> which hardware would you recommend for running FreeDOS? > Are there any "modern" main boards that provide the neccessary BIOS > compatibility for running FreeDOS? > Is there a hardware compatibility list available?
Regarding your hardware question: Obviously, you need a computer which still has a BIOS at all. Computers which support ONLY UEFI operating systems will not work (unless you load a CSM, but there is none I could recommend for DOS). But most computers still do support BIOS, I think. You also want a computer which has a VGA BIOS, preferrably with VESA and preferrably with VGA compatible hardware. This also is the case for many graphics cards, but if you want to be on the safe side, check the web whether people are complaining about the graphics chip or graphics card you want to use. For example 8x14 fonts are often missing (TSR exist to supply them) and some modern chips are less flexible regarding "geometry" of your graphics memory. No problem, as long as your game is :-) As DOS itself does not rely on direct hardware access, you should be able to use ALL mainboards which can still boot OS with BIOS. Note that only 1 CPU core and at most 2-4 GB RAM will be active in DOS and games unless you load experimental drivers and libraries. You will not find modern sound hardware with actual soundblaster compatibility. So prepare for having to find or write drivers for HDA (or AC97) class sound chips. MPXPLAY shows that it can be done :-) Alternatively, just use the internal speaker/beeper. I guess printer ports and serial ports are not a topic for you in games. Analog joysticks were easy, but USB versions or game pads will be hard (try the Bret Johnson drivers?) For networking, some LAN chips are supported even when only a few years old, but you will have to check before you buy. WLAN is NOT supported in DOS. Your USB mouse or touchpad will be supported as simulated PS/2 device if you have a well-behaved BIOS helping you with it. Your USB keyboard will be supported by the BIOS. Same for all built-in disks (harddisks, SSD, even eMMC or M2) although the BIOS driver will not achieve the best possible speeds. Note that GPT partitioning is not yet supported by the DOS kernel: You will have to partition your disk MBR style which limits you to using the first two terabytes ;-) I recommend to keep FAT32 partition sizes limited (you can even use FAT16) as I expect DOS to be sluggish when using very large partitions. I am not aware of any DOS drivers for webcams and similar. You can check the ongoing thread about whether and how to print in DOS with modern hardware. USB storage is probably supported by the BIOS only when you boot from it, but that can be enough for getting files copied. Actual USB drivers for DOS exist, such as the Bret Johnson or Georg Potthast ones or various classic and vendor provided alternatives, but prepare to have to try some variants and tune configurations. This topic is too complex to describe all ins and outs here. Some USB controllers might not be supported at all, apart from by the BIOS, which only lets you use keyboards, mice and sometimes storage (USB sticks). No Bluetooth support is available for DOS as far as I remember. Optical CD/DVD/BD drives should be supported in ATAPI or SATA, but I would not rely on that to work on every modern computer. Also, support for UDF is at best experimental, so prepare to only be able to read ISO9660 formatted CD or DVD. Writing or burning of CD/DVD/BD has been done by some DOS fans, but that has been years ago. Nobody seems to care about that any more? Regards, Eric _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
