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Impromptu survey (Miscellaneous)

posted by Rugxulo Homepage, Usono, 24.12.2023, 03:26

> Who here boots their computer into actual DOS on a regular basis ?
>
> If so... how often ?
Do we have a choice? Sometimes devices don't let us do what we want.

Are you implying that DOSBox and virtual machines make native DOS unnecessary? That's half true, yes. And yes, modern OSes have software replacements for many old DOS games and tools.

I still boot up my old 2010 Dell laptop fairly frequently ... but only for FreeDOS (via USB jump drive). Mostly just tinkering and light programming. I've done a lot of Pascal lately. That jump drive is roughly from 2020, FAT32 with 128 GB.

The device I use the most is this (Dec. 2019) Dell Chromebook (unsupported). Mostly for email, Discord, Twitch. At one time it had "Linux terminal (beta)" which worked (only 300 MB!), but later they made it require a 10 GB (!) download, which didn't fit on my (total) 16 GB disk. So it could boot other OSes, but they didn't make it configurable (that I know of), so I can't use DOS.

I still have a 2018 Samsung Android tablet but rarely use it (though it still works well).

I also still have a 2011 Lenovo desktop running (dead) Windows 7. My brother replaced the hard drive a few years ago but was never interested in upgrading the OS. I rarely use it but sometimes still test some of my Pascal code on it. It does have a bunch of old DOS games from GOG (using DOSBox). I used to use VirtualBox there a lot, but rarely in recent years. In particular, I think their drivers don't work on Win7 anymore. To be honest, I never even had enough motive or need or energy to even install FreeDOS 1.3 under VBox there.

I got a StarLabs Linux (Ubuntu LTS) laptop in 2022 but haven't used it much. I never did get around to installing DOSEMU2 on it. I installed DOSBox, but I think it had trouble with recognizing keypresses. It only has 64-bit UEFI, no CSM, so it can't boot DOS natively.

Just to be philosophical: an OS is a tool that can work "out of the box" or be made to work (with the right skills). The fact that it is ignored or unused is not due to impossibility but rather indifference. We use whatever we want: what's best, what's fun, what's easy, unless forced. Yes, it's better to have portable OSes and tools and code, but that doesn't mean we must reject DOS. I guess it depends on whether you are willing to do the work yourself or only use "standard" pre-built solutions. Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

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