On 3/17/24 14:07, Jim Hall via Freedos-user wrote:
On Sun, Mar 17, 2024 at 12:28 PM Alvah Whealton via Freedos-user
<freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:
This question has arisen several times. I choose DOS because going back to the
Commodore 64 is so impractical for me.
I used DOS when I was growing up. My first computer was an Apple II at
school, and then my family bought an Apple II+ clone for home. But
when the IBM PC came out, my family bought one (although I think my
first might have been an XT, not the PC 5150).
Even in the early days of DOS, I realized DOS was more powerful than
the Apple II. Once I figured out that the BASIC programming
environment was essentially the same as the Apple II (except graphics
were quite different) I made the switch. I was sad that I couldn't
move over my old BASIC programs from the Apple II, but I still had fun
writing new BASIC programs on DOS.
And the cool thing about DOS was that it was so simple that even I
could figure it out: the kernel boots, then it reads config.sys for
settings. Then it runs command.com as the first program (the "shell")
and command.com runs autoexec.bat to set up the environment. I was 10
or 11 when we got the PC, and it was simple enough that I could figure
out how it worked. That's pretty cool for someone who was still
learning about computers.
Later, MS-DOS 5 was a huge step up. The earlier DOS versions were
fine, but MS-DOS 5 changed so much. The file manager (DOSSHELL) and
the BASIC environment (QBASIC) and the new text editor (EDIT, a
stripped down QBASIC without the "BASIC" stuff) were outstanding.
Things felt more powerful. I could do a lot more in DOS, and I enjoyed
doing it.
I also loved the DOS programs and games. I liked writing my own games,
mostly math puzzles and turn-based adventure games. But the word
processor we had was very nice. And in high school, I learned about
Lotus 1-2-3 .. and I relied on that for my physics lab analysis when I
went to university. That's also when I discovered the "shareware"
concept, where you could find these excellent programs that did
everything I needed but at a fraction of the price of the commercial
software. I switched from the student edition of WordPerfect to Galaxy
Write, and from Lotus 1-2-3 to AsEasyAs. And I picked up a bunch of
other shareware that helped me.
I learned FORTRAN77 programming on the VAX at university, but my
brother (a computer science major at another university) introduced me
to C programming, and gave me his old copy of Microsoft QuickC (I
think he was using TurboC by then) so I could write my own programs on
DOS. I wrote little programs that enhanced my DOS command line - which
were pretty simple tools with my "beginner" knowledge .. like my own
TYPE that had command line options to convert to uppercase/lowercase
and do other things. But they were useful to me, and I made them, and
that made them special.
When I learned about LaTeX for writing scientific papers (like physics
lab reports) I found emTeX on DOS, and used that. I also wrote some
tools that would simplify converting my papers into LaTeX format, or
convert my LaTeX files to nroff (which I discovered in the campus Unix
lab).
So I guess I've always been fascinated by DOS, back to an early age.
And I find that, despite all the changes in modern computing, some
things haven't really gotten much better (or only incrementally
better) since DOS. My favorite spreadsheet program (on any system) in
2024 is still AsEasyAs on DOS. If I didn't need to share spreadsheets
with other people, I think AsEasyAs could meet almost all of my
spreadsheet needs today - it just does some things differently, like
conditional formatting (because of the limited text color palette).
The keyboard navigation and "/" menus in AsEasyAs are a "plus" for me
because my finger memory is still there. :-)
I love FreeDOS in 2024 because it's a cool DOS system that has tools
that MS-DOS didn't have. The "What's included" report for FreeDOS 1.3
lists everything, but I especially like the Unix-like tools ("GNUish")
and the compilers like IA-16 GCC and OpenWatcom C. I have a legit copy
of Turbo C/C++ that works fine on FreeDOS, but I still love writing
programs with FED (simple, but with things like code highlighting and
editable keybindings) and compiling on the command line. I even use
EDLIN sometimes when I just need to write something quick. (I even
compiled Gregory's FreeDOS Edlin on Linux .. and I'll use it there
instead of ed(1) sometimes, just for the retro feel.)
And I love that folks are still writing new stuff that keeps DOS going
in 2024. Jerome releases a new Test Release every month, and I always
install that right away. Even though I run FreeDOS in a virtual
machine, you have SBEMU or VSBHDA to emulate SB16 if you run FreeDOS
on real hardware. Japheth's JEMM works well. lDebug and Debug/X are
great extensions to the original DEBUG. The mTCP tools do cool things.
Willi's FDHELP documentation is a great reference for new users.
There's so much there!
When history is retained at the level that FREEDOS and its mailing list
does so, something more than what I am able to articulate is clearly
gained, but something I know at my gut level.
Thanks greatly, Jim.
I would also like to add a commendation to Karen Lewellen, a lady I've
come to admire, and one who demonstrates more than anyone I know, "Why
DOS?"
Al Whealton
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