China DOS Union

Impressions from Trying FREEDOS
Last night I tried installing FREEDOS (FAT32 mode) and gave it a try.
FREEDOS has only one core file, one SYS file plus one command.com, totaling only 130K. It is quite suitable for making a DOS system disk, and it also has built-in DOSKEY functionality.
FREEDOS's configuration files are fdconfig.sys and autoexec.bat. It also supports multiple boot, but it is somewhat different from MS-DOS format; I have not understood the details yet.
FREEDOS's memory management tools include himem.exe, fdxms.sys, and fdxxms.sys, all of which can replace MS-DOS's himem.sys, and their sizes are all 4-5K. Among them, fdxxms.sys can support up to 4G of memory.
FREEDOS's emm386.exe file is less than 1/10 the size of MS-DOS's emm386.exe; of course, it has relatively fewer functions.
However, FREEDOS's memory management tools have slightly poorer compatibility. After installing emm386, UCDOS cannot be installed; if it was already installed, it crashes. Without EMM386, UCDOS also has a bit of screen corruption during installation, but everything is normal when using it. Tianhui and CCDOS97 are relatively better and can adapt to its EMM386.
FREEDOS's memory management is also not good enough. Most importantly, command.com actually takes up 72-75K of conventional memory, leaving at most only about 540K of conventional memory, wasting 65K of high memory (HMA) for nothing. I hope this is because it is a test version.
But FREEDOS's external commands are quite good. Most commands are only 1/2 the size of MS-DOS programs or even smaller, and basically all come with source programs. After installation there is also a DOC directory, where you can see introductions to quite a few external commands. Of course there is also a fairly detailed HELP function.
FREEDOS's installation is relatively slow, but basically each file has a function introduction during installation, worth taking a look at.
I partitioned and formatted it with DISKGEN. For some reason FREEDOS sometimes has a problem where it cannot create directories.

Originally posted by MYS at 2002-11-3 12:00 AM:
FREEDOS has only one core file, one SYS file plus one command.com, totaling only 130K. It is quite suitable for making a DOS system disk, and it also has built-in DOSKEY functionality.

It is not necessarily 130K; it depends on which version you use

For now the most stable version is Kernel 2035a (32bit), FreeCOM is 0.84-pre XMS_Swap

FREEDOS's configuration files are fdconfig.sys and autoexec.bat. It also supports multiple boot, but it is somewhat different from MS-DOS format; I have not understood the details yet.

MS-DOS separates headings like , but FreeDOS is simpler; you only need to decide how many items there are...

12?device=himem.exe
1?device=emm386.exe
2?device=umbpci.sys

In the above, himem.exe is shared by 1 and 2. If you choose 1, it executes himem.exe + emm386.exe; if you choose 2, it executes himem.exe + umbpci.sys

FREEDOS's memory management tools include himem.exe, fdxms.sys, and fdxxms.sys, all of which can replace MS-DOS's himem.sys, and their sizes are all 4-5K. Among them, fdxxms.sys can support up to 4G of memory.
FREEDOS's emm386.exe file is less than 1/10 the size of MS-DOS's emm386.exe; of course, it has relatively fewer functions.

FreeDOS also has himem and emm386. Of course they are not fully mature yet, but their stability is not bad

However, FREEDOS's memory management tools have slightly poorer compatibility. After installing emm386, UCDOS cannot be installed; if it was already installed, it crashes. Without EMM386, UCDOS also has a bit of screen corruption during installation, but everything is normal when using it. Tianhui and CCDOS97 are relatively better and can adapt to its EMM386.

Because FreeDOS has not taken Chinese into account; Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are both relatively poor. After all is said and done, isn't it just that there are hardly any Chinese people participating in FreeDOS! Sigh!

FREEDOS's memory management is also not good enough. Most importantly, command.com actually takes up 72-75K of conventional memory, leaving at most only about 540K of conventional memory, wasting 65K of high memory (HMA) for nothing. I hope this is because it is a test version.

You are missing DOS=HIGH,UMB, aren't you! Actually you can also use DOSDATA=HIGH, but even without using DOSDATA I already have 612K

But FREEDOS's external commands are quite good. Most commands are only 1/2 the size of MS-DOS programs or even smaller, and basically all come with source programs. After installation there is also a DOC directory, where you can see introductions to quite a few external commands. Of course there is also a fairly detailed HELP function.

There are also many files on the website, though they are all in English

FREEDOS's installation is relatively slow, but basically each file has a function introduction during installation, worth taking a look at.
I partitioned and formatted it with DISKGEN. For some reason FREEDOS sometimes has a problem where it cannot create directories.

There is a single-floppy image file, ODIN 0.7!
The contents are quite complete too