To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 23:12:23 -0700 Subject: Best DOS's Message-ID: <20000709.231406.-335503.3.domanspc@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.9 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0-32,34-36,38-41,43,45-49,51,53,55,57,59,61-62,64,66-67,69,71-72,74-75,77,79,81,83,85-87,89,91,93,95-110,112-116,118,120,122-125,127-129,131-136,138-141,143-144,146,148-157,159,161-166,168-180 X-Juno-Att: 0 X-Juno-RefParts: 0 From: Robert W Moss Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com I know that this is a pretty long post but a lot of people have been asking about the merits of the various DOS's and this is the "OPEN DOS" ne. "Digital Research DOS" discussion list. I hope this is of interest to most of you, mostly new people I hope. For all of you who have been talking about which is the best DOS. For some of the old timers on the list this may be old news. Sorry. "Digital Research" was in the Operating System business long before Microsoft (Bill Gates and friends were making money with a program called Basic). It published CP/M, the first complete operating system for microcomputers. Before MS DOS was ever released, CP/M grew into a multiuser version: MP/M. For the Intel '86 family of microprocessors, Digital Research released a series of advanced operating systems, beginning with CP/M-86. This was followed by a series of multiuser, multitasking systems. including DR Multiuser DOS (still very much in use on some nationwide computer networks-in1994), Concurrent DOS 386, and Concurrent DOS XM. Concurrent DOS provided multitasking on a single computer and is the ancestor of the Task Manager. The first standard-type, single-user DOS released by Digital Research was DR DOS 3.41 in 1988. Coming a year after MS-DOS 3.3, it allowed the use of 512-megabyte disk partitions, whereas the MS-DOS release could handle only 32-megabytes disk partitions. This version of DR DOS was available only to computer manufacturers. It had the advantage -- shared with subsequent releases -- that it could be placed in ROM, so that it was fairly popular on portable computers. In 1991, a few months after IBM and Microsoft released DOS 4.0, Digital Research released its DR DOS 5. This was its first retail version of DOS. However, DR DOS 5 already had advanced command extensions, a task switcher, a memory manager, and the ViewMAX visual shell (which, although it was little more than a file manager, was much easier to use than the MS/IBM DOS Shell and easier to understand than Microsoft Windows). The next release, DR DOS 6, released in 1991, expanded on those features and was the first DOS to include a built-in disk-compression utility (SuperStor), a disk optimizer, a remote-transfer utility, and a full-screen file-undeletion program. ViewMAX was dropped as of Novell DOS 7, presumably because the over- whelming popularity of MS Windows had made it redundant. Novell DOS 7 included Novell Personal Netware which enabled you to set up a peer to peer network or connect to a Novell Netware network as a client. It had a built-in multitasking controller. With a 386 or higher CPU you could run multiple programs at once using a simple interface, without the overhead required for graphical screens, mice, and menus. If you didn't have an 80386 you could still use this utility to switch between loaded programs without running more than one at a time. The memory management utilities were, and still are, among the most sophisticated on the market. In 1994 they were present in no other package on the market. These features allow you to load some programs almost entirely outside of the DOS - addressable first megabyte of RAM. In addition to giving access to XMS, EMS, upper memory, and high memory, these features include complete support for both the virtual control-program interface (VCPI) and DOS protected-mode interface DPMI protocols for using the DOS protected mode. Starting with DR DOS 5 and 6, and now continuing in Novell DOS 7, this DOS is probably the most customizable operating system on the market, allowing for great flexibility in how you set up and organize your system. With just a little bit of programming skill, it is easier to set up and maintain multiple boot configurations in this DOS than in most alternative systems. Moreover, you can make the execution of any command in config.sys or autoexec.bat conditional. The built-in batch language contains a collection of commands that actually allow you to construct relatively structured code -- something no other DOS had (has?). To supplement these commands Novell DOS 7 used a unique feature -- {system variables} -- to let you build batch files that respond to external events. Also included were: extensive installation and configuration facilities, which could even edit and maintain your configuration files for you if you wanted. an on-line help system with a search feature, complete tools for protecting and recovering deleted files a file de-fragmenting utility a full screen editor that uses Wordstar commands and pull-down menus, giving you flexibility in choice of approaches to editing security facilities that enable you to restrict access to drives, directories, or files, or even lock up a stand-alone computer so nobody can use it without a password. (This is in addition to safeguards built into the networking software) a file transfer utility that can transfer files quickly from a laptop to a desktop computer -- or between two connected computers -- by way of either serial or parallel ports. And it doesn't add drive letters to your system to confuse you. Licensed add-ins included: Fastback Express, a fast, flexible full-screen backup program licensed from Fifth Generation Systems, including a Windows version for good measure. Search and Destroy, a set of virus-checking and virus-removal utilities, also in DOS and Windows versions. A version of stacker disk-compression software with a complete set of facilities for installing, maintaining, and removing compressed drives. After Novell DOS 7.xx, Caldera Systems purchased all the Digital Research Software from Novell and the name has been changed back and forth from Novell Dos to Caldera DOS to Open DOS and back to DR DOS and one set of the source codes was released to delorie.com in 1997 and now there are several versions out there in the system. I believe Caldera has since taken back the source code for further commercial development and broken off a division Called Lineo to do the development and sell products. You can still download a copy for PERSONAL use from various sites. Several people who used to work at Caldera Systems are still working on the Open DOS source code which was previously released as open scource, and others have also continued to work on improvements, such as Paul Matthias and DJ Delorie. So much for the Grand Daddy of all the DOS's. Someone else who has a good knowledge of the changes in Caldera/Open/DR DOS since 1995 can possibly fill in the next page in the life of the Real DOS. And if someone else can recall the life history of MS DOS, Free DOS, New DOS, or any thing else out there it might be interesting to read about it, including 4DOS,.(like - how much of 4DOS was licensed for use by PC DOS 7 and MS DOS 6 and 7.) PEACE BOB "DOMAN" MOSS -- Signing in from California, the eighth largest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Known as the Land of Fruits and Nuts among other things. 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