> Re: FreeDOS vs. DOS-like operating systems > There are plenty of DOS-like hobby projects out there. But without > applications, they are pretty limited. if by 'DOS-like' you mean 'small footprint, may access hardware, possibly quite limited' there are plenty (toy-) operating systems out there that nobody cares about.
> I think a lot of the value in > DOS and FreeDOS is the ability to run existing applications. exactly. > So we need > to decide on what we are trying to do; are we going to morph FreeDOS > into yet another hobby operating system that is only slightly compatible > with existing software, or are we going to keep it an open DOS clone? no need to decide as this has been decided at project start; just read the FreeDOS manifesto. the FreeDOS project is all about running old software as well or better as MSDOS 6.2 for me DOS is defined by the ability to run NORTON COMMANDER. you can add features; subtracting some is not an option. of course you can take all of freedos, and port it to ARM, or 64 BIT. if it can run NORTON COMMANDER, you may consider it xxDOS. otherwise not. > Re: Protected mode networking > Networking provides the most value when it is an integral part of the > operating system. yes and no. MSNET, Novell NETWARE, LANTASTIC and friends were not 'integral part' of MSDOS, but they integrated into the OS. xyDOS was all about expanding the OS using TSR's, adding functionality without the need for applications to change. > Otherwise, we just have disparate applications that > bring their own library code that the OS is unaware of. of course having a single network application stack would be great. just rewrite all network applications in that case. > Re: Emulation environments > We're going to have to face reality one day; hardware will move away > from FreeDOS faster than FreeDOS can keep up with it. so far you can boot virtually all hardware into BIOS mode, then run DOS. > Unless we can > attract a lot more interest in hard-core, low level programming skills > then emulation will be the only way to deal with this problem. I have zero interest in an toy OS that runs on top of a hyper modern OS in emulation mode. YMMV ;) RE: protected mode USB support would be nice to have USB 2.0 support at all RE: protected whatever DRDOS had the option to load programs/TSR's/modules into protected mode; nothing wrong with that AFAIR there exists a module to load UIDE into HxD DOS expander but integrating stuff like USB or network into kernel is neither necessary nor practical Tom ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Want fast and easy access to all the code in your enterprise? Index and search up to 200,000 lines of code with a free copy of Black Duck® Code Sight™ - the same software that powers the world's largest code search on Ohloh, the Black Duck Open Hub! Try it now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bds _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
