(PATCH32M.EXE, FASTOPEN.EXE, FORMAT.COM & GRAPHICS.COM)
Im not going to dive into this here as its beyond the scope of (mostly) pure MS-DOS, but here are a couple tips if you want to play around with this.Patch for MS-DOS 4.0/4.01 & 32MB Files.
Its not something Ill care to use, but its a pretty interesting idea that I was completely unfamiliar with before this project, and it seems like it could be a reasonably powerful interface if a little time is spent on configuring it just right (though, honestly, running Windows 3.x instead will provide far more power and flexibility). Its essentially a primitive Windows-like (or perhaps more accurately, Windows Light) environment that runs on top of DOS and provides a GUI file manager, file associations, a menu-driven task list, and even primitive pseudo-multitasking (called Task Swapper here). To try it yourself, just run qbasic.exe run c:dosnibbles.bas. The only options I find interesting are the Additional MS-DOS Utilities and MS-DOS Shell, you enter Y for these if you feel so inclined. Its larger than a single floppy, and meant to be downloaded and run directly on the target computer, which is difficult for a freshly installed version of MS-DOS. Youll likely need to boot from or otherwise use that disk a number of times.Ĭhoose to Continue Setup and replace your current version of DOS.
These applications should cover all the software I tried to unpack, so having these tools available in advance will save some time and hassle.
Youll probably needwant to unpack some of the software and drivers listed below on your main computer before copying it over to your new DOS system, and some of these are packed in fairly obscure (for today) formats. Part of the experience here is the journey itself, so if you get immediately frustrated at any given setback you will not enjoy this project.īasic CLI experience is also expected I hope to provide enough guidance to get you through this project without the need for too much prior experience, but I have to assume you have at least a basic familiarity with the command line. I dont generally condone piracy, but given this is twenty year old software thats no longer commercially available, I see no harm at all here. If you dont have access to any legit copies and dont want to go the eBay route, you can find a copy online easily enough (I recommend the WinWorld Software Library ).
If possible, I suggest using or tracking down any original installation media you may have had (in my case, I was able to pull the original MS-DOS 6.2 diskette images off of my Packard Bell recovery CD) or picking up a set on eBay - unless you want a full boxed set, the media itself is quite cheap.
Links point to the original download location for each file wherever possible, but for the files that no longer have an official source (or a reliable one, in the case of the files hosted on Microsofts amazingly unreliable FTP server), Ive linked to a local copy you can download instead. If you have some old hardware lying around then I hope youll follow along, but even if not I think you may still find some of this interesting enough to read. If, however, you share my passion for technology, not only for the new hotness 1 of today but also the old and busted (and tried and true) of yesterday that got us to where we are today, then I think youll find this interesting. This makes sense as MS-DOS predates the web as we know it today, but I dont want knowledge of this system to be lost to time.
Why write this in 2013 Thats a very valid question, to which there are a few answers.įor old-timers, it will be a walk down memory lane for youngsters whove never used nor even seen DOS before, it should be quite an eye-opening experience to experience first hand both how primitive DOS was and yet how capable it could be.ĭOSBox does an amazing job of supporting DOS games on modern platforms, but for perfect accuracy, including the full memory management experience (which can be a game unto itself), a real DOS system cant be beat. Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed.īoth interfaces are quite similar, but GUI mode can be configured to run at a much higher resolution.