GEOS Dead
GEOS
KindOperating system
Appeared1986
Ended1990
StatusDead
CreatorBerkeley Softworks
FamilyIndependent
PlatformC64/C128, Apple II
Sourceen.wikipedia.org ↗
A full GUI OS in 64 kilobytes — proportional fonts, apps, and a paint program on the Commodore 64; proof the machine was never the limitation.
1960198020002020
Ran on Commodore 64
Created by Berkeley Softworks / GeoWorks
Berkeley Softworks' GEOS (1986) put a windowed GUI, proportional fonts, and disk turbo on a 1 MHz C64 with 64K — the most efficient GUI ever shipped on hardware that underpowered.\n\nPC/GEOS (1990) ran a full desktop in 640K where Windows needed 4MB; it was technically brilliant and commercially destroyed. The code survives as Breadbox Ensemble and the community's FreeGEOS.