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DR-DOS 8.1 (Announce)

posted by Rugxulo Homepage, Usono, 22.11.2007, 10:13
(edited by Rugxulo on 22.11.2007, 11:30)

> Hi,
> I found yesterday a site with new device logics dr-dos 8.1 for download
> I did only a quick test boot from a floppy but didn't very pleased:
> -drods's himem.sys claims to have UMB management included but with very
> few drivers I got too low memory (~560kB).
You eventually say you got it working (but limited to 64 MB). That's probably due to using XMSv2 only. And actually, 560k is quite good for conventional memory. (What apps refuse to run with so "little" memory? Most everything I use accepts < 600k.)

> -I tried to run taskmgr.exe but it doesn't run because "incorrect dos
> version"
> BTW does anybody hacked taskmgr to run on other DOSes?
No SETVER included? Oh well. Anyways, TASKMGR relies heavily on DRDOS' EMM386 (according to Udo), so you kinda can't use it (easily?) on other DOSes, AFAIK.

> -I cannot run Dos navigator (6.4.0), it hangs.
DNOSP has issues (e.g. RAM drives) unlike the original or NDN. Also, it's now discontinued, so good luck getting those bugs fixed (although I guess you or somebody could patch it although that sounds unlikely). I prefer NDN actually but haven't tried DNOSP much since (didn't need it). Plus, I think you need Borland Pascal to recompile it (unlike closed src NDN which ironically uses free Virtual Pascal + DOS patches).

> -I don't like the order how FAT32 partitions are assigned to drive letters
> (C: was hd0 1st partition, follewed by D: E: F: FAT32 parttitions and then
> other FAT16 partitions. Normally I had FAT32 partitions at end), I use
> MSDOS/FreeDOS order. But I don't know if it's configurable somewhere...
AFAIK, (and rr will probably back me up on this re: his DRVEXCH), DR-DOS has a completely different way of assigning drive letters to partitions. So, despite the whole "100% compatible" spiel, you have to accept some incompatibilities/quirks.

P.S. I use DR-DOS a lot on my old P166, but honestly, as good as it is, even with multitasking, I don't see it as a "killer app" (vs. FreeDOS, for example). And anyways, it has bugs (like anything) but apparently isn't actively updated. Still, it's cool (even if almost no apps support it's multitasking API, it's not very popular, etc.) even if I don't really use the multitasking at all (Can anybody describe a decent scenario that would heavily benefit from it? Searching for files? Compiling big projects? Copying or archiving lots of files? Man, we could definitely use some DOS tools that did those things, at least. Sorry, but NDN's background copy doesn't seem to work at all yet.).

BTW, is it just me or does someone really really really need to make a DOS-oriented distro (DOSBox, DOSEMU, QEMU) of GNU/Linux or FreeBSD or whatever? I'm surprised no one's done it yet (and Slax "Kill Bill" doesn't count although it's better / more compatible than most, has WINE too). That would pretty much cover the whole "gotta have USB and multitasking" as well as "gotta run my favorite DOS apps". :-)

EDIT: If you visit the SLAX! site, beware the screenshots page (for those easily offended, esp. anybody with kids or wives or conscience or whatever, blargh!).

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