[hemmerling] DOS, Microsoft MSDOS, Digital Research DR-DOS, OpenDOS

Platforms

DOS-C, DOS/NT, PM-DOS by Pasquale J. Villani

Embedded DOS-ROM

FreeDOS

The Product

Boot from USB

1a. Create a FreeDOS USB Stick with RUFUS
  • RUFUS 4.9.2256:
    • Drive Properties:
      • Boot selection: “FreeDOS”.
      • Partition scheme: “MBR”.
      • Target system “BIOS ( or UEFI-CSM ).
      • [x] List USB Hard Drives.
      • [x] add fixes for old BIOSes ( extra partition, align, ect. ).
      • [_] Use Rufus MBR with BIOS ID “0×80 Default”.
    • Format Options:
      • Volume label “FREEDOS”.
      • File system “FAT32 ( Default )”.
      • [x] Quick format
      • [x] Create extended label and icon files.
  • Update the FreeDOS installation.
    • Copy “HIMEMX.EXE” and “MEM.EXE” from the ISO file of the “LiveCD” download.
  • Modify CONFIG.SYS, add as first line:
    DEVICE=HIMEMX.EXE
    

1b. Alternatively, create a FreeDOS USB Boot Stick manually

2. Configure UEFI / CSM BIOS on Notebook "ASUS K95VB", for FreeDOS Boot

  • “Boot / Boot Configuration - Launch CSM [Enabled]”.
    • This causes the option “Boot / Boot Configuration - Fast Boot [ Disabled ]” to disappear from the menu screen.
  • “Security / Secure Boot Control [Disabled].
  • After a reboot, a USB stick with FreeDOS might appear as

3. FreeDOS Boot Process Preparation & Boot Process

  1. Insert the FreeDOS USB Stick.
  2. Reboot the computer.
  3. Press the key at startup to jump to BIOS ( with ASUS computers, press key “F2” ).
  4. Check that there are 2 Items “UEFI: PMAP” and “PMAP”. With ASUS UEFI / CSM notebooks there are now two items at:
    1. “Boot - Boot Option Prorities” - “UEFI: PMAP”, ” PMAP”.
    2. “Save & Exit - Boot Override” - “UEFI: PMAP”, ” PMAP”.
  5. Boot selection:
    • Select ” PMAP” ( and not “UEFI: PMAP” ) as “Boot Option #1” to start the computer with FreeDOS next time.
    • Or click on “PMAP at “Boot Override” to start FreeDOS immediately.

4. FreeDOS Memory Usage, displayed by the MEM.EXE Command

  • Without HIMEMX.EXE: 471K of 629K are free.
  • With HIMEMX.EXE: 546K of 629K are free.

Resources

Sales

Resources

Microsoft MS-DOS

Create a FreeDOS USB Stick with RUFUS
  • RUFUS 4.9.2256:
    • Drive Properties:
      • Boot selection: “MS-DOS”.
      • Partition scheme: “MBR”.
      • Target system “BIOS ( or UEFI-CSM ).
      • [x] List USB Hard Drives.
      • [x] add fixes for old BIOSes ( extra partition, align, ect. ).
      • [_] Use Rufus MBR with BIOS ID “0×80 Default”.
    • Format Options:
      • Volume label “MSDOS”.
      • File system “FAT32 ( Default )”.
      • [x] Quick format
      • [x] Create extended label and icon files.
  • Message:
    An additional file ( "discopy.dll" ) must be downloaded from Microsoft to install MS-DOS.
    - Select "Yes" to connect to the Internet and download it.
    - Select "No" to cancel the operation.
    Note: The file will be downloaded in the current application directory and will be reused automatically if present.
    

OpenDOS, DR-DOS

Products

Resources

pcmos386, PC-MOS/386

PTS-DOS

ROM-DOS

RxDOS by Mike Podanoffsky

XDOS by Thierry Giron

Resources

Free Utilities and Applications

Tools

Resources

Internet Access

Tools

Network Drivers

Arachne Browser

Lynx Browser

Caldera WebSpyder

Mail Reader

Resources

Abandonware

  • FANSI-CONSOLE by Hersey Micro Consolting, Inc. A special ANSI / VT100 video driver for MSDOS applications. Version 3 is now shareware, version 4 is (still ?) commercial. I own a full license and got both version 3.01k of 04.10.1991 and version 4.00j of 21.11.1991. Are there any newer versions out ?
  • THE LAST BYTE by Key Software Products. A special MSDOS “upper memory” manager for 386 / 486 / 586 boards with specially supported chipsets, so it just runs on selected computer mainboards. The shareware version may be turned into commercial versions by entering a serial number. I own a full license key and got version 2.11 of 11.08.1992 and version 2.50 of 30.08.1994. I am still looking for a newer version, there must have been such !
  • LDEVICE - Load Device Driver V2.0 by Adlersparre & Associates Inc., 1803 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC, Canada. A special MSDOS tool to load MSDOS device drivers at runtime.

Resources

Forums, Newsgroups

Appropriate OpenDirectory Directory Pages

 
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