DOS Is Free - An Introduction to FreeDOS - China DOS Union Forum

Everyone knows that after Microsoft developed Win95, it stopped the independent development of DOS. However, before the appearance of Win95, Microsoft had obviously strengthened the development of Windows and slowed down the development of DOS, and used some unscrupulous means in Windows to exclude and attack other DOS systems such as DR-DOS, etc., to ensure the dominant position of MS-DOS and safeguard its own commercial interests. For example, when you run Win3.x in DR-DOS, you will definitely often encounter so-called "error" messages.

Microsoft's arbitrary practices naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people. Many groups and even individuals, including the famous IBM company, have all thrown themselves into the development of compatible DOS, intending to break the monopoly of Microsoft on DOS. At the same time, due to the openness of DOS and people's understanding of the powerful and practical functions of DOS, the types of DOS are constantly increasing. Currently, there are at least 20 types, such as PC-DOS, ROM-DOS, PTS-DOS, FreeDOS, etc., and new functions and new concepts are emerging in an endless stream. Here we will introduce to you the most representative FreeDOS.

The FreeDOS Project was established in 1994, initiated by the famous programmer Jim, and quickly received responses from many users and program developers. The goal of the FreeDOS Project is to establish a complete, free and open new DOS operating system that is fully compatible with MS-DOS. This DOS system belongs to all mankind. Since it is free software established under the famous GNU GPL (GNU General Public License) agreement, it has the support of many excellent programmers from all over the world. It has been continuously developing and more and more people are participating. They are united through the Internet to work towards their goal, fully reflecting the spirit of freedom, openness and unity. Now the version number of FreeDOS has developed to 7.0, and the current latest version is Beta 8 H1, which was launched in September this year. DOS software designed for it is continuously being launched and developed. There are not only various external commands, but also many other enhanced programs and accessories, and the quality is both high and practical, often exceeding the similar commands in MS-DOS. For example, Cute Mouse developed on it is currently the best (smallest in size, most powerful in function) mouse driver under DOS. And many external commands such as ATTRIB, XCOPY, etc. are not only more efficient than the similar commands in MS-DOS, but also less than half or even a fraction of the size of the latter. Especially importantly, as free software, its source code is completely open. Obviously, for Chinese people who need to learn and draw on, this is the best thing.

FreeDOS is completely compatible with MS-DOS, so software developed for it can basically be directly ported and used under DOS such as MS-DOS. And the vast majority of DOS software that has been developed at home and abroad can also run normally on it. Its functions are also very powerful. For example, it also supports FAT32 partitions and large hard disks, and some functions have far exceeded MS-DOS. There are also many other very practical functions, such as built-in DOSKEY support, support for extremely large memory (up to 4G at most), etc. As for more functions, such as long filename functions, etc., they are currently being developed with everyone's continuous efforts. It is believed that they will become a reality soon. Not only that, its system startup files are also much smaller than those of MS-DOS, etc. Its core file is only one, plus a SYS file and a command processor COMMAND.COM file, totaling only 130K, which is very suitable to be placed in the startup disk.

However, like MS-DOS and other DOS, the above-introduced FreeDOS is 16-bit. Since 32-bit operating systems have gradually become the general trend, in order to keep up with the development of the times, people have developed a 32-bit FreeDOS operating system, that is, the 32-bit kernel version of FreeDOS, FreeDOS 32, and again received a lot of support. Although it is not very mature at present, it has been developing, and there is no doubt that 32-bit FreeDOS is of epoch-making significance, marking that DOS is gradually developing in the direction of a 32-bit kernel.

Especially abroad, many people think that FreeDOS will bring new vitality and atmosphere to DOS, so more and more people are interested in and participating in it. Countless excellent programmers are investing in it to continuously contribute to the development of FreeDOS. Currently, free FreeDOS is attracting more and more people's attention. For example, the famous Dell computer company is about to directly provide FreeDOS operating system for some of its produced computers.

In China, the importance of FreeDOS is also beginning to be gradually recognized. If you are interested, you might as well also pay attention to or participate in it and make it more powerful!
Author: Wengier, thanks to Teacher Mo for revising this article.

Floor1　Wengier	Posted 2002-11-11 00:00
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
Everyone knows that after Microsoft developed Win95, it stopped the independent development of DOS. However, before the appearance of Win95, Microsoft had obviously strengthened the development of Windows and slowed down the development of DOS, and used some unscrupulous means in Windows to exclude and attack other DOS systems such as DR-DOS, etc., to ensure the dominant position of MS-DOS and safeguard its own commercial interests. For example, when you run Win3.x in DR-DOS, you will definitely often encounter so-called "error" messages. Microsoft's arbitrary practices naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people. Many groups and even individuals, including the famous IBM company, have all thrown themselves into the development of compatible DOS, intending to break the monopoly of Microsoft on DOS. At the same time, due to the openness of DOS and people's understanding of the powerful and practical functions of DOS, the types of DOS are constantly increasing. Currently, there are at least 20 types, such as PC-DOS, ROM-DOS, PTS-DOS, FreeDOS, etc., and new functions and new concepts are emerging in an endless stream. Here we will introduce to you the most representative FreeDOS. The FreeDOS Project was established in 1994, initiated by the famous programmer Jim, and quickly received responses from many users and program developers. The goal of the FreeDOS Project is to establish a complete, free and open new DOS operating system that is fully compatible with MS-DOS. This DOS system belongs to all mankind. Since it is free software established under the famous GNU GPL (GNU General Public License) agreement, it has the support of many excellent programmers from all over the world. It has been continuously developing and more and more people are participating. They are united through the Internet to work towards their goal, fully reflecting the spirit of freedom, openness and unity. Now the version number of FreeDOS has developed to 7.0, and the current latest version is Beta 8 H1, which was launched in September this year. DOS software designed for it is continuously being launched and developed. There are not only various external commands, but also many other enhanced programs and accessories, and the quality is both high and practical, often exceeding the similar commands in MS-DOS. For example, Cute Mouse developed on it is currently the best (smallest in size, most powerful in function) mouse driver under DOS. And many external commands such as ATTRIB, XCOPY, etc. are not only more efficient than the similar commands in MS-DOS, but also less than half or even a fraction of the size of the latter. Especially importantly, as free software, its source code is completely open. Obviously, for Chinese people who need to learn and draw on, this is the best thing. FreeDOS is completely compatible with MS-DOS, so software developed for it can basically be directly ported and used under DOS such as MS-DOS. And the vast majority of DOS software that has been developed at home and abroad can also run normally on it. Its functions are also very powerful. For example, it also supports FAT32 partitions and large hard disks, and some functions have far exceeded MS-DOS. There are also many other very practical functions, such as built-in DOSKEY support, support for extremely large memory (up to 4G at most), etc. As for more functions, such as long filename functions, etc., they are currently being developed with everyone's continuous efforts. It is believed that they will become a reality soon. Not only that, its system startup files are also much smaller than those of MS-DOS, etc. Its core file is only one, plus a SYS file and a command processor COMMAND.COM file, totaling only 130K, which is very suitable to be placed in the startup disk. However, like MS-DOS and other DOS, the above-introduced FreeDOS is 16-bit. Since 32-bit operating systems have gradually become the general trend, in order to keep up with the development of the times, people have developed a 32-bit FreeDOS operating system, that is, the 32-bit kernel version of FreeDOS, FreeDOS 32, and again received a lot of support. Although it is not very mature at present, it has been developing, and there is no doubt that 32-bit FreeDOS is of epoch-making significance, marking that DOS is gradually developing in the direction of a 32-bit kernel. Especially abroad, many people think that FreeDOS will bring new vitality and atmosphere to DOS, so more and more people are interested in and participating in it. Countless excellent programmers are investing in it to continuously contribute to the development of FreeDOS. Currently, free FreeDOS is attracting more and more people's attention. For example, the famous Dell computer company is about to directly provide FreeDOS operating system for some of its produced computers. In China, the importance of FreeDOS is also beginning to be gradually recognized. If you are interested, you might as well also pay attention to or participate in it and make it more powerful! Author: Wengier, thanks to Teacher Mo for revising this article.

Floor2　Lydong	Posted 2002-11-19 00:00
元老会员　Posts 407　Credits 1,468　From 广州
Wengier ： You said: "(freedos) supports extremely large memory (up to 4G at most), etc." Does it mean that FREEDOS can directly manage extended memory within 4G? What is the difference between it and MS-DOS? When I directly run COMMAND.COM of FREEDOS in WIN98, it occupies 74K conventional memory. I don't know what's going on?

Floor3　Wengier	Posted 2002-11-20 00:00
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
MS-DOS 6.x can only manage memory larger than 64M, while MS-DOS 7.x and FreeDOS can manage much larger XMS memory. Currently, it's really that the COMMAND.COM of FreeDOS occupies 74K memory for some reason.

Floor4　LiveOnLove	Posted 2002-11-25 00:00
中级用户　Posts 161　Credits 493　From ZHCN
I have used FreeDOS in the DOS version of the anti-virus software of SafeStar. But except that it can be used by directly copying it to the hard disk, when booting with a floppy disk, there are problems that software cannot run. There are always errors like XXX at CS:IP, and then when using some DOS commands like DIR, it cannot display some corresponding things, and always shows prompts like #number. Maybe it is still a bit immature.

Floor5　Wengier	Posted 2002-11-25 00:00
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Is that so? I haven't encountered it yet.

Floor6　闪猛	Posted 2002-12-01 00:00
中级用户　Posts 69　Credits 327
Excuse me, what is the relationship between FreeDOS and the current FreeBSD?

Floor7　MYS	Posted 2002-12-01 00:00
元老会员　Posts 1,637　Credits 5,170　From 广东佛山
They are all FREE (free), but one is based on the DOS system and the other is based on the UNIX system, and they can't be lumped together

Floor8　Wengier	Posted 2002-12-01 00:00
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It should be said that they are all free (free--libertarian), not gratis (given away for nothing).

Floor9　caikaichun	Posted 2003-03-03 00:00
初级用户　Posts 2　Credits 105
There are compatibility issues between FREEDOS and some programs, mainly with Chinese systems. For example, CCDOS97 cannot run normally under FREEDOS.

Floor10　Wengier	Posted 2003-03-04 00:00
系统支持　Posts 10,521　Credits 27,736
That makes sense. When it comes to compatibility, currently MS-DOS 7.10, PC-DOS 7.10, and ROM-DOS 7.10 are definitely the best.

Floor11　铃木柳生	Posted 2003-05-17 00:00
初级用户　Posts 18　Credits 170
Where can I download the MS-DOS 6.22 operating system?

Floor12　Wengier	Posted 2003-05-17 00:00
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*The following is a quote from Suzuki Ryugyu* on May 17, 2003 at 18:00:40:** Where can I download the MS-DOS 6.22 operating system? You can download it in the "DOS systems" section of the website. However, MS-DOS 6.22 is too outdated and has very poor compatibility. It is recommended to use MS-DOS 7.10.

Floor13　我爱DOS	Posted 2003-05-21 00:00
初级用户　Posts 52　Credits 317
Is there a relatively complete introduction to command files for FREEDOS?

Floor14　Englishboy	Posted 2003-06-06 00:00
初级用户　Posts 5　Credits 125
I want to install FREE DOS but don't know where to start. Please give me some advice. email: ltjhjsb@yahoo.com.cn Thanks!

Floor15　jisheng	Posted 2003-06-15 00:00
初级用户　Posts 4　Credits 124
Where can I download it?