FreeDOS

Key articles: Operating systems

2022: FreeDOS 1.3

February 22, 2022 it became known that a stable release of the operating system FreeDOS 1.3 has been published, which has been working on since 2016. This free open source and fully compatible with the classic MS-DOS system allows you to run old software on modern computers, and age technology offers a second life. In addition, FreeDOS are pre-installed on some computers for sale in retail.

According to the company, the release of stable version 1.3 was preceded by five candidates for releases released from February 2019 to December 2021.

An updated version of the operating system can be downloaded from the official website for free. Bootable ISO images CD-ROM (CDs) are available, standard and "lightweight" assemblies for starting from USB the media, as well as a distribution for writing to flexible magnetic disks.

FreeDOS operating system is an open source DOS (Disk operating system) family that is fully compatible with MS-DOS Corporation. Microsoft FreeDOS works both on old - IBM compatible computers based on processors Intel 80286, 80386, and on modern "iron," providing support for common hardware interfaces like. It will not USB be difficult to start operations in. virtual machine

The FreeDOS project began in 1994, after Microsoft announced the cessation of support and sales of MS-DOS. The system is developed by American programmer Jim Hall and the community. OS Core distributed under the terms of the free license GNU GPL v2. Kernel code, other components, and some utilities are available on - hosting IT projects. Github

Among the changes in FreeDOS 1.3, it is worth noting the updated 16-bit Kernel 2043 kernel with full support for the FAT32 file system and long file names. MS-DOS could correctly work with files whose name consisted of one to eight ASCII characters plus extensions (up to three characters) indicating the type of content.

In FreeDOS 1.3, support for the network stack, that is, basic functions for exchanging information with other machines, is returned.

The developers also note the optimization of the installation process, especially on disks with a master boot record (MBR); updating the command interpreter FreeCOM (free implementation command.com); Introduction of basic capabilities for automatic setting of regional standards (via country.sys); updating and expanding the list of programs included in the expanded composition (utilities and games).

The main composition of the FreeDOS was replenished with programs for data compression unzip and zip. The latter is involved in the formation of an assembly intended for writing to floppy disks, due to which the number of 3.5-inch floppy magnetic disks in the distribution was halved.

To work comfortably FreeDOS on real iron, developers recommend a processor no weaker than the Intel 80386, 2 MB of RAM, 40 MB on disk. The system supports CD and DVD drives, a mouse, including a trackwheel, "large" hard drives by DOS standards (up to 2 TB), output of graphics to the printer, power management. cal, head, tee, less command-line utilities familiar to UNIX systems are available to users; media player; Dillo and Arachne browsers and other tools.

FreeDOS can be found on modern PCs as a pre-installed system. Thus, some suppliers seek to reduce the price of the device for the end user. In particular, FreeDOS used Dell and HP in this way in their desktops and laptops. Often you can find on the market computers with pre-installed Linux or without an OS at all.

FreeDOS can be useful in situations where it is necessary to run outdated software on modern equipment or give a second life to a machine long unsupported by the manufacturer.

However, in both of these cases, FreeDOS is not an alternative solution. You can use the free DOSBox emulator to run DOS applications on the Windows family. The recently updated Slackware 15.0 will be a relatively lightweight replacement for today's systems (requires a 32-bit Intel processor no older than 80386).

Other possible scenarios of FreeDOS application: for emergency loading in the event of a failure of the main operating system and subsequent diagnostics of malfunctions; Backup/Restore information Firmware Update (BIOS UEFI), motherboard if provided by the manufacturer; as a lightweight OS for embedded systems.

With regard to boot support in motherboard-based systems with modern UEFI firmware, it is not available in FreeDOS 1.3 release. According to the materials of the official wiki project, you should not expect its appearance in the future at all. Like all operating systems of the DOS family, FreeDOS refers to the BIOS when performing some functions of the video and disk subsystems, the developers explain their solution. Even if you move the implementation of these features to the OS kernel, many existing DOS programs will lose functionality because they directly access the BIOS, bypassing the operating system.

Thus, on computers with iron without the manufacturer's BIOS compatibility mode (legacy BIOS), FreeDOS probably will never work.^[1]

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