Editing Timeline of computing 1980–1989 (section)

==1985==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date
! Location
! class="unsortable" | Event
|- valign="top"
| January
| US
| [[PostScript]] introduced by Adobe Systems. It is a powerful page description language used in the Apple Laserwriter printer. Adopted by IBM for their use in March 1987.
|- valign="top"
|rowspan="2"| March
| US
| MS-DOS 3.1, PC DOS 3.1
This was the first version of DOS to provide network support, and provides some new functions to handle networking.
|- valign="top"
| US
| [[Symbolics]] registered the [[symbolics.com]] domain, the first [[.com]] domain in the world.
|- valign="top"
| April
| US
| [[Expanded memory]] specification, a memory paging scheme for PCs, was introduced by Lotus and Intel.
|- valign="top"
|rowspan="3"| June
| US
| [[Commodore 128]] was released. Based on a complex multi-mode architecture, this was Commodore's last 8-bit computer. Cost: $299.95 for each of the CPU unit and accompanying 1571 disk drive.
|- valign="top"
| US
| The [[Atari ST]], an inexpensive 8&nbsp;MHz [[Motorola 68000]]-based computer, appeared. Nicknamed the "Jackintosh", after Atari owner [[Jack Tramiel]], it featured 512 KB of memory and used [[Graphics Environment Manager|GEM]] graphical interface from [[Digital Research]]. It was priced under US$1,000.
|- valign="top"
| [[USSR]]
| [[Tetris]] was written by Russian [[Alexey Pajitnov]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-06-24 |title=Anniversary: Is Tetris Really 40 This Year? |url=https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/06/anniversary-is-tetris-really-40-this-year |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717140506/https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/06/anniversary-is-tetris-really-40-this-year |archive-date=2024-07-17 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Time Extension |language=en-GB}}</ref> It was later released for various western games machines, the crown jewel being its inclusion with Nintendo's [[Game Boy]] in 1989. Alexey made nothing from the game, since under the Communist Regime it was owned by the people. However, after the collapse of Communism he was able to move to the US where he now works for [[Microsoft]].
|- valign="top"
| July
| US
| [[Commodore International|Commodore]] released the [[Amiga]], based on a 7.16&nbsp;MHz [[Motorola 68000]] and a [[Original Amiga chipset|custom chipset]]. It was the first home computer to feature pre-emptive multitasking operating system. It used a Macintosh-like GUI. Cost: US$1,295 for a system with a single 880 KB 3.5 in disk drive and 256 KB of RAM.
|- valign="top"
| September
| UK
| [[Amstrad]] introduced [[Amstrad PCW]] 8256/8512, an 8 bit, [[Z80]] based computer system with 256 or 512 KB of RAM, dedicated to word processing and promoted as the alternative of electronic typewriters. PCW was the abbreviation of personal computer for word processing (or personal computer word processor). 8&nbsp;million PCWs were sold until 1998 when Amstrad discontinued this range of computers.
|- valign="top"
| 17 October
| US
| [[Intel 80386DX|80386 DX]] released. It supports clock frequencies of up to 33&nbsp;MHz and can address up to 4 [[gigabyte|GB]] of memory (and in theory virtual memory of up to 64 [[terabyte|TB]], which was important for marketing purposes). It also includes a bigger instruction set than the 80286.
At the date of release the fastest version ran at 20&nbsp;MHz and achieved 6.0 MIPS. It contained 275,000 transistors.
|- valign="top"
| November
| US
| [[Microsoft Windows]] launched. Not really widely used until version 3, released in 1990, Windows required DOS to run and so was not a complete operating system (until Windows 95, released on August 24, 1995). It merely provided a [[GUI]] similar to that of the Macintosh. It was so similar that Apple tried to sue Microsoft for copying the 'look and feel' of their operating system. This court case was not dropped until August 1997.
|- valign="top"
| December
| US
| MS-DOS 3.2, PC DOS 3.2
This version was the first to support 3½" disks, although only the 720 KB ones. Version 3.2 remained the standard version until 1987 when version 3.3 was released with the IBM PS/2.
|- valign="top"
| ?
| Netherlands<br>Japan
| [[CD-ROM]], invented by [[Philips]], produced in collaboration with [[Sony]].
|- valign="top"
| ?
| US
| [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter]] released.
|- valign="top"
| ?
| UK
| [[Meiko Scientific]] formed.
|}