DOS ain't dead

Considering MS-DOS - Part 2 (Users)

posted by Rugxulo , Usono, 06.08.2011, 05:05

Hi again,

> Further to my earlier post ("Considering MS-DOS"), I'm still debating which
> way to go - FreeDOS or MS-DOS. A few more questions:
>
> (1) while MS-DOS 7.1 and FreeDOS support FAT32 I read somewhere that there
> may be difficulties booting from FAT32. Is this so? (Apart from any
> inefficiencies in file storage, I'm unlikely to want a DOS partition > 2GB
> so, if there are difficulties, FAT16 is fine.)

Maybe, I don't know. In theory, no, but you know how reality is .... My current FAT32 partition was no problem, but considering 30 years of IBM PC clones, anything could go wrong.

Keep in mind that I too always said "2 GB is plenty", and it is, but at the same time, it's easy to fill up. I've had this current FAT32 partition (3.5 GB, 4 kb clusters) for less than a month, and I've already crammed (apparently) "948 MB" on it!

> (2) if dual/triple booting do either or both of the two DOSes have to
> reside in the first partition on a hard drive or can they be installed
> following, say, a Windows XP partition (as described here:
> http://thpc.info/dual/win7/tripleboot_win7+xp+ms-dos710_on_win7.html)?

I'm fairly (?) certain that MS-DOS indeed needs to be the first partition and start at sector 0. But I could be wrong, maybe it's just IO.SYS has to be on the first two. Dunno, but FreeDOS certainly has no problems residing anywhere (barring exotic BIOS bugs).

> (3) if there were a particular program available in FreeDOS, but not in
> MS-DOS, could it be installed in/copied to MS-DOS and be used there?

Yes. Vice versa also works in (approximately) 90% of cases, maybe more (trying to be honest and realistic here).

> (4) basic question this - I know MS-DOS 7.1 used portions of 16-bit code
> for backwards compatibility but is it, and FreeDOS, essentially a 32-bit
> OS?

No, not at all. But don't worry, it won't affect anything badly. It's still "fast"!

> In case I didn't make it clear in my earlier post, this investigation of
> DOS in the 21st centrury is all about 'retro play' i.e it's nothing to do
> with real work.

Good, the best kind!

> I like programming using some of the old Borland tools,
> creating DOS real mode apps, which run fine in DOSBox or an XP NTVDM, but I
> like the idea of messing around with autoexec.bat and config.sys again - as
> I said, just play/hobby/interest. Of course, I might use MS-DOS 7.1 and
> FreeDOS!

Feel free to try it! At worst you waste a few hours of time. Just don't pull all your hair out! It's not perfect by any means, but it works pretty good, all things considered!

Complete thread:

• Considering MS-DOS - Part 2 - paulrichards, 06.08.2011, 04:46 (Users)
  • Considering MS-DOS - Part 2 - Rugxulo, 06.08.2011, 05:05
    • Considering MS-DOS - Part 2 - paulrichards, 07.08.2011, 04:58
  • Considering MS-DOG - Part 2 - DOS386, 06.08.2011, 15:00
    • DOS, not DOG - mbbrutman, 06.08.2011, 17:31
    • Considering MS-DOG - Part 2 - paulrichards, 07.08.2011, 05:03
      • Considering MS-DOG - Part 2 - marcov, 07.08.2011, 20:43