Synthesis

FreeDOS: History, Legacy, and a Valuable Resource for Old Machines
—André Machado

｢ The FreeDOS project began in 1994 when Jim Hall, then a physics student at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, observed that Microsoft had announced the end of support for MS‑DOS. Unwilling to see DOS functionality disappear, Hall posted a manifesto on Usenet proposing the development of an open‑source DOS replacement ｣

https://machaddr.substack.com/p/freedos-history-legacy-and-a-valuable

The Psycho Cod3r blog is sadly no longer maintained but the archive has good retrocomputing posts on classic MS-DOS software and features such as dBase IV, Microsoft Works, QuickBASIC, graphics, and more.

The screenshots evoke memories of text menus and user interfaces. They were fast, highly effective, and easy to use.

https://psychocod3r.wordpress.com/tag/retrocomputing

I had totally forgotten that VirtualBox doesn't come with guest DOS network drivers. So off we go to try and find some that work... (see my previous post about Internet Bit Rot).

Dammit, why wont this floppy disk format...?

Oh...

I just spent a few hours re-scanning some of my old CDs from the "Bestseller Games" magazines. I know, these CD-ROMs are pretty much everywhere on the internet, but I wanted to have better scans of my originals. These discs are precious to me!

Here's the original disc from Bestseller Games, Vol. 1 from 1994. It contains the German VGA release of "Indiana Jones III - Der letzte Kreuzzug" for MS-DOS. Maybe it is useful to someone. Have fun!

https://archive.org/details/bg1_indy3_v1

I updated #mbedTLS and #curl in #DOjS. This one took a lot longer than I expected because curl dropped Makefile.mk builds and I had to switch to #CMake or #autconf.
I went with CMake, but had to work around some weird problems.

#MSDOS and #Linux build are already green again, I'll tackle #win32 later...

This is supposed to be a bad ending, apparently.

There seems to be a more recent alternative to EtherDFS now

https://github.com/jrohel/NetMount

Microsoft feiert 50 Jahre: Ein Rückblick auf ein halbes Jahrhundert Softwaregeschichte
Am 4. April 2025 ist es genau 50 Jahre her, d
https://www.apfeltalk.de/magazin/news/microsoft-feiert-50-jahre-ein-rueckblick-auf-ein-halbes-jahrhundert-softwaregeschichte/
#News #Azure #BillGates #Copilot #KnstlicheIntelligenz #MicrosoftGeschichte #MicrosoftJubilum #MicrosoftOffice #MicrosoftRedmond #MSDOS #OfficeProduktivitt #PaulAllen #Softwaregeschichte #Surface #Windows95 #WindowsEntwicklung #Xbox

I just found this awesome CD image of Microsoft Space Simulator for MS-DOS on the Internet Archive. Uploaded by a friendly fellow named "CSmeds99" (thanks!). This is pretty rare and it works great, so check it out!

https://archive.org/details/Microsoft_Space_Simulator_1_0_CD-ROM

Sunny run

Theme about auto travel. As those game – Magic Bus. You are just riding by the road. Far and far. Such ambient. Everything is calm. Only you and the road. As a lizard that is sitting at the stone and warming under the sun.

I'm trying to figure out the best DOS configuration for emulation and maybe real hardware, too. Right now, I am considering IBM DOS 5.02 upgraded to PC DOS 7 Rev. 1 (2000). You get an IBM branded DOS-Editor, but still all the nice tools from the future, like DELTREE.EXE, DEFRAG, PC DOS-Shell 7.0 or Windows Undelete. Seems to be the best overall DOS package...

Any other ideas / suggestions?

I finally managed to install a working graphics driver for the TRIDENT 8900D within my new 86Box VM. This is running in a beautiful 800x600 resolution with 256 colors. Classic!

In case you're wondering about this file manager: Yes, it doesn't have toolbars. No, it's not broken. This is normal. You're looking at the good old Windows 3.1, not WfW 3.11! I just love these subtle differences!

OK, this is so "bad" is just have to share it. I just stumbled over the "PUNICA" game from 1993. The game is just horrible, even the disk is already kinda depressing with its black / grey colours. This is a German game. NO FUN!

"Läuft nur unter DOS" ... don't even think about wanting anything fancy you f'ing brats!"

MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 still run train dashboards at German railway — company listed admin job for 30-year-old operating system

｢ Windows 3.1X was notable for being the first version of Microsoft’s GUI-based operating system with integrated networking and introduced a 386-protected mode networking stack. Microsoft launched this network-friendly OS back in 1992 and ended support for it on December 31, 2001 ｣

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/ms-dos-and-windows-311-still-run-train-dashboards-at-german-railway-company-listed-admin-job-for-30-year-old-operating-system

The July 1987 issue of Computer Language magazine reviewed half a dozen Lisp implementations for MS-DOS and the Macintosh. There are a few I didn't know such as TransLISP by Solution Systems.

https://archive.org/details/computer-language-vol-4-no-7-1987-07-miller-freeman-publications-us/page/136/mode/2up?view=theater