAGE* we see in ZIFF-DAVIS publications/magazines.