[Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
Greetings, I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? Thanks Bob Cochran -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
[Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
I use it as my main OS, running on real hardware (no emulation), typically on Pentiums 100-300 MHz, both desktops and portables. I also have at home one machine with Linux Ubuntu and one with Windows XP, but I only use them when necessary, typically to open PowerPoint or Word files, which is pretty rare actually. All the rest I do in FreeDOS. That includes: - Text, with Aurora and its amazing macro language, Latex (EmTex distribution) for engineering and scientific articles which I help write and edit, WordPerfect 6, and a bunch of other great editors such as TDE (Thomson-Davis-Hood), FTE (Marko Macek), SetEdit (Salvador Tropea). - Spreadsheets. - Relational databases (with the rock-solid DataPerfect), including: * Almost 20 of them for my personal use, and * The ones I did as voluntary work for public health centers, which doctors and nurses have been using for 12 hours every week day since 2005 with amazing reliability. I can remember about 3 "problems" in those seven years: one corrupted file, one disconnected power cord, and one physically sabotaged computer. That was about it. - Internet: * Links, Arachne, and now Dillo for browsing, and * PMSMTP and TCPMAIL to send and receive emails, with help of an email reader which I wrote myself. - Programming in Euphoria, including -- I'm proud to say -- some rather complex stuff for a non-professional like me. - Technical drawing with Desi-III. - Many other assorted uses. Basically, my reasons for using (Free)DOS are: * The relative simplicity of DOS as compared to Linux, Windows, etc., which allows me to be much more in control of my machine without having to be a computer professional. * Speed and reliability. * Utter disgust for the consumerism pervading so much of daily life, including computers. A confession: I secretly hope to help people realize that it is not mandatory to change all hardware and software every 3 years. I'm very happy about my choice of OS, and especially so since 2007 when I moved from MS-DOS to FreeDOS. I have no plans to change. As a bonus, I even get a sense of community by participating in this discussion list :-) My favorite outrageous story: a couple of years ago I switched from dialed to broadband internet connection, for which I needed some help from my internet service provider. When I told them I used FreeDOS, they said it is impossible, and proceeded to explain me that Linux has a console mode that looks just like DOS, and therefore I must have been using my computer all these years unaware that its OS is Linux. Only after I said that I had myself partitioned and formatted the hard disk and installed FreeDOS were they (somewhat) more convinced. I don't miss a chance to express my gratitude to the FreeDOS developers, as well as others who have written great DOS programs and generously donated them. Thanks, everyone. Marcos -- Marcos Fávero Florence de Barros Campinas, Brazil -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:53 PM, Bob Cochran wrote: > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? I can't speak for the community, but can detail my usage. FreeDOS is a "legacy" operating system. It's intended to be an open source clone of MS-DOS/PC-DOS. DOS is a 16 bit operating system developed for machines far slower and less powerful than the current norm. The vast majority of users don't need DOS. Those who do need to support legacy DOS apps or just like playing with retro-tech. On 32 bit machines, you don't necessarily need FreeDOS to run DOS apps. Windows through XP will run DOS apps in a window, using NTVDM. The exceptions tend to be DOS games, which historically accessed the PC hardware directly to get performance. This is a no-no under a multi-tasking OS, as your app cannot assume it owns the machine and is the only thing running. There are a couple of "virtual machine" packages - DOSBox and DOSEmu - that are intended to address this, making legacy apps think they own the machine, but it's sometimes simpler to just boot directly to a flavor of DOS, and FreeDOS is one option. I have FreeDOS installed on an old notebook, multi-booting with Win2K Pro and two flavors of Linux. I can run most of the DOS apps I have on the FreeDOS slice in a window in Win2K or in DOSBox under Linux as well, but booting to pure DOS is faster. I started using DOS ion the days when the original IBM PC was first taking over the corporate desktop, and it can be fun to flex some long unused muscles. > Thanks > Bob Cochran __ Dennis -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On Wed, 2012-01-25 at 18:53 -0500, Bob Cochran wrote: > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > > Thanks > > Bob Cochran I am probably not a typical user, but I use FreeDOS to control an automatic diode tester. I need to be able to have unrestricted access to the computer hardware, such as registers, memory, communications ports, etc. I need to do that in nearly "real time". Higher level OS systems such as WINDOWS or LINUX don't allow that or if it is allowed at all it is with considerable latency. Incidentally, I write my software in the FORTH language, and occasionally in assembler. Regards George Frothingham > > > -- > Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! > The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers > is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, > Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On Wed, 2012-01-25 at 18:53 -0500, Bob Cochran wrote: > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > > Thanks > > Bob Cochran > I am probably not a typical user, but I use FreeDOS to control an automatic diode tester. I need to be able to have unrestricted access to the computer hardware. I write to registers, memory, communications ports etc. I need to do that in near "real time". Higher level OS systems such as WINDOWS and LINUX don't allow that or if they allow it all there is considerable latency. Incidentally, I write my software in the FORTH language. Regards George Frothingham > -- > Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! > The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers > is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, > Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
Hi, On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 5:53 PM, Bob Cochran wrote: > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? DOS is good for gaming and programming, usually old software on old hardware (but not always). With various kinds of emulation (or a native FreeDOS install), it (kinda) works on new hardware too. For me, it's what I'm used to, what I know (sorta), what I enjoy, so I use it. But admittedly it's a losing battle (almost). (longer reply snipped) -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On 01/26/2012 10:53 AM, Bob Cochran wrote: > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community as I am > sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I know it > is an operating system, of course, but I don't know why it is used as an > operating system compared to other operating system choices. I would > like to understand the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many > users, or just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > Hi Bob, I have been writing human performance tests on PCs for about 25 years, beginning with Apple IIe boxes, then moving to IBM PCs. FreeDOS is ideal for this as the OS only does what you tell it to do, and never capers off to do other tasks, thus allowing precise timing of events without having external equipment. Recently I learned how to use the BIOS real time clock interrupt to count time, and while taking a bit of learning and programming, this has proven superior to reprogramming TIMER0 on the 825x timer chip. Program data is written to a text file that can be processed by external utilities. FreeDOS also allows me to take over the keyboard and pointer interrupts so that I can capture data from these devices. By using batch files and doing a little programming on the keyboard queue and Interapplication Communication Area, I can allow the users to run sequences of tests that require no operator input between tests. The only other OS I would consider is Linux, using Real Time Linux to run the tests (Windows is a disaster for timing). It would be more convenient, as the users could use a GUI to run things instead of complaining about selecting a batch file from a list. However, I would have to port all the code (C) to Linux and set up RTL, a considerable task. FreeDOS is still a viable option. Jim -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
We use it to run burn-in and acceptance testing of machines that we resell. It drives a series of pure dos apps that run for 3 days or so, exercising the machine to its fullest. We can't do this in windows because windows doesn't allow access to exercise the full range of installed memory, nor allow access to other low-level calls for testing (video modes, etc). == David C. Kerber Warren Rogers Associates dker...@warrenrogersassociates.com 401-846-4747 x-111 == > -Original Message- > From: Bob Cochran [mailto:bcochra...@verizon.net] > Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 6:53 PM > To: freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS > > Greetings, > > I am pretty ignorant of how FreeDOS is used by the community > as I am sure my previous posts show. I would like to build a > better understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most > commonly? I know it is an operating system, of course, but I > don't know why it is used as an operating system compared to > other operating system choices. I would like to understand > the user base for FreeDOS better. Are there many users, or > just a small base of users, or somewhere in between? > > Thanks > > Bob Cochran > > > -- > > Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! > The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft > developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - > plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future > releases when you subscribe now! > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d > ___ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Modern Uses For FreeDOS
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:53:23 -0500 Bob Cochran wrote: > ...I would like to build a better > understanding of FreeDOS. What is it used for most commonly? I use it for control of a desktop milling machine. Modern computers don't have and can't use a parallel port in real time. -- James D Baker jdba...@mchsi.com -- Keep Your Developer Skills Current with LearnDevNow! The most comprehensive online learning library for Microsoft developers is just $99.99! Visual Studio, SharePoint, SQL - plus HTML5, CSS3, MVC3, Metro Style Apps, more. Free future releases when you subscribe now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/learndevnow-d2d ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
