[wplug] FreeDOS

[Darius Cardren]

On 5/16/05, Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com> wrote:
> Michael Semcheski <lists at immuneit.com> wrote:
> 
> > I was wondering if anyone on this list had any experience with FreeDOS.
> 
> It's been almost two years, but we used FreeDOS to run a legacy app for a
> while.  Nice system.
> 
> > I have a 10-15 year old system I inherited that uses an ISA board plot
> > x's and y's from the stage of a microsocope.  The drivers for this board
> > currently seem to be MS-DOS based drivers.  The computers run Windows
> > 98, and its a huge PITA.  We have three of these systems, and they get a
> > fair amount of use.
> 
> Yuk.
> 
> > For this simple task, we have to keep this crippled operating system
> > around.  I would be happy to go back to DOS 5.1 or 6 and use a
> > minimalist approach, except for its lack of networking.  There would be
> > a mutiny if I suggested shuttling data around with floppy disks in this
> > day and age.
> >
> > FreeDOS seems to support TCP/IP.  I can imagine it running off of a CD,
> > sort of like knoppix, and it would be a very nice solution.  It would
> > setup a RAM disk that people could store their days work on, then FTP
> > the files to a server.  These old systems could run without fixed disks,
> > which would be a major advantage.  Old, small hard drives in good
> > condition are not cheap or easy to find.
> >
> > I wonder if anyone has a reality check for me.  I haven't spent much
> > time looking into FreeDOS, but I would be willing to give it a good week
> > to get things set up and working.  Before I put that time in, anyone
> > want to cast some doubt?  Anyone have any relevant experience?
> 
> Reality check:
> If you're dealing with drivers, DOS drivers may not work under FreeDOS.
> I don't think FreeDOS is designed to be _that_ compatable.  For example,
> FreeDOS is a 32bit OS.

so the 32bit version won out? it was going almost purely 16-bit last
Iw as informed, there was a 32-bit branc but it was a seperate project
(I lurked on the freedos dev list for about 2 years)



> 
> Possible alternative:
> Check out Bochs.  We used it to run an ancient version of DOS in emulation
> and it worked better than the FreeDOS solution in our particular case.
> 
> --
> Bill Moran
> Potential Technologies
> http://www.potentialtech.com
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-- 
Ben Beige
dariuscardren at gmail.com