FreeDOS

Last updated

FreeDOS
FreeDOS logo4 2010.svg
FreeDOS 1.1 screenshot.png
FreeDOS 1.1 default shell, FreeCOM
Developer Jim Hall & The FreeDOS team
Written in Assembly language, C [1]
OS family DOS
Working stateCurrent
Source model Open source [2]
Initial release16 September 1994;30 years ago (1994-09-16) [3]
Latest release 1.3 / 20 February 2022;2 years ago (2022-02-20) [4]
Repository
Available in English, German, Dutch, French, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish
Platforms x86
Kernel type Monolithic kernel [5]
Influenced by MS-DOS
Default
user interface 		Command-line interface (COMMAND.COM)
License GNU GPL [2] with various different licenses for utilities
Official website freedos.org

FreeDOS (formerly PD-DOS) is a free software operating system for IBM PC compatible computers developed since 1994. It intends to provide a complete MS-DOS-compatible environment for running legacy software and supporting embedded systems. [6] FreeDOS can be booted from a floppy disk or USB flash drive [7] [8] and is designed to run well under virtualization or x86 emulation. [9]

Contents

Unlike most versions of MS-DOS, [10] FreeDOS is composed of free software, licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. [2] However, other packages that form part of the FreeDOS project include non-GPL software considered worthy of preservation, such as 4DOS, which is distributed under a modified MIT License. [11]

Distribution

FreeDOS 1.1, released on 2 January 2012, [12] is available for download as a CD-ROM image: a limited install disc that only contains the kernel and basic applications, and a full disc that contains many more applications (games, networking, development, etc.), not available as of November 2011 but with a newer, fuller 1.2. [13] The legacy version 1.0 (2006) consisted of two CDs, one of which was an 8 MB install CD targeted at regular users and the other which was a larger 49 MB live CD that also held the source code of the project. [13]

Commercial uses

FreeDOS is used by several companies:

Non-commercial uses

FreeDOS is also used in multiple independent projects:

Development and version history

FreeDOS version history [4] [27] [28]
VersionStatusCodenameDate
0.01 ALPHA None16 September 1994
0.02ALPHANoneDecember 1994
0.03ALPHANoneJanuary 1995
0.04ALPHANoneJune 1995 [29]
0.05ALPHANone10 August 1996
0.06ALPHANoneNovember 1997
0.1 BETA Orlando25 March 1998
0.2BETAMarvin28 October 1998
0.3BETAVentura21 April 1999
0.4BETALemur9 April 2000
0.5BETALara10 August 2000
0.6BETAMidnite18 March 2001
0.7BETASpears7 September 2001
0.8BETANikita7 April 2002
0.9BETANone28 September 2004
1.0FINALNone3 September 2006
1.1FINALNone2 January 2012
1.2FINALNone25 December 2016
1.3FINALNone20 February 2022

The FreeDOS project began on 29 June 1994, after Microsoft announced it would no longer sell or support MS-DOS. Jim Hall, who at the time was a student, [30] posted a manifesto proposing the development of PD-DOS, a public domain version of DOS. [31] Within a few weeks, other programmers including Pat Villani and Tim Norman joined the project. Between them, a kernel (by Villani), the COMMAND.COM command line interpreter (by Villani and Norman), and core utilities (by Hall) were created by pooling code they had written or found available. [32] [33] For some time, the project was maintained by Morgan "Hannibal" Toal. There have been many official pre-release distributions of FreeDOS before the final FreeDOS 1.0 distribution. [4] GNU/DOS, an unofficial distribution of FreeDOS, was discontinued after version 1.0 was released. [34] [35]

Blinky, the mascot of FreeDOS Blinky.svg
Blinky, the mascot of FreeDOS

Blinky the Fish is the mascot of FreeDOS. He was designed by Bas Snabilie. [36]

Compatibility

Hardware

FreeDOS requires a PC/XT machine with at least 640 kB of memory. [37] Programs not bundled with FreeDOS often require additional system resources.

MS-DOS and Win32 console

FreeDOS is mostly compatible with MS-DOS. It supports COM executables, standard DOS executables and Borland's 16-bit DPMI executables. It is also possible to run 32-bit DPMI executables using DOS extenders. The operating system has several improvements relative to MS-DOS, mostly involving support for newer standards and technologies that did not exist when Microsoft ended support for MS-DOS, such as internationalization, or the Advanced Power Management TSRs. [38] Furthermore, with the use of HX DOS Extender, many Windows Console applications function properly in FreeDOS, as do some rare GUI programs, like QEMM and Bochs. [39]

DOS-based Windows

FreeDOS is able to run Microsoft Windows 1.0 and 2.0 releases. Windows 3.x releases, which had support for i386 processors, cannot fully be run in 386 Enhanced Mode, [40] except partially in the experimental FreeDOS kernel 2037.[ citation needed ]

Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me use a stripped-down version of MS-DOS. FreeDOS cannot be used as a replacement because the undocumented interfaces between MS-DOS 7.0–8.0 and Windows "4.xx" are not emulated by FreeDOS; however, it can be installed and used beside these systems using a boot manager program, such as BOOTMGR or METAKERN included with FreeDOS.[ citation needed ]

Windows NT and ReactOS

Windows NT-based operating systems, including Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 for desktops, and Windows Server 2003, 2008 and 2008 R2 for servers, do not make use of MS-DOS as a core component of the system. These systems can make use of the FAT file systems which are used by MS-DOS and earlier versions of Windows; however, they typically use the NTFS (New Technology File System) by default for security and other reasons. FreeDOS can co-exist on these systems on a separate partition or on the same partition on FAT systems. The FreeDOS kernel can be booted by adding it to the Windows 2000 or XP's NT Boot Loader configuration file, boot.ini , [41] or the freeldr.ini equivalent for ReactOS. [42]

Virtualization

FreeDOS is designed to work well with virtualization software such as VirtualBox and VMware. The installation process is identical to real hardware. It is also possible to install FreeDOS on DOSBox and its derivatives. By doing so, it provides additional functionality not present in the emulator. [43] [44]

File systems

FreeDOS's default text editor--a clone of the MS-DOS Editor, with added features Fdedit.png
FreeDOS's default text editor—a clone of the MS-DOS Editor, with added features

FAT32 is fully supported and is the preferred format for the boot drive. [45] Depending on the BIOS used, up to four Logical Block Addressing (LBA) hard disks of up to 128 GB, or 2 TB, in size are supported. [46] There has been little testing with large disks, and some BIOSes support LBA, but produce errors on disks larger than 32 GB; a driver such as OnTrack or EZ-Drive resolves this problem.[ citation needed ] FreeDOS can also be used with a driver called LFNDOS to enable support for Windows 95-style long file names, [47] but most pre-Windows 95 programs do not support long file names, even with a driver loaded. There is no planned support for NTFS, ext2 or exFAT, but there are several external third-party drivers available for that purpose. To access ext2 file systems, LTOOLS, a counterpart to Mtools, can sometimes be used to copy data to and from ext2 file system drives.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BIOS</span> Firmware for hardware initialization and OS runtime services

In computing, BIOS is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting process. The firmware comes pre-installed on the computer's motherboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booting</span> Process of starting a computer

In computing, booting is the process of starting a computer as initiated via hardware such as a button on the computer or by a software command. After it is switched on, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) has no software in its main memory, so some process must load software into memory before it can be executed. This may be done by hardware or firmware in the CPU, or by a separate processor in the computer system.

File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers and was the default filesystem for the MS-DOS and Windows 9x operating systems. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. The increase in disk drive capacity over time drove modifications to the design that resulted in versions: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT. FAT was replaced with NTFS as the default file system on Microsoft operating systems starting with Windows XP. Nevertheless, FAT continues to be commonly used on relatively small capacity solid-state storage technologies such as SD card, MultiMediaCard (MMC) and eMMC because of its compatibility and ease of implementation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drive letter assignment</span> Alphabetical assignment to logical drives on computers (e.g., C:\)

In computer data storage, drive letter assignment is the process of assigning alphabetical identifiers to volumes. Unlike the concept of UNIX mount points, where volumes are named and located arbitrarily in a single hierarchical namespace, drive letter assignment allows multiple highest-level namespaces. Drive letter assignment is thus a process of using letters to name the roots of the "forest" representing the file system; each volume holds an independent "tree".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DR-DOS</span> MSDOS-like operating system

DR-DOS is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS that attempted to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-DOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM PC DOS</span> Computer operating system

IBM PC DOS, also known as PC DOS or IBM DOS, is a discontinued disk operating system for the IBM Personal Computer, its successors, and IBM PC compatibles. It was manufactured and sold by IBM from the early 1980s into the 2000s. Developed by Microsoft, it was also sold by that company as MS-DOS. Both operating systems were identical or almost identical until 1993, when IBM began selling PC DOS 6.1 with new features. The collective shorthand for PC DOS and MS-DOS was DOS, which is also the generic term for disk operating system, and is shared with dozens of disk operating systems called DOS.

A boot disk is a removable digital data storage medium from which a computer can load and run (boot) an operating system or utility program. The computer must have a built-in program which will load and execute a program from a boot disk meeting certain standards.

Jim Hall is a computer programmer and advocate of free software, best known for his work on FreeDOS. Hall began writing the free replacement for the MS-DOS operating system in 1994 when he was still a physics student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He remains active with FreeDOS, and is currently the coordinator for the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bootloader</span> Software responsible for starting the Computer and Load other software to the CPU memory

A bootloader, also spelled as boot loader or called bootstrap loader, is a computer program that is responsible for booting a computer. If it also provides an interactive menu with multiple boot choices then it's often called a boot manager.

IO.SYS is an essential part of MS-DOS and Windows 9x. It contains the default MS-DOS device drivers and the DOS initialization program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBMBIO.COM</span> System file (DOS BIOS) in PC DOS and DR-DOS

IBMBIO.COM is a system file in many DOS operating systems. It contains the system initialization code and all built-in device drivers. It also loads the DOS kernel (IBMDOS.COM) and optional pre-loadable system components, displays boot menus, processes configuration files and launches the shell.

This article details versions of MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS, and at least partially compatible disk operating systems. It does not include the many other operating systems called "DOS" which are unrelated to IBM PC compatibles.

A disk compression software utility increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive of given size. Unlike a file compression utility, which compresses only specified files—and which requires the user to designate the files to be compressed—an on-the-fly disk compression utility works automatically through resident software without the user needing to be aware of its existence. On-the-fly disk compression is therefore also known as transparent, real-time or online disk compression.

DriveSpace is a disk compression utility supplied with MS-DOS starting from version 6.0 in 1993 and ending in 2000 with the release of Windows Me. The purpose of DriveSpace is to increase the amount of data the user could store on disks by transparently compressing and decompressing data on-the-fly. It is primarily intended for use with hard drives, but use for floppy disks is also supported. This feature was removed in Windows XP and later.

The partition type in a partition's entry in the partition table inside a master boot record (MBR) is a byte value intended to specify the file system the partition contains or to flag special access methods used to access these partitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MS-DOS</span> Discontinued Microsoft operating system

MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few operating systems attempting to be compatible with MS-DOS, are sometimes referred to as "DOS". MS-DOS was the main operating system for IBM PC compatibles during the 1980s, from which point it was gradually superseded by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in various generations of the graphical Microsoft Windows operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DOS</span> Family of IBM PC-compatible operating systems

DOS is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible systems from other manufacturers include DR-DOS (1988), ROM-DOS (1989), PTS-DOS (1993), and FreeDOS (1998). MS-DOS dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995.

A master boot record (MBR) is a type of boot sector in the first block of partitioned computer mass storage devices like fixed disks or removable drives intended for use with IBM PC-compatible systems and beyond. The concept of MBRs was publicly introduced in 1983 with PC DOS 2.0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Windows 9x</span>

The Windows 9x series of operating systems refers to a series of Microsoft Windows operating systems produced from 1995 to 2000. They are based on the Windows 95 kernel which is a monolithic kernel. The basic code is similar in function to MS-DOS. They are 16-/32-bit hybrids and require support from MS-DOS to operate.

Pasquale "Pat" J. Villani was an American computer programmer, author, and advocate of free software, best known for his creation of DOS-C, a DOS emulator written in the C language and subsequently adapted as the kernel of the FreeDOS operating system and a number of other projects including DOSEMU for Linux. He used to sign his edits with siglum "patv".

References

  1. ↑ "FreeDOS Spec". FreeDOS Wiki. Freedos. 2008-12-24. Archived from the original on 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "FDOS/kernel". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  3. ↑ "Releases/Alpha 1". FreeDOS Wiki. Freedos. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  4. 1 2 3 "FreeDOS History". Freedos.org. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  5. ↑ Villani, Pat (1996). FreeDOS Kernel. Emeryville, CA, USA: Miller Freeman. ISBN   0-87930-436-7.
  6. ↑ "Main Page". FreeDOS Wiki. The FreeDOS Project. Archived from the original on 2023-06-25. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  7. ↑ Franske, Ben (2007-08-21). "Booting DOS from a USB flash drive". Archived from the original on 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  8. ↑ "How to Create a Bootable FreeDOS Floppy Disk". 2005-07-19. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  9. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (2014-07-14). "Though "barely an operating system," DOS still matters (to some people)". ArsTechnica. Condé Nast. Retrieved 2017-02-09. But FreeDOS has become much more friendly to virtualization and hardware emulation—it's even the heart of the DOSEMU emulator
  10. ↑ Turner, Rich (2018-09-28). "Re-Open-Sourcing MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0". Windows Command Line Tools For Developers. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
  11. ↑ "4DOS". FreeDOS. The FreeDOS Project. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  12. ↑ Hall, Jim (2012-01-02). "Announcement on official FreeDOS homepage". SourceForge. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  13. 1 2 "FreeDOS 1.0". FreeDOS.org. The FreeDOS Project. Archived from the original on 2011-11-05. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  14. ↑ Vance, Ashlee. "How Dell repels attempts to buy its 'open source' PC". The Register . Retrieved 2008-01-02.
  15. ↑ "HP Compaq dc5750 Business PC". Hewlett-Packard. Archived from the original on 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  16. ↑ "First Look at HP's Low-Cost ProBook Laptop Lineup". EWeek . Retrieved 2009-03-26.[ permanent dead link ]
  17. ↑ McCracken, Harry (2009-06-23). "HP's Mini 5101: Netbook Deluxe, With All the Trimmings". Technologizer. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  18. ↑ "FreeDOS Bootable Media". Hewlett-Packard. 2010-10-25. Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2011-01-13.
  19. ↑ Goldstein, Leon A. (2004-07-19). "SpinRite 6.0 for Linux Users". Linux Journal . Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  20. ↑ "Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool". Intel. Archived from the original on 2010-03-25. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  21. ↑ "Floppy Enhanced DivX Universal Player" . Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  22. ↑ "FUZOMA Educational Software" . Retrieved 2009-12-18.
  23. ↑ kraileth (2012-10-12). "An extraordinary TK example! | eerielinux". Eerielinux.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  24. ↑ kraileth (2014-12-30). "An interview with the Nanolinux developer | eerielinux". Eerielinux.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  25. ↑ "Artificial Intelligence Methods". Archived from the original on 1999-04-20. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  26. ↑ "Georg's Personal Homepage". Georgpotthast.de. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  27. ↑ "FreeDOS software package comparison". Ibiblio.org. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
  28. ↑ Hall, Jim (2007-10-02). "Removing old distributions from ibiblio" (Mailing list). Retrieved 2009-10-07.
  29. ↑ "The Free-DOS Project - Files [Free-DOS Alpha 4 archive comment and files give date 28 June 1995 - but it could be an update]". Free-DOS (sunsite). 1996-12-25. Archived from the original on 1996-12-25. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  30. ↑ Hall, Jim interviewed on the TV show FLOSS weekly on the TWiT.tv network
  31. ↑ Hall, Jim (1994-06-29). "PD-DOS project *announcement*". comp.os.msdos.apps. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  32. ↑ Hall, Jim (2002-03-25). "The past, present, and future of the FreeDOS Project". LinuxGizmos.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  33. ↑ Hall, Jim (2006-09-23). "About". FreeDOS. The FreeDOS Project. Archived from the original on 2007-05-27. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  34. ↑ Adams, David. "Introducing GNU/DOS 2005". OSNews. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  35. ↑ Marinof, Mihai (2006-12-02). "GNU/DOS Project Discontinued" . Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  36. ↑ "FreeDOS official logos". Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  37. ↑ Lowe, Scott (2003-07-22). "Configure IT Quick: Use FreeDOS as a replacement for MS-DOS". TechRepublic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  38. ↑ Broersma, Matthew (2006-09-04). "DOS lives! Open source reinvents past". Techworld. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02.
  39. ↑ Grech, Andreas. "HX DOS Extender". Archived from the original on 2014-10-03.
  40. ↑ Santamaria-Merino, Aitor (2014-09-03). "Windows on FreeDOS?". FreeDOS. Retrieved 2017-02-09.[ permanent dead link ]
  41. ↑ Herbert, Marc (2004-10-01). "Install FreeDOS without any CD, floppy, USB-key, nor any other removable media" . Retrieved 2009-05-26.
  42. ↑ "FreeLoader — ReactOS Wiki". reactos.org. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  43. ↑ "Installing FreeDOS tools on DOSBox using FDIMPLES \ VOGONS".
  44. ↑ "Installing FreeDOS in DOSBox-X". dosbox-x.com. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
  45. ↑ Hilpert, Dominik (2015-05-07). "Creating a Bootable DOS USB Stick" . Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  46. ↑ Mueller, Scott (2013-03-22). Upgrading and Repairing PCs (21st ed.). Que Publishing.
  47. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (2014-07-03). "Old school: I work in DOS for an entire day". ArsTechnica. Condé Nast. Retrieved 2017-02-09.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.