DOS ain't dead

32-bit DOS unkludged (Developers)

posted by kerravon , Ligao, Free World North, 10.09.2025, 21:50

This is another issue, different from what I posted about a short time ago.

Decades ago, someone wrote "Until DOS itself is made 32-bit, DOS extenders are just a kludge".

I no longer remember or have access to the person who wrote that, so I have to guess what he meant. Maybe someone else has the same opinion.

I'm guessing that his complaint is that DOS extenders repeatedly switch from PM32 to RM16. It's unclear to me why that is a "kludge" rather than "design".

Regardless, with PDOS/386 I don't switch to use DOS, I do the same switch - ie from PM32 to RM16 - to use the BIOS.

And why not? That's what the manufacturer shipped. They shipped the BIOS, I used it. Is that a kludge or not?

IF it IS a kludge, then I need to directly manipulate the hardware instead of using the BIOS, to make it non-kludged?

Regardless, I realized that at some point there was 32-bit UEFI, which means I can stay in 32-bit. If I switch PDOS to use 32-bit UEFI, would I then have an officially unkludged OS?

Then the next challenge would be to have the unkludged OS certified as "32-bit DOS". I think that might be impossible. But first I want to know the definition of "unkludged". Anyone know?

Complete thread:

• 32-bit DOS unkludged - kerravon, 10.09.2025, 21:50 (Developers)
  • 32-bit DOS unkludged - tom, 11.09.2025, 00:13