The FreeDOS Project

FreeDOS is an open source DOS-compatible operating system that you can use to play classic DOS games, run legacy business software, or develop embedded systems. Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.

Public Key

npub1r6n57lm3egnur47t22fez08p0rqutyhx9q9elmqg5kwgdkcr9rrsxzy9dv

NIP-05 Address

freedosproject_at_fosstodon.org@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspaf600acu5f7p6l949yu38nsh3sw9jtnzszulasy2t8yxmvpj33cpx6ztq

Author Public Key

npub1r6n57lm3egnur47t22fez08p0rqutyhx9q9elmqg5kwgdkcr9rrsxzy9dv

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Last Notes

2024-11-03 13:38:04

What are your plans for #DOScember in December?
I'm planning to write some articles about the cool stuff you can find in FreeDOS, to run on different websites like ATO and Both.org
I'd love to make a DOS game but (1) game dev isn't really my strength area, and (2) I don't know what genre of game I'd write that doesn't already exist on DOS. DOS has a lot of games. 😃

2024-10-31 11:33:39

Happy Halloween 🎃
I shared this article on Both•org about how to read an art file from TheDraw on DOS and turn it into a DOS screen image:
https://www.both.org/?p=8053

2024-10-25 10:36:57

From the website:
mTCP provides TCP/IP applications for DOS. Mike Brutman recently released a new version:
"Version 2024-10-20 is available. It has a few bug fixes. It also allows mTCP programs to operate at the same time NetDrive is active."
The mTCP NetDrive programs are also now included.
Details at
http://brutmanlabs.org/mTCP/mTCP.html

2024-10-25 10:34:19

From the website:
Gregory Pietsch has started writing a new version of Make for DOS that is more like Unix Make. He's looking for testers and feedback:
https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/make/make/
This is very much a pre-alpha release. It's version "0.0"

2024-10-25 10:31:21

From the website:
WDE is a modular disk editor capable of allowing users to manipulate data stored in various ways on different kinds of storage. The new version 1.1 was recently released, which includes bug fixes and some new features.
Details at
https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/WDe/releases/tag/v1.1

2024-10-25 10:29:38

Darik Horn shared this update a few weeks ago:
"A beta-quality 7-Zip 24.08 package for FreeDOS is available .. This is the reduced build that contains support for only the formats that 7-Zip can create; namely 7z, bz2, gz, tar, xz, and zip. .."
More info here:
https://gitlab.com/dajhorn/7zip/-/releases/24.08-2-beta

2024-10-25 10:24:57

From the website:
SQLite is a programming library to implements a local database engine, useful for programs that need it.
Ben Collver has compiled version 3.46.1 for DOS. From the announcement: "Here's SQLite 3.46.1 compiled for DOS using DJGPP. Thanks to Superllu's DoJS for clues about changes and compile-time options needed. The DJGPP diff and Makefile are in the src/ directory."
https://gopher.tildeverse.org/tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos386/database/sqlite/

2024-10-25 10:23:03

I wrote another article for Both . Org about writing portable C programs. This entry shows how to use #if to write a number-guessing game that compiles in Linux or DOS.
https://www.both.org/?p=8245
And FYI, this might have been practice for the next FreeDOS video. 😎

2024-10-11 19:52:34

New video!
https://youtu.be/0zYUHU-ZdqQ
We have a monthly test release so developers can test with it, and there's been a lot of discussion and work to make it better.
I'm really excited about the changes in the October test release (T2410). We've made it smaller, just by "balancing" the packages between the Live CD and Bonus CD.
Thanks to Jerome Shidel for all his hard work on the distribution!

2024-10-11 04:04:42

New video is recorded and queued to go live on YouTube tomorrow!
In this video, I'm showing off the great work that's been done to make the FreeDOS distribution a lot smaller.
Thanks to Jerome for all his work on the distribution! 👍

2024-10-09 08:13:12

Are you working on an open source DOS application?
Are you porting open source tools to DOS?
Join our FreeDOS developer email list and share your announcements! We have lots of FreeDOS folks who'd like to know what you're up to, and might want to contribute.
https://www.freedos.org/forums/

2024-09-07 08:51:08

Every time I’ve learned about a new programming language, I practice by writing a simple game, like a number guessing game:
https://www.both.org/?p=7446
*You should be able to use any of the C compilers that we include in the FreeDOS distribution.

2024-09-06 18:34:10

It's hard to imagine how slow the old modems were, like 150 baud or 300 or 1200 (I used them all!)
In this week's video, here's a way to simulate those slower speeds on Linux:
https://youtu.be/gmP3nN3iOSo
*And yes, the videos are back! 😃

2024-09-05 11:53:35

Edlin is a classic editor from the early DOS days, but it’s still a fun and useful editor. Here's a hands-on intro to editing with Edlin:
https://www.both.org/?p=7385
I use Edlin when I want to write something quickly, like a test program or a brief note.
Edlin is also very useful if you want to capture some commands into a FreeDOS batch file— you can write the new batch file while any commands you ran are still visible on the screen.

2024-09-03 21:26:47

FYI: I'm doing a presentation about FreeDOS at Nerdearla in a few weeks. My presentation is entirely remote; I'm not actually there. 😃
Tuesday, Sept 24. 16:50 - 17:25 Argentina Time.
https://nerdear.la/en/agenda/

2024-08-20 07:18:38

Thanks to author Robert J Sawyer for this excellent interview about WordStar for professional writing!
Just because it's old doesn't mean WordStar can't do the job.
https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/08/19/usingwordstar

2024-08-14 13:11:53

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@npub1jsg…lg2p lol 😂 I remember learning about arithmetic If, but I never used it because we used F77 and it's then-new if-then-elseif-else block. 🤓

2024-08-13 10:06:09

It's not FreeDOS, but something I've been writing about:
Step back in time and see when your favorite Unix commands were first introduced. This table shows the section 1 commands in Unix 1st through 5th editions:
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/unix-user-commands-reference-guide
This will be a handy ref when the next part of the article series goes up. 🤓

2024-08-12 20:05:52

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@npub1fsa…3gl4 Here you go!
https://github.com/freedosproject/wshtml
("FreeDOS at GitHub" is the location where I share most source code from the YouTube channel, so it seemed the right place to share it here.)

2024-08-12 11:54:06

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@npub1fsa…3gl4 Glad to help!

2024-08-12 08:40:56

If you've been exploring WordStar since author Robert J Sawyer's packaging of WordStar for DOS, you may need to convert your new WordStar files to another format afterwards.
Here's a program to convert WordStar to HTML:
https://www.both.org/?p=6898
*This doesn't do anything with dot commands, any dot commands will show up in the output.

2024-08-10 11:39:47

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For extra retro fun: when I wrote my code samples for this article (on Linux) I used ed:
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/getting-started-ed-editor

2024-08-10 10:58:36

FreeDOS includes the Openwatcom FORTRAN 77 compiler, as part of the developer tools.
If you've ever wanted to explore FORTRAN programming, here's a primer I wrote:
https://www.both.org/?p=6923
It's an intro to the language—and while it doesn't cover everything, you can use this to write useful programs right away.
And it's a good jumping off point to learn more about FORTRAN on your own.

2024-08-09 09:22:55

If you're interested in converting old WordStar tiles, here's an article that shows how to convert the direct formative and content to HTML:
https://www.both.org/?p=6898
This doesn't do anything with the dot commands, but at least this gives a starting point if you want to do that too.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/931/331/615/601/144/original/388b5d85d7ac207b.png

2024-08-05 09:39:21

Edlin was the original line editor for DOS.
Gregory Pietsch created the #opensource FreeDOS Edlin, with some modern twists like relative line addressing.
I use Edlin to edit short things like BAT files — very useful if you want to capture the commands that are on your screen, while you can still see them.
Technically We Write asked Gregory about the history of Edlin, and how you can use Edlin to work on files:
https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/08/05/edlin

2024-08-01 12:25:23

I've been interested in tech history lately, and I wrote this article about where Unix came from:
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/where-unix-came-from
This also contains a list of early Unix 4th Ed commands — many of the Linux commands you use everyday showed up very early.

2024-08-01 12:13:29

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@npub1z4n…awd6 This is aimed at Linux, but should be portable to FreeDOS: convert EPUB to plain text so you can read it as a text file.
https://github.com/kevinboone/epub2txt2

2024-08-01 01:11:31

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@npub1z4n…awd6 Not that I know of, but it shouldn't be too hard to write one — at least just for text (no images)
EPUB is a zip file with XML metadata and XHTML content.

2024-07-31 10:27:16

ICYMI
LWN required registration to read this article about FreeDOS at 30 years. Thanks to LWN for opening up this article to everyone:
https://lwn.net/Articles/979780/

2024-07-25 10:31:11

*I'm working on a book about milestones in using computers for tech writing, and this article is based on one of the chapters:
How to use the ed(1) editor from original Unix to do real work.
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/getting-started-ed-editor
You can get pretty far in ed with the commands I’ve shown here to add lines to a file, search for text, update and edit text, append and insert new lines, save, and quit. 🤓

2024-07-12 22:10:06

Thanks to Lukáš Kotek for this article about how to use FreeDOS with Fedora Linux, using QEMU.
https://mojefedora.cz/fedora-qemu-freedos-legacy-computing/

2024-07-12 10:41:30

ICYMI
Did you miss the Live Stream event with VCF on the 29th, for the 30th anniversary of FreeDOS? Check it out on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/live/_peIYEAM9pk

2024-07-09 10:52:57

I teach university classes on technical writing, and I'm always looking for hands-on stuff.
I'd like to use class projects to help open source projects with documentation. I also have students who just want to gain experience.
Can anyone recommend an open source project that wants help with their docs?
Examples: migrating docs to markdown, or editing for grammar and plain language, or writing how-to guides.

2024-07-08 12:12:06

https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/08/wordperfect
WordPerfect was a powerful desktop word processor that ruled offices throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.
Here's a fond look back at WordPerfect for DOS, including some sample laser printer output.
I admit as I wrote this article, I forgot how much power was in WordPerfect's styles.

2024-07-04 09:52:45

Sad to learn that Bruce Wayne Bastian, co-founder of WordPerfect, died recently at the age of 76.
WordPerfect was an excellent desktop word processor, and was a mainstay of DOS throughout the 1980s. During that time, having “WordPerfect” on your resume made it easier to get an office job.
I used WordPerfect as a student in high school and university, until the upgrade became too expensive.

2024-07-04 09:43:15

https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/02/freedos_30_freebsd_31/
Thanks to Liam at The Register for this article celebrating the 30th anniversary of FreeDOS, and 31st anniversary of FreeBSD.
“FreeDOS and FreeBSD prove old code never dies, just gets nifty updates”

2024-07-02 09:18:08

You might be interested on this article I wrote for Technically We Write about dot matrix printers, and how to create an emulator for one.
https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/01/dotmatrix
The program in the article compiles with Openwatcom C on FreeDOS.

2024-07-02 09:13:46

ICYMI
Here's my interview with LWN about FreeDOS. I can't access it because I'm not an LWN subscriber, but the article will be general access in a few weeks:
https://lwn.net/Articles/979780/

2024-07-02 09:11:30

ICYMI
Here's my article on Both about the 30th anniversary of the FreeDOS Project:
https://www.both.org/?p=5540

2024-07-02 09:10:08

ICYMI
Here's my article for OpenSource about a few lessons I've learned about open source communities:
https://opensource.net/lessons-learned-open-source-30-years-freedos/

2024-07-02 09:08:04

ICYMI
Here's an interview with Ars about FreeDOS turning 30 years old:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/30-years-later-freedos-is-still-keeping-the-dream-of-the-command-prompt-alive/

2024-06-29 17:04:19

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a very special virtual get-together this morning to celebrate our 30th anniversary!
We'll see you again next month for a technical discussion—great for live debugging or going over technical issues.

2024-06-29 16:04:37

The virtual get-together is on now! See you online for the next hour!
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/kst-xbvs-vya

2024-06-26 10:17:55

Join us for this YouTube Livestream event hosted by VCF on Saturday, June 29 as we talk about FreeDOS!
https://www.youtube.com/live/_peIYEAM9pk

2024-06-26 09:57:55

Thanks to the My Open Source Experience podcast for having me on the show a few months ago, to talk about FreeDOS.
We talked about many things affecting open source projects, including this bonus clip about communicating in an open source project.
https://youtu.be/ewUt-Zv4hSk
And what great timing to share this now, as we celebrate our 30th anniversary! 🤩

2024-06-26 09:31:46

If you ever used the WordStar word processor on DOS, this article does a deep dive into how the file format works. Includes a program that examines several WordStar files.
https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/06/26/wordstarfiles

2024-06-25 09:55:53

If you aren’t familiar with the command line, you really only need to know two commands to get around:
‘CD’ and ‘DIR’ on FreeDOS
‘cd’ and ‘ls’ on Linux
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/navigate-command-line

2024-06-23 11:00:29

Thanks to kubikpixel for pointing me to this Hackaday news item about FreeDOS at thirty years old:
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/23/nearly-30-years-of-freedos-and-looking-ahead-to-the-future/

2024-06-21 21:20:28

Do you know of other articles about FreeDOS?
Let us know and we'll add them to the list!
We will post a 'FreeDOS in the news' item to our website over the weekend, with links to Sourceforge, Slashdot, and any others.

2024-06-21 21:18:23

Our friends at @npub13nr…apfr published this interview about FreeDOS. Thanks! 🎉
https://sourceforge.net/articles/freedos-30th-anniversary-interview-with-jim-hall-from-the-freedos-project/
It's a long read at 5,000 words, but it's full of history.

2024-06-21 21:17:06

Thanks to @npub1pc2…eqwt for sharing this story about FreeDOS turning 30 years old on June 29!
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/06/21/1516255/30-years-of-freedos

2024-06-20 16:54:43

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@npub142l…fgen This is a math library written in C.

2024-06-20 14:28:54

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@npub1clh…ntpu If it has a BIOS (or UEFI that works in "Legacy" mode, then probably yes.
You would need to use the USB installer, which you can find here:
https://www.freedos.org/download/

2024-06-20 13:20:56

Here's an article about a fun math game you can play with a shell script. #Linux #countdown #numbers
https://www.both.org/?p=5852
I have a blind spot for solutions that involve multiplying by 75. 😅 The first example is much easier this way:
75×6=450
8÷4=2
450+2=452

2024-06-20 12:49:29

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@npub1p8y…8spc 😅 Haha!

2024-06-20 10:28:50

One thing I really like about DOS is how simple it is. You can use DOS as a model to explain how computers work, at a simple level.
Like, how your computer boots up:
1️⃣ The computer runs the kernel
2️⃣ The kernel reads FDCONFIG or CONFIG for settings (or uses defaults if not there)
3️⃣ The kernel runs COMMAND (the shell)
4️⃣ COMMAND executes AUTOEXEC (if /P) to set up the environment
And now you're ready to type commands.
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/freedos-boot-sequence

2024-06-20 04:24:20

Gregory Pietsch's libm is a public domain math library for programmers.
Gregory recently released version 0.8 with fixes to the tanh and csqrt functions.
https://ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/libs/libm/0.8/

2024-06-19 09:39:37

We're excited for the 30th anniversary of FreeDOS, coming up on June 29!
30 years is a long time for any open source project. I'm glad that we still have a strong community of users and developers who keep things going. ❤️
We've published a Press Kit to help anyone (like you!) who wants to write about FreeDOS. Please share,
https://www.freedos.org/presskit/

2024-06-17 23:24:58

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@npub1phn…295n Did it work? #curious

2024-06-17 23:22:05

If you bought a Pocket386 and want to skip all the manual steps to install FreeDOS, I've reinstalled FreeDOS and shared a zipped image of my CF card here:
https://ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/pocket386/
(this is a "Full install, with source code" of FreeDOS T2406 Test Release)

2024-06-17 11:53:38

Whether you're a beginner C programmer, or more experienced, you have probably found one of these 5 common bugs:
“5 common C programming bugs (and how to avoid them)”
https://www.both.org/?p=5850
1. Using variables without initializing them
2. Going outside array boundaries
3. Overflowing a string
4. Using invalid file pointers
5. Freeing memory more than once

2024-06-17 03:31:31

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@npub1snx…rygf I sometimes use ed(1) to write first drafts of articles on Linux. #markdown
And I use Edlin the same way too, sometimes. On Linux and FreeDOS.

2024-06-17 01:00:25

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@npub1wct…h3tv I'll probably buy one of those too. I'm the meantime, the 386 runs great! 😎

2024-06-17 00:59:40

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@npub1snx…rygf That's awesome! Did you write it as markdown or latex or html, or just plain text?
I use Edlin too! 👍

2024-06-16 23:36:44

I bought one of the Pocket386 micro laptops, and installed FreeDOS on it.
Here's a demo of FreeDOS running on the Pocket386:
https://youtu.be/2h96UseZs6Q
Runs great! Except some games are slow, because it's a real '386-SX40.
Sorry the video quality is a little weird, I had to point a webcam at my display.

2024-06-15 13:22:41

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@npub13uc…xkfg That's excellent! For anyone who wants to watch it, jump to about 3:36:00 in the Livestream recording.

2024-06-14 11:11:35

I mention FreeDOS (and use FreeDOS in an example) in this article about 2 ways to write the COPY command:
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/learning-to-program-copy-files
One way is very simple but slower, the other is much faster but a bit more complex. Run time difference: 24 v 105 seconds. 😲

2024-06-13 10:55:03

Here's an update to the article I wrote the other day, about how I boot FreeDOS using QEMU. But in this example, I add a few options to support sounds.
https://www.both.org/?p=563
“How to run DOS apps on Linux”
The extra options are:
-machine pcspk-audiodev=snd -device sb16,audiodev=snd -device adlib,audiodev=snd

2024-06-11 15:12:16

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@npub1z4n…awd6 QEMU has the -nographic option that does that too.
It's great when I'm writing an article about doing something in FreeDOS - I can just copy/paste the output from my terminal into my article.

2024-06-11 13:23:18

If you want to boot FreeDOS from Windows, Mac or Linux, you'll need a virtual machine.
Here’s how I boot FreeDOS on my Linux desktop machine using QEMU. QEMU should be available on every Linux distribution; I am running Fedora Linux.
https://www.both.org/?p=5612
“Running FreeDOS on Linux”

2024-06-08 10:40:38

If you’ve used conio functions to write FreeDOS programs, you may have noticed that you have a color palette of just 16 text colors, and 8 background colors.
“Why DOS only has 16 colors”
https://www.both.org/?p=5546

2024-06-07 09:41:35

If you're curious how I installed FreeDOS on the Pocket386, here you go:
https://www.both.org/?p=5690
Basically, it was these steps:
1 Start manual install using virtual machine on Linux
2 FDISK then FORMAT then SYS /FORCE:CHS
3 Finish the install using SETUP ADV, skip the "transfer system files" step
4 Move CF card back to Pocket396
5 Reboot

2024-06-04 10:03:33

Started in 1994, FreeDOS will turn 30 years old on June 29, 2024. And as we look ahead to a milestone anniversary, I wanted to take a look back and where things started.
“Looking ahead to 30 years of FreeDOS”
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/30-years-freedos

2024-06-02 21:05:47

I figure if I'm going to install FreeDOS on my Pocket386, it's good to have the classics 🤩
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/549/047/307/193/091/original/66b023614c356a0a.jpg
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/549/050/496/070/226/original/8d13db3d04d2c073.jpg
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/549/051/665/052/070/original/e3557218efed631b.jpg

2024-06-02 00:46:18

My CF card reader arrived today - and now I have the FreeDOS kernel booting on my Pocket386. 🎉
Tomorrow will be an interesting day!

2024-06-01 20:33:29

If you're curious what's inside a LibreOffice Writer file, here's an example.
https://www.both.org/?p=5340
Also includes some simple code that shows how to build confidence that an ODT file really is an ODT file.

2024-05-28 11:21:23

Here's a fun article I wrote the other day, a great way to start your week. 🤓
https://www.both.org/?p=5441
It's about how to use the grep command on Linux 🐧 to help narrow the options in the Keyword word puzzle game.
Fill in the missing letters from six words while making a new word at the same time.

2024-05-28 01:46:03

Check out the virtual dot matrix printer in action, in this video:
https://youtu.be/yj8R4UIqBrQ
Watch to the end to see it with an added delay for that extra retro feel 🤓

2024-05-27 04:21:25

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Also:
I shared a post on #patreon that walks through the code to explain what it does in each function. Not sure if I'll go into that level of detail in the video.
I'm writing an article for technicallywewrite.com about dot matrix printing, using this program as an example. Watch for that too.

2024-05-27 04:18:15

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This is a very simple emulator. Doesn't have actual characters as "firmware," just fakes it with bit patterns for ASCII value.
There's a purely cosmetic bug for the delay feature. I'll comment on it in the video (probably Monday).
When printing stops, press any key to move to next page or quit.

2024-05-27 04:14:22

FYI, I shared the code to my virtual dot matrix printer on #GitHub
https://github.com/freedosproject/vp
*See next reply for notes

2024-05-26 04:47:30

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This is very simplified, real printers of the era (like Epson) actually used all 9 pins for letters.
But it's easier to explain it this way for folks who have never seen a dot matrix printer. Understand the simple model, you can use that to understand the more complex/real world case.

2024-05-26 04:43:51

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For anyone who wants a quick overview:
If we assume a simple 9-pin impact printer, you have 8 pins for letters, 1 pin for underline, 1 "pin height" between lines. Effectively 10 "pins" per line.
66 lines per page, 11-inch page .. the math is 60 DPI.
If 60 DPI horizontal, at 10 CPI and 8½ inches wide .. that's 6 "dots" per character. But 1 for for "spacing" .. so 5x8 per letter, 1px spacing at right and bottom.

2024-05-25 11:20:39

The BASIC programming language turned 60 years old this month. BASIC was my first programming language.
Years later as a physics undergrad, I learned FORTRAN programming to do data analysis.
But as programming languages go, FORTRAN came before BASIC—and from where I sit, BASIC clearly took inspiration from FORTRAN… and likely, later versions of FORTRAN took cues from BASIC.
My POV: if you learn one, you can pick up the other.
https://www.both.org/?p=5316

2024-05-25 04:26:39

One thing I did today:
Wrote an openwatcom C program that emulates an idealized 9-pin dot matrix ("impact") printer by displaying it in graphics mode.
I didn't create letter forms as "firmware" so I faked it with the bit pattern for each printable ASCII character. Looks good—if a little sci-fi. 👾
Might do a video on that soon. 😎

2024-05-25 02:49:57

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@npub1qtz…4cf3 A whopping 8MB 😎

2024-05-24 23:54:03

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@npub18s5…02sg They claim Adlib. This is what I bought:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806558516527.html

2024-05-24 19:17:44

This should be a fun weekend! 🤓 #pocket386
And yes, I plan to wipe it and put FreeDOS on it 👍
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/497/666/846/786/203/original/cdf0b1bd4daad30d.jpg

2024-05-20 17:55:41

Someone had asked how to use the C compiler from the MS-DOS 4 source code release to compile their own programs.
Here's how to do it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or5_4HPci1k
(with bonus debugging!) 😆

2024-05-20 00:43:53

I have that Raspberry Pi 3 that I use for a few at-home protects. I have a plain black plastic case for it, but lately I've been thinking a retro case would be really nice.
Anyone know of a Raspberry Pi 3 case that looks like a tiny scaled down Sun SPARCstation pizza box?
I've found lots of cases that look like a scaled down Nintendo or PlayStation1. But none that look like a SPARCstation.

2024-05-18 11:20:53

Another retro computing article I wrote recently. This one celebrates 60 years of the BASIC programming language by showing my first BASIC: Apple BASIC.
https://www.both.org/?p=5304
“Apple BASIC was how I first learned how to write my own computer programs. This simple interface and programming syntax made it easy for me to enter, run, and debug programs.”

2024-05-17 09:47:28

I sometimes write articles to help folks learn programming. And my sample programs in those articles are as simple as possible, so you can see what's going on.
But performance matters too. Here are 3 ways to read text files in C, and how well they run.
https://www.both.org/?p=5327
TL/DR: fgetc+fputc is easy for beginners to understand, but super slow. fread+fwrite is way faster, even with a small buffer.

2024-05-17 01:22:46

Gregory Pietsch has released Edlin version 2.24 that moves the copyright and program info to the '?' help screen. It also changes the "Abort edit?" prompt when you exit to "Really quit?"
https://sourceforge.net/projects/freedos-edlin/
Mirrored here, with an exe:
https://ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/dos/edlin/2.24/

2024-05-15 11:34:55

It's not FreeDOS, but you might like this article about what's inside a LibreOffice file. (The general "family" of files is called ODF … LibreOffice Writer files are ODT.)
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/5-elements-odt-files
Short version: they're zip files with XML data and metadata.

2024-05-12 18:26:57

- reply

@npub1hae…q0ru That looks like the link I used too, someone pointed me to it on Facebook
I guess I'll plan to use PayPal since my credit card didn't work with them 🤷🏼‍♂️

2024-05-12 08:56:39

Several years ago, someone ported the Dillo web browser to FreeDOS.
Now that development on Dillo has started up again, I'm really hopeful someone wants to bring this version to FreeDOS:
https://dillo-browser.github.io/latest.html

2024-05-11 04:29:44

Interesting article about people using floppy disks today:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240510-floppy-disks-why-some-people-are-still-in-love-with-this-obsolete-computer-storage-technology
Growing up, I used 5¼ and then 3½ floppies to store everything. They were ubiquitous. 💾💾💾

2024-05-07 10:49:47

This is a repeat of an article that originally ran on OpenSource, but it's good to share with a new audience on #AllThingsOpen
https://allthingsopen.org/articles/learn-machine-language-simulator
I wrote an educational retro virtual computer for FreeDOS called the Toy CPU so that my students could learn about machine language.

2024-05-05 21:31:43

If you're a university student, it's the end of the semester!
I teach a few university classes, and I use a spreadsheet to calculate final grades.
Here's how to do the same grade lookup and conversion in #LibreOffice Calc, #QuattroPro and #AsEasyAs
https://youtu.be/Mqgxc7BoJUQ

2024-05-05 17:05:48

Thanks to everyone who joined the virtual get-together today!
We had 11 people on the call, and we did some virtual debugging, demo'd some programs, and talked about other technical topics.