- MS-DOS, the 16 bit Revolution - leumund
Microsoft's 16-bit operating system MS-DOS, has a shady past, but grew to be the company's flagship product. Over time, Windows 95 became its swan song. Or did it? Is MS-DOS still around today? Lets have a little bit of a closer look.
A Quick History of MS-DOS
Contrary to popular belief, MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) is not the first in the family of 16-bit DOS OS's. The original version of MS-DOS (version 1.0) was actually a re branded version of QDOS. Microsoft purchased the software from a company called Seattle Computer Products in 1981.
QDOS was originally developed as a clone of CP/M. Tim Patterson wrote QDOS for the upcoming 16-bit 8086 from Intel, hoping to gain some of the market share from Digital Research Inc.
Prior to the purchase of QDOS, Microsoft had already brokered a deal with IBM to supply an operating system for their PC project. In the midst of negotiations with IBM, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, persuaded IBM to allow Microsoft to retain the marketing rights to the operating system. Microsoft then split the OS into two separate but identical versions, named PC-DOS, and MS-DOS.
With the massive uptake of PC's on the home user and industry front, Microsoft grew to massive heights. Microsoft dominated the software market well into the 1980's, and continued to make massive revenues from MS-DOS well after the release of Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft released many updates and revisions to their flagship OS, each one representing a milestone in the operating systems lifetime. eg. 1982 saw added support for double sided disks; 1983 brought hard drive support; 1984 added 1.2Mb floppy disk support.
One of the largest milestones in MS-DOS history was the introduction of Network support in 1985, which allowed businesses to streamline their work flow, and helped eliminate the need for paper passing in the office.
Version 7.0 and 7.1 were the final versions released by Microsoft in 1995, and were the last significant updates to the then aging OS. They were the core for the flagship Microsoft Windows 95, with the major difference between the two, being added FAT32 support in the latter.
Microsoft finally pulled the plug on MS-DOS with the release of Microsoft Windows Millennium, only including a cut down version of DOS for legacy support. This was also the case with Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP. Subsequent versions of Windows have pushed DOS further and further from the limelight, removing more and more of its functionality.
MS-DOS Still has a Place in Our Hearts and Hobbies
In the last 10 years or so, there has been a revival of MS-DOS, as we all start to reminisce about our lost childhoods. Many of us remember playing those old games that came on floppy disk or tape. Some of the best and original concepts were brought to our attention on those old boxes when we could steal a little time on Dad's work PC to play a couple of levels of Wolfenstein 3D. I still remember the feeling of doing something really naughty when I found his copy of Leisure Suit Larry.
Through the years, there have been groups of people pop up all over the Internet, with a hobbyists interest in getting all these old nostalgic games running on modern systems, if only to reclaim some of their (and my own) misspent and somewhat wasted youth.
“So how do I play all my old games?” I hear you ask. Well there are a fair few projects out there to enable you to get your hands on all these lovely goodies. Usually it involves three parts. An x86 PC emulator such as DOSBox; The original MS-DOS disks, and the game disks.
DOSBox was originally written by Peter Veenstra, and released in July 2002. It has been released as OpenSource and is available free of charge from their web page. There are many helpful tutorials and a broad community of fans.
A quote from the DOSBox site:
'DOSBox also emulates CPU:286/386 realmode/protected mode, Directory FileSystem/XMS/EMS,
Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA graphics, a SoundBlaster/Gravis Ultra Sound card'
Getting those old games running took me a little time, but its so much fun sneaking in a little Space Quest IV before dinner. Don't tell my wife. I was supposed to be mowing the lawn.
Nicholas Trevena - A geek of the nerdiest type who reviews technology with a focus on Open Source and GPL.
