The FreeDOS Project has released kernel v2032 which fixes a few bugs and adds new features.
FreeDOS Kernel 2032 Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I really wish my father and I hadn’t thrown away our old DOS software so we could check it out using FreeDOS just for old time’s sake.
Much of that old DOS software was probably on 5.25″ floppies, no? I haven’t seen a computer with one of those for a while now…
I still have a file drawer full of 5.25 floppies with bucnhes of GW Basic apps
Not all software was 5.25″ As a matter of fact, all of the software that runs our manufacturing equipment and calibration stands and Lab environmental systems is DOS based still. Most of these computers only have 3.5″ and cdroms. Some do have 5.25″ but we don’t use them.
I just might try FreeDOS on a lab computer.
I’ve never had a BSOD on my DOS computers
…to see if I can have FAT32, sound, networking, MSClient, DooM, and Quake with FreeDOS. Too bad PC-DOS and DR-DOS don’t have FAT32 support…
Just because they are less complicated (and less bloated) than most other modern operating systems does not mean that *DOS are not real operating systems with real value. Keep in mind that the less an operating system tries to do, the less there is to break. As a previous poster pointed out, they are far more stable than Windows. A multi-tasking web browser (with appropriate drivers of course) built on top of DOS can provide most of the functionality that a lot of computer users need, with far greater speed and stability than any of the “full featured” operating systems out there. Remember, the right tool for the job.
To run the windows 95 or 98 graphical shell on top of freedos running inside a dosemu session on Linux or *BSD for that matter.
Sort of what Win4lin does.
That would allow for a free Windows -> Linux migration path.
Just how far has FreeDOS come in trying to obtain DOS compatability? For example, is it capable of running most DOS programs now?
Ahhh. I can still remember installing a Pro Audio Spectrum audio card in my PC and trying to get it to work with DOS 6 and X-Wing.
I have one in my workroom, and I keep it around exactly because of my legacy “fantasies” ;o)
Jeff: FreeDOS is capable of running almost all the original MSDOS/PCDOS/DRDOS stuff
Can run Windows 3.1 as well.
I don’t collect games but rather dozens of old screensavers. freedos runs most of the dos screensavers you can find out there. acidwarp anyone.
freebsd has acidwarp too.
When I installed Freedos under DOSEMU on Red Hat 6 it wouldn’t handle the compressed executables of Wordperfect 5.1 for DOS. I got round this by installing DRDOS7 from the CD of my first Linux distro Caldera Linux 2.1 ugh! which was where I first had WP running in DOSEMU. I later did the same thing on Mandrake 8.2,
I am now just getting round to getting WP 5.1 going on Mandrake 9.1 (my wife can’t get by without WP5.1 this is where wordprocessing stopped for her – “why should I learn anything new ?”).
So I guess I better check out if I can run WP5.1 on top of Freedos now and get rid of the last vestige of anything to do with SCO from my computer
Nice interface, also adds some tcp/ip.
Freedos does have an experimental kernel that supports FAT32. However Dr-dos/OpenDOS has a FAT32-driver (also usable under freedos) : http://www.drdos.net/tools.htm and a patch to that allows FAT32 : http://www.drdosprojects.de/
For others that are wondering, I personally haven’t had a dos-program refuse to work on freedos. Compatibility is (near?) perfect AFAIK.
Does anyone know where to find that DR-DOS patch that supposedly let you replace its binaries with the default Win9x MS-DOS 7.x ones?
New kernel? So what? Does FreeCOM still suck? It *NEVER* did pipes right, and crashes far too often.