This is supposed to be a list of what we want to see there. To all of you who are not involved with the guide, please post what you would expect from our guide to building the ultimate dos pc. I will establish a list made up of several to-dos (including those who are willing to take care of them), and will later on cross the done ones out. Now let's hear those suggestions!



Also, here are some things I want to work on:

• A list of small tools (we can put links to the tools there and explain their purpose)
• More on the Dual-Boot thing
• More on DSL
• Useful applications
• CD-ROM support
• FreeDOS Setup
• Stuff about memory

You mention Win 3.0. Now, I'm not certain about this, but I think Win 3.0 was more of a GUI shell for DOS than an operating system in it's own right. If so, then Win 3.0 could be considered a tool on/for the DOS machine, in other words a (useful?) DOS application.

Nice ideas Henning. I can find out some of the useful tools for you and get them.

If I can find them, I have my own notes somewhere about FreeDOS. FreeDOS is pretty short on documentation and support, and I think my notes would be useful to anyone thinking about building a DOS-based gaming system.

EDIT: OK I found my notes but they're too long to paste on the forum, so download here:

Notes.txt

These are the install notes (some copied verbatim from the installer program, some paraphrased) for all the optional packages bundled with FreeDOS 1.0 except for the 10 or so games. There may be some spelling errors. I took these notes so that I could keep track of what I was doing when trying stuff out (e.g. replacing FreeDOS command.com with alternatives). Newbies to DOS would definitely find it useful to print that out, and experienced DOS hands would find it equally useful as a reference for some of the programs they might have installed on their FreeDOS system.

Mighty Midget: Win 3.0 is indeed more like a shell, but definitely not useful. That's why we chose not to go into detail, but I'll go about correcting that info.
crazedloon: Thanks, I think I'll incorporate that. Good job.

Technically, Windows 9x family was not operating systems by themselves but rather GUI shells for MS-DOS.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Jan 17 2007, 10:57 AM) [snapback]275278[/snapback]</div>Whoa! :blink:

Win2K and XP are?

No, these are from the NT family which was non-DOS-based from the getgo.
Also, from W95 onwards, things changed a bit... so DOS was effectively only kicking the whole thing into the gear.
Win 3.x's are nothing more then GUI shells.

What about CD drivers and install of CD drive? Might be handy.

Also it is possible to get different settings when you start up dos. i have this disk and when i start dos with that disk it asks me which memory type i want and then it installs the type i need (EMS or XMS) depending on my need,

I have a general setiing whoch makes every CD-drive work with DOS.

Who is to be PM'ed?

I am, Icewolf. But I think the CD thing is part of the setting up FreeDOS process. I'll look into it anyway.

For MS-DOS 6.22 I happen to have an old cdrom driver disk that I could make an image of. Once you have them you goto the a:\ and type setup and it installs automatically after asking you a few questions.

If you've settled on FreeDOS then it sets up any CD-ROM drive, but if you're using MS-DOS you just need to set up an ATAPI general purpose CD-ROM driver under config.sys.

You also add MSCDEX to the autoexec.bat.

FreeDOS brings along a 'clone' of MSCDEX, so no worries there.
I tested DSL yesterday on 997MHz, 256MB RAM. It was amazing in terms of speed, but I have my worries that it's not the perfect thing for newbies. Time (and more testing) will tell.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(crazedloon @ Jan 17 2007, 08:39 PM) [snapback]275398[/snapback]</div> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(win98 @ Jan 18 2007, 08:41 AM) [snapback]275486[/snapback]</div>All this is explained in the manual for the MS-DOS setup I have.

So all I need, Henning, is an answer whether it is needed. :sneaky:

Not right now, as far as I see it, but thanks anyway! :ok:

Does DSL have a gui though im not sure. I was thinking of using it on my dos pc. Is it any good?

I'm using DSL Linux right now to make this post. It has a GUI and everything you need. It's not perfect but it's good. For older PCs, it gives an option to run the GUI with Xfbdev server instead of Xvesa.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(win98 @ Jan 19 2007, 09:47 PM) [snapback]275683[/snapback]</div>It does have a gui (the reason why we're installing it), and it works well & fast, but don't expect much versatility or anything.

Thats good to here I think I will install it then.

Use it for a week when my Windows got skragged last year. It's not shocking but does the job.

Im going to download it on thursday when I have time.

Just curious. What PCI graphics card did you find that has DOS drivers available?

I have found that it is easier to set up dual boot without a boot manager once you know how to modify the msdos.sys file when installing a Win9X os over DOS. Fewer steps and no 3rd party software.

Word of advice. Stay away from disk compression utilities. They have caused me much grief.

All PCI VGA cards are compatibile with DOS without any need for proprietary drivers.

True. Been there myself.

I have never tried to run a video card on my DOS machines. Always went with the motherboard video port. So, if I install one I don't need to add anything to config.sys like I do with my sound card? Thanks for pointing that out I have been thinking about installing an old ATI Radeon I have lying around.

You don't, as long as your card is capable of supporting appropriate graphic modes.

I was about to install DSL Linux when my dos pcs monitor died. (Pushed in pin) Im not sure how the pin got pushed in mut now I am going tobe using a power hungry one.

If it's only problem with a pin on the video cable, maybe it could be repaired?

I tried repairing it but iI don't have the tools to pull out a pin that has been pushed in hard so it is shorter than the others.

Tried doing it with a pair of tweezers?

They didnt work. It was stuck in tight. :angry:

Pliers, then?

I will try this weekend when I can dig the screen out of my garage.