CP/M and the Year 2000

Disclaimers

Notation

The version numbers listed below are the internal numbers used by the BDOS; under CP/M-86, these do not necessarily correspond to the version numbers used by other parts of the system.

To determine your BDOS version number, download and run VER80.COM for 8-bit systems or VER86.CMD for 16-bit.

Links to files

Downloadable fixes for known Year 2000 problems.

8-bit systems

CP/M 1.x

The OS makes no use of dates and so is fully Year 2000 compliant. You will still need to check any applications you use.

CP/M 2.x

The original Digital Research CP/M 2 makes no use of dates. However, several third-party BDOSes have been produced, which behave like CP/M 2 but also include time and date functionality:

Z80DOS
Z80DOS itself is 2000 compliant. Its date utility (TIMEZD12.COM) will not display dates past 2000 correctly, but such dates can be entered.
DOS+
DOS+ itself is 2000 compliant. Its date utility (TIME.COM) will accept dates past 2000, if they are entered explicitly as four digits.
P2DOS
P2DOS is 2000 compliant, and it is supplied with an excellent date utility that is also 2000 compliant. A version of this date utility suitable for use in Z80DOS, DOS+ and CP/M 3 is available on the fixes page.
NovaDOS and SUPRBDOS are derivatives of P2DOS and the P2DOS information also applies to them.

CP/M 3.x (CP/M Plus)

The CP/M Plus BDOS is 2000 compliant, but the utilities DATE, DIR and SHOW are not. See the fixes page for information on obtaining updated versions of these programs.

16-bit systems

BDOS 2.x (CP/M-86 v1.1)

The BDOS itself includes no date functions. However, the BIOS displays the current date on the screen; Year 2000 patches for this are available at the Unofficial CP/M Website, DOWNLOAD >> CP/M-86 >> PATCHES

BDOS 4.x (DOSPLUS; Personal CP/M-86 v2.0/2; CP/M-86 Plus)

The BDOS itself is Year 2000 compliant. The PCP/M-86 v2.0/2 and CP/M-86 Plus utilities (DIR.CMD; SDIR.CMD; SHOW.CMD; DATE.CMD) will not allow entry or display of dates after 2000. The DOSPLUS equivalent (COMMAND.COM) will.