Baslinux mailing list

["Anthony Albert" <albert AT polaris.umpi.maine.edu>]

On 17 Jun 2005 at 10:50, Samual Acorn wrote:
>unreal... i thought they quit making 'dos-by-itself' at 6.22...
>
>On 15/06/05, James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net> wrote:
>> On Wed, 15 Jun 2005, sindi keesan wrote:
>> 
>> > Does anyone happen to know where MS DOS 7.10a standalone has gotten to? 
>> > The
>> > link to newdos.yginfo.net/dosware is broken and it forwards to a Chinese
>> > language site with a link to Microsoft.  The computer we are setting up 
>> > will
>> > not work with loadlin and any other OS.  (Nor does the loop BL3 version 
>> > seem
>> > to run Xvesa even with this OS, although the rest of it works - we might 
>> > try
>> > bypassing system files).
>> 
>> Try http://www.cn-dos.net/msdos71/ (found it on a Google search under
>> "newdos.yginfo.net"--yeah, I used the quotation marks). What they're doing
>> is apparently illegal (simplest explanation, in combination with
>> semi-informed legal deduction, for why the original site disappeared), so
>> you might want to keep local copies of stuff you download from there.
>> 
>> James

Yes, Microsoft stopped selling MS-DOS as a separate product, with 
v6.22.   However, if you boot Windows 98 or ME into DOS mode, and type 
"ver" to get the version, you get various version numbers of "v7.xx"

I believe that this "MS-DOS 7.1" is simply the system files and DOS 
command-prompt programs from WinME, set up on a floppy or two - and not 
legal for use unless you own a licensed copy of WinME for the system 
you're using this "DOS 7" on.

However, IBM and Digital Research both have produced versions of their 
DOS with version numbers of 7 and 8, and DRDOS.com is offering 
something that I've looked at with interest: DLLX, an embedded Linux 
which boots from within DRDOS, then exits cleanly back to DRDOS. 
http://www.drdos.com

There is also FreeDOS.org, which is producing a free, open-source, 
binary-compatible (to MS-DOS) alternative.  I've played with it once or 
twice, and it's been quite a handy tool. http://www.freedos.org

Anthony Albert 
===========================================================
Anthony J. Albert                     albert AT umpi.maine.edu
Systems and Software Support Specialist          Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
        "This is only temporary, unless it works."
                        --- Red Green