12379f2cbbbe
tech



Hello Joe - 

>> DOS _is_ Microsoft. I realize there are clones of DOS but
>> the software you are using would've never been written if
>> not for MSDOS. Your DOS-only system is courtesy of Bill
>> Gates and Microsoft. Without their efforts you would have no
>> software to use on your DOS-only system. 

JN> I seem to remember IBMDOS and DRDOS, 

Neither IBM nor Digital Research had the power to motivate all
of the programmers who wrote for MSDOS and then for Windows.
Microsoft created the market and motivated the majority of
_all_ of the development that took place. Without Microsoft
there would be very little software out there that was DOS
compatible. Yes, you might have a 'DOS' but with the minimal
software you find for FLEX, OS9, or any of the others that had
no major backing to bring in outside third-party software. 

JN> which ran all MS-DOS programs without a hitch. 

Not quite _all_ MSDOS programs ran without a hitch but probably
most would execute, yes. 

'IBMDOS' has always been named PCDOS and is now PCDOS 2000. It
remains useable on all systems from the PC up but does not,
AFAIK, use LBA and cannot read drives larger than 8 gig. 

If you remember them then you probably also remember that, for
whatever reasons, DRDOS had problems when used with Windows and
was 'set aside' as a free giveaway after further development
was abandoned by the new owners (Caldera). DRDOS has recently
been purchased by DeviceLogics for embedded use and may soon be
withdrawn as a 'freebie'. At it's present stage of development
it cannot read drives larger than 8 gig nor partitions larger
than 2 gig (it is approximately where MSDOS v6.22 is). 

FreeDOS is attempting LBA and PTSDOS already can do LBA. 

MSDOS v7.01 and newer can use LBA. 

JN> After leaving the FD and temp-ing at a bank in 1989-90, I
JN> ran across hundreds of computers still running on IBMDOS. 

PCDOS, yes it isn't unusual to find PCDOS on legacy hardware. 

My DOS and W31 website remains quite active each day making it
obvious that DOS has it's uses. :-) 

>
>        ,                                        ,
>      o/      Charles_Angelich  - DOS Ghost       \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >  www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/faf/  < \   __\__
 

___ * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... Xmas Music! www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/faf/snowsc.htm

--- Maximus/2 3.01