China DOS Union

If you want to add a pretty GUI to DOS, in the end it still can't compete with Windows.

If you want to add some service functions to DOS, in the end it still can't compete with Linux.

Why use your own weak points to attack other people's strong points?

I think DOS's advantage lies in being small and refined; in this respect it is very suitable for control-related work.

I am thinking of using DOS to make a system, with functions including simple data entry and statistics, and then printing, but there are several difficult problems:

1. I want to make DOS boot from ROM (not sure whether this is possible?). After booting, generate a RAM disk, and then copy the application EXE into the RAM disk to run it

2. The printer I use is an HP LaserJet 1010, with only a USB interface and no driver under DOS, so I would have to control printing myself (PCL6 control language). So first I have to drive the USB port, and also figure out how to program printing control through the USB port.

What do you all think of my idea?

There are already many GUIs under DOS, such as Win3.x, Win9x, X-Window, Seal, Qube, etc. If you want to compare them with WinXP, that's not too hard either...

I think win9x/me/2k are no longer as simple as just GUIs on DOS; they are operating systems in their own right. It is very hard for things like x-window and qube alone to rival them. This is not to say that x-window is functionally worse than ms windows, but rather that people are already used to developing and working on the windows platform. Also, even if the GUI in linux is very good, I don't think too many individual users would use it, so its place is as a web or data server.

Mini-Windows 9x is a true GUI under DOS, while full Windows 9x is a half-GUI, half-OS under DOS. But WinNT/2K/XP are full OSes.

Booting from rom is not impossible, you just have to modify part of the BIOS code (the ROM chip would need to be 8MB)
Anyway I haven't tried it. If you want something simple, just put it on a flash drive (modify the flash drive yourself and plug it onto the motherboard)
For the case, you can use one of those "barebone systems" without any disk bays (one just came out), very small.

Still remember the 286 era: boot the computer, and insert a different disk for different tasks.

Actually I also thought about putting it on a USB flash drive, but that way other people could very easily copy the programs inside. You have to know, for some of the "semi-industrial" control systems I make now, each one can sell for over ten thousand yuan, so naturally many people will want to copy them. Some people who know only a little DOS could duplicate a whole set. If it were done in ROM, then it would not be something an ordinary person could copy. Because of this I also thought about whether it would be possible to make a "closed" DOS system, so that even if someone got my USB flash drive, they still could not simply copy it into their own system for analysis.

If it is to be burned into ROM, it should not need to be very large, right? Only a few DOS core parts would need to be burned in.