What is Free DOS?

Free DOS is an operating system that has full compatibility with Microsoft MS-DOS, but the project is distinguished by the fact that this development is distributed under the conditions of a free license, which is "GNU". The platform was released in 2006 and it is installed on computers and laptops of various manufacturers as the system chosen by default.

Principle of the project

The Free DOS operating system was created as a full-fledged alternative to the previously available MS-DOS, because the latter is distributed as a paid license. Development of the project began in 1994, but the platform was prepared in the first stable version with index 1.0 only by 2006. The OS is completely free and can be run on almost any obsolete and new hardware.

In addition, to implement it, you can use emulators, which will allow you to run the necessary applications under DOS. At the same time, the system code is open, which means that if desired, any developer can modify it for their own needs.

About the use of the system

At the moment the system version 1.1 can easily be downloaded on the official developer site as an image of the CD-ROM for installation. Free DOS is used by manufacturers of laptops and computers as a free alternative to MS-DOS, as well as other products from Microsoft, which can significantly increase the cost of the device, which as a result will negatively affect the sales of certain computer equipment. Companies ASUS, HP and Dell provide an opportunity for users to buy computers with a pre-installed system of FreeDOS.

About characteristics

The OS works with the FAT32 file system. Free DOS supports the product of absolutely all basic operations on existing files on PC, which are available in other known operating systems.

In addition, the system supports working with archives (7-ZIP, ZIP), editing various text documents with additional programs, working with mouse pointers, which has a scroll wheel, viewing HTML pages. If we talk about what Free DOS is and what its features are, it should be noted the presence of a large number of programs that were ported from Linux.

This system has its own browser, BitTorrent-client and even antivirus software. The project supports work on any modern computer, mainly on the x86 architecture. The device must be equipped with a capacity of its own RAM, at least 2 MB, to install this system requires about 40 MB.

The operating system can be launched not only when the installation is complete, but also through special virtual machines (for example, VirtualBox), they can be deployed in standard Mac, Linux or Windows-platforms.

In addition, there is an opportunity to start the system directly from the browser window, thanks to the Java-emulator, which is available to the user for downloading on the official developer site.

To ensure a direct installation of the platform on the computer, you need to download the latest version of the system, then burn the image to an empty CD-ROM drive, restart the computer, and then complete the boot of the PC from the disk.

About the complete set

The distribution of the system includes a significant number of various free programs, among them there are written specially for the DOS project and ported from unix-like platforms with the help of DJGPP: graphics system, several games, text editors, browsers, utilities. Thanks to DOS / 32, as well as Open Watcom, FreeDOS is an easy solution for any industrial computers that are based on the architecture of the PC. FreeDOS can be easily installed on Samsung and ASUS laptops. Within the framework of this project, a replacement for the MS-DOS command interpreter has been developed.