freedosproject

freedosproject, 2 days ago to random

Several years ago, someone ported the Dillo web browser to FreeDOS.

Now that development on Dillo has started up again, I'm really hopeful someone wants to bring this version to FreeDOS:

https://dillo-browser.github.io/latest.html

freedosproject, 3 days ago to random

Interesting article about people using floppy disks today:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240510-floppy-disks-why-some-people-are-still-in-love-with-this-obsolete-computer-storage-technology

Growing up, I used 5¼ and then 3½ floppies to store everything. They were ubiquitous. 💾💾💾

freedosproject, 7 days ago to random

This is a repeat of an article that originally ran on OpenSource, but it's good to share with a new audience on #AllThingsOpen

https://allthingsopen.org/articles/learn-machine-language-simulator

I wrote an educational retro virtual computer for FreeDOS called the Toy CPU so that my students could learn about machine language.

freedosproject, 9 days ago to random

We're on for the FreeDOS virtual get-together : Sunday, May 5, 11am-noon US/Central. You can connect using Google Meet. See you there!

https://meet.google.com/nzf-gjbv-mqp

freedosproject, 9 days ago to random

Don't forget about the next FreeDOS virtual get-together on Sunday, May 5, 11am-noon US/Central. (Use your favorite time zone converter to find your local time.)

We'll share the link when the meeting starts. Watch the website; for technical meetings, we usually share the link via the website and email list.

The meeting will be 'technical.' This is a great opportunity to do live debugging, ask about setup and configuration, and other 'tech' topics.

freedosproject, 12 days ago to random

Happy birthday to the BASIC programming language! 🎉🎂

May 1, 1964

https://www.dartmouth.edu/basicfifty/basic.html

(this page is from ten years ago and describes BASIC at 50)

freedosproject, 13 days ago to random

I shared an essay on Both.org about Microsoft releasing the source code to #msdos40

“…It’s because of this vast history that it’s important to preserve DOS. Merely keeping a binary-only copy of DOS isn’t enough. DOS was a milestone in computing; by releasing the source code, Microsoft has “opened the doors” to how MS-DOS worked on the inside.…”

https://www.both.org/?p=5081

freedosproject, 15 days ago to random

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how to build MS-DOS 4.00 using FreeDOS, here's a video to do that.

This runs Linux commands that fix the source code — the GitHub version stripped CR/LF to just LF, and mangled some CP437 characters. Then the build runs fine.

Thanks to FreeDOS developer E. C. Masloch ('ecm') for providing these fixes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r76V_gWQ8

freedosproject, 16 days ago to opensource

Congrats to Microsoft and IBM for releasing the source code to MS-DOS 4 under an #OpenSource license!

However, you may have some problems in compiling the code as-is; the OS/2 Museum has a discussion about the issues, but the 1-line takeaway is DOS Code Page 437 is not the same as UTF-8. FreeDOS developer 'ecm' shared on our freedos-devel email list what you need to do to fix it.

https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/mailman/message/58765259/

freedosproject, 21 days ago to random

Cool history! 50 years of CP/M:

"This may have been one of the most exciting days of my life, … We now have the power of an IBM S/370 [mainframe computer] at our fingertips." This is going to be a "big thing," they told each other.

https://computerhistory.org/blog/fifty-years-of-the-personal-computer-operating-system/

freedosproject, 1 month ago to random

FreeDOS to the rescue! Here's David's story about using FreeDOS to update the BIOS on his computers:

https://www.both.org/?p=4625

freedosproject, 1 month ago to bsg

The videos are back!

https://youtu.be/3IUi8HsWxMQ

This program is simple but it made me so happy to write it! Let's write a demo program that makes a Cylon "eye" sweep back and forth on the screen. #battlestar #byyourcommand

freedosproject, 1 month ago to random

FreeDOS will be 30 years old in June!

We announced FreeDOS on June 29, 1994 … which makes us older than Amazon, Wikipedia, and Google.

I wrote a lot of code early on, but these days I'm here to support others who write the code.

I was honored to be interviewed by My Open Source Experience podcast about supporting an open source community. Thanks for the great interview!

https://youtu.be/qYux4Q1vxJ4

freedosproject, 2 months ago to random

Our next FreeDOS virtual get-together is coming soon, on Sunday, March 10 from 11am to noon US/Central. Use your favorite timezone converter to find your local time.

FYI that March 10 is also the start of Daylight Saving Time.

This month's focus for the get-together is social time.

freedosproject, 2 months ago to random

Bernd has released an update to FreeDOS FDISK.

Version 1.3.14 provides these fixes: + Fix a drive letter disagree between DOS and FDISK in some cases + Prevent querying LBA capabilities via INT13,41, if LBA access is disabled by the user. (This caused some broken BIOS to crash the system, like the Book8088 and Xi8088)

Also updated German translation

https://github.com/FDOS/fdisk

freedosproject, 2 months ago to random

ICYMI

Willi has updated the new version of the FreeDOS Help. This is the content of the main Help system, not the HTML Help viewer.

This is a completely new Help that has been rewritten from scratch. Willi is asking for help in finding issues with the new Help and is asking for the community to help check it.

https://www.bootablecd.de/FreeDOS-Internet-version/help110/en/index.htm

freedosproject, 2 months ago to random

ICYMI

Laaca has released a minor update to the Blocek text editor. "The binaries are the same but I included corrected documentation and message files. (Fixes wording and typos.)"

http://www.laaca.borec.cz/blocek/

freedosproject, 3 months ago to random

Sad to hear of the passing of John Walker, founder of Autodesk.
https://scanalyst.fourmilab.ch/t/john-walker-1949-2024/4305

I used AutoCAD on DOS all those years ago. It was an excellent drafting system.

Read about the history of Autodesk in John's memoir:
https://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/e5/

freedosproject, 3 months ago to random

FreeDOS will turn 30 years old on June 29, 2024.

And as we look ahead to a milestone anniversary, I wanted to take a look back at where things started.

https://www.both.org/?p=3991

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

"Shareware" did very well in the DOS era. Usually low cost, you could try before you buy. And they encouraged you to share the (original, unregistered) software with others.

My favorites were As Easy As spreadsheet, Galaxy word processor, and of course all the games (so many games!)

What shareware apps did you use?

*Let's focus on applications for this one. We'll ask about games next time.

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

https://josem.co/the-beauty-of-finished-software/

I liked this article about Finished Software, and the WordStar example. That was from an era when online updates and patches weren't yet a Thing. Once you shipped that version, that was it.

My favorite Finished Software is As Easy As spreadsheet on DOS. Very solid, no issues.

But I'd say many DOS programs were that way too. What was your favorite Finished Software?

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

FYI: I'm in the middle of the website move, and something got stuck.

Right now, you can visit http://www.freedos.org/ and see the new website, but https://www.freedos.org/ (note the "https" instead of "http") is showing an error. So something didn't get updated for https when the move happened.

I have a support ticket open for the site hosting folks to fix this.

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! 🎄🎅

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

I think some folks here will be interested in this article about 4 retro tools I use all the time for tech writing:

https://technicallywewrite.com/2023/12/18/retrotools

technically we write . com

freedosproject, 4 months ago to random

Thanks to everyone for joining the FreeDOS virtual get-together today!

We had a small group (probably because of the holidays) but we had a great conversation about the new website, kernel updates, the distribution, and our upcoming 30th anniversary.