FreeDOS Is 20 Years Old

Jim Hall (2985) writes "In a June 29, 1994 post in comp.os.msdos.apps on USENET, a physics student announced an effort to create a completely free version of DOS that everyone could use. That project turned into FreeDOS, 20 years ago! Originally intended as a free replacement for MS-DOS, FreeDOS has since advanced what DOS could do, adding new functionality and making DOS easier to use. And today in 2014, people continue to use FreeDOS to support embedded systems, to run business software, and to play classic DOS games!"

Comments

Re:Can I play Descent on it?

[Jim Hall]

I wonder if FreeDOS can run in virtual machine. Oh Google...

Yes, you can run FreeDOS in a VM! I usually recommend installing FreeDOS in a VM, especially if you don't plan to commit that computer to FreeDOS full-time. For Windows, I think most people prefer QEMU or VMWare or VirtualPC. On my Linux laptop, I run DOSemu.

A popular laptop OS?

[systemDead]

To add to the summary, FreeDOS is probably the 3rd or 4th most popular preinstalled OS for laptops, behind Windows and Mac OSX and maybe Chrome OS, but certainly higher than Ubuntu or any other desktop Linux. My HP laptop came with some version of FreeDOS that I since wiped off the disk. Installing FreeDOS gives OEMs the chance to have a nominally functional unit that can be tested for obvious hardware defects while not restricting the eventual user to their choice of a non-Windows OS.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[Jim Hall]

FreeDOS gets used in several pre-built computers. HP is one example - HP EliteBook comes with a FreeDOS option. And Dell used to do this, don't know if they still do. There are a bunch of vendors (especially in Europe and Asia) that pre-install FreeDOS, too.

Alas, these pre-built computers have FreeDOS on them mainly as a clever way to get around a licensing agreement with Microsoft. I understand that Microsoft put a term in their Windows OEM license that prohibits system builders from selling "naked" computers - systems without operating systems. If you want to get the huge discount on Windows OEM licenses, so you can sell pre-built computers with Windows already installed, you may not also sell these "naked" computers.

But there are plenty of people out there who don't want an operating system pre-installed (I presume these people are like me who prefer free software, and who would install a Linux distribution on their new computer) so system builders started shipping computers with FreeDOS pre-installed. I think the premise is that customers will reformat the drive and install Linux anyway, but the system builder didn't technically sell a "naked" computer.

I actually think this is very clever and I like the idea. A few users do keep FreeDOS installed on their system; occasionally I get emails from people who decided to keep FreeDOS installed (and probably dual-boot into Linux) so they could use FreeDOS to play old DOS games.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[sremick]

Dell most certainly does still offer FreeDOS. Perhaps just on some of their business line, but it's there.

We've chosen it to save money when we were just going to put our own non-MS OS on there. Ubunutu is also an option on a number of models. RHEL too, but that'll cost you.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[thetagger]

Isn't DOS a horrible operating system to run these days? It doesn't support any energy management, so your computer will run really, really hot. It's better to boot Linux and run dosbox.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[Beck_Neard]

Yup, that's exactly it. Another thing about those computers is that they are often more 'geek-oriented' overall. I got a vostro 1320 laptop with freedos, for instance, and it has a backside panel for easy access to the fan and heatsink assembly. Cleaning the computer is literally a matter of just removing a pair of screws. Compare to some other laptops where you virtually have to disassemble down to the bare motherboard just to get the fan clean. It was also about $90 cheaper than the windows version, even though the specs were almost exactly the same. It's nice that companies still make computers like this. I wonder when it will end.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[chipschap]

Good point. I've observed this too.

I have a bootable USB stick which boots into FreeDOS. The only thing on the stick, besides the OS and some utilities, is a copy of an old, simple word processor called Better Working Word Processor. When I really want distraction-free writing, I boot this up and there is simply nothing else to do but write (somewhat a la Jonathan Franzen, though I'll never quite have the reputation to go with it).

But I do notice that even with the hard drive spun down, battery life is little better than running my full Linux Mint installation.

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[drinkypoo]

Isn't DOS a horrible operating system to run these days? It doesn't support any energy management,

false

Re:A popular laptop OS?

[catmistake]

RHEL too, but that will cost you

I have downloaded before a full version, non-evaluation, fully working copy of RHEL before.... I believe this option still exists for those seeking it, but it is one of those well kept secrets and the link is burried deep somewhere at Red Hat's site. i.e. RHEL can be used for free, without support. It is possible Red Hat may have discontinued this for the "30 day evaluation" variety of free download, and that download link is gone forever, but regardless, Red Hat does not sell operating systems, they sell support, and that is what you pay for that costs. However, CentOS is identical to RHEL and is free to download and use, i.e. costs nothing. Oracle Linux is also RHEL, and also free to download and use, I believe. So no, if you don't pay for the support, using RHEL will cost you nothing.

Surplus

[RatBastard]

Back when I processed computers to go to surplus I would DBAN the hard drives and install FreeDOS so that the guys at Surplus could show the customers that the computers would actually boot.

Re:Can I play Descent on it?

[iggymanz]

I use FreeDOS with grub in it to multi-boot thin clients that can only boot from a FAT formatted partition. funny some HP thin clients require that, others don't. I make "servers" out of thin clients, usually with OpenBSD

Don't forget about BIOS updates...

[Anonymous Coward]

There have been several times that FreeDOS has saved the day for installing BIOS updates on older(-ish) Dell servers and whatnot.

Re:Can I play Descent on it?

[0xdeaddead]

I'm installing it right now... I chose the "Microsoft Windows" profile, and selected "Windows 3.1"... You need to make sure that the CD-ROM has the highest boot priority in the BIOS... (hammer F2 on reboots), eventually you'll catch it...

the install is SLOW... no doubt about it.

I also installed it on QEMU, and yeah terribly slow.

With QEMU thought, I did get DOOM v1.1 with sound working, so that is nice!

Re:Can I play Descent on it?

[TheRaven64]

EA released Command and Conquer Gold as a free download a few years ago. That's the Windows 95 version using the Red Alert engine (so high-resolution 640x480 graphics!), but with the same game as the original. It ran quite nicely in WINE when I tried it (a long time go now, may need an old version as WINE doesn't monotonically improve, but according to the apps db it works fine and is rated 'gold', which seems appropriate...).