Alpha Microsystems

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Alpha Microsystems is a computer company founded in 1977 by Dick Wilcox and Bob Hitchcock. The first Alpha Micro computer was based upon the WD16 microprocessor chip from Western Digital. Later computers were based on the Motorola 68000 and later processors, though Alpha Micro swapped several addressing lines to create byte-ordering compatibility with their earlier processor.

The company's primary claim to fame is selling inexpensive minicomputers that provided multi-user power using a proprietary operating system called AMOS (Alpha Micro Operating System). The operating system had major similarities to the operating system of the DEC PDP-11. This may not be coincidental; legend has it that the founders based their operating system on "borrowed" source code from DEC.

As Motorola stopped developing their 68000 product, Alpha Micro moved to the x86 CPU family, used in common PCs. The first transition product, AMPC 5.0, was announced in 2001. While this and the next one, AMPC 6.0, also required a 68000 series CPU, the work became the foundation for AMOS 8.x. This version runs on the AMD x86 processors. AMOS 8.x supplies a 68000 emulator to run older software.

For application development, AMOS used a proprietary BASIC-like language called AlphaBASIC (though several other languages were available). Older versions interpreted a tokenized executable file. Later versions translate the tokenized executable into x86 code for performance.

In the past, Alpha Micro bundled their operating system, BASIC, ISAM, etc. as part of the hardware sale, also providing patches and OS upgrades for free or at minimal cost. Gradually, Alpha Micro has transitioned to charging for their software as hardware becomes more of a commodity item.

Alpha Microsystems also offers tools that allow traditional multi-user systems, like AMOS and like UNIX, Linux, HP, large IBM mainframes, etc. to take advantage of the Microsoft .NET and its Graphical User Interface.

The Alpha Micro computer has never achieved mainstream name recognition, though it's been traditionally popular in certain vertical markets, particularly medical offices and dental offices.