FreeDOS 1.3 is it worth it for Retro DOS PC Gaming
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- Опубліковано 3 бер 2022
- FreeDOS 1.3 just launched and we will check out if the project has made improvements with DOS Game compatibility. If you remember the video review about FreeDOS 1.2 we encountered many games that wouldn't work. We will also run some benchmarks and compare performance against MS-DOS 6.22.
Resources:
Download FreeDOS: www.freedos.org/download/
SetMul tool to disable CPU Cache: www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?...
UNISOUND Universal ISA PnP Sound Card Driver: www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?...
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I have an archive of over 800 DOS games that I test on every new PC I build. It's a LOT of work but it gives you a very clear picture of how some hardware causes certain issues on a specific OS I've got a small notebook full of notes and every tested game gets written down and if something is wrong, it gets added. If I run into a problem I compare it to the issues I had with other games on the same issues, or similar issues on other systems and sometimes that's enough to make me realize what may be the cause.
This made it very clear that every PC has its quirks - it's possible that games that won't run in FreeDOS on one PC, will work on another PC. I mean, I've had games fail to run on MS DOS 6.22 on my Pentium II 333 but run fine on MS DOS 7.10 but the same games run fine on MS DOS 6.22 on a different PC ... .
Currently I'm testing out a Pentium II 333. The main issue there by far is memory. Many games run well under Windows 98 but fail to run under DOS 7.10 and need all sorts of XMSDISK or other tools to reduce the amount of memory a game will detect.
I've pinned your comment because I am eager to hear what you find! 800 Games, that's amazing 😀
My main two issues I run into with games is CPU speed and also memory. I created this MS-DOS Starter Pack with a boot menu that lets you select memory types. For older DOS games disabling CPU Cache gets many games going. Selecting PC Speaker instead of Sound Blaster gets some games working on fast machines because of this.
@@philscomputerlab CPU speed is definitely a common problem and some games such as Ultima VII are VERY difficult to get running at the right speed since they don't allow cache disabling to slow down the CPU but that's why my retro setup consists of a 486 DX2 66 and a Pentium II 333. There's still some games that don't feel right (Origin released a lot of games that were speed-sensitive).
With FreeDOS specifically, the memory managers are by far the biggest problem I had in the past. Some games absolutely need the real HIMEM and EMM386 and even specific versions of them at times - the 7.10 versions will not always work so a boot disk running DOS 6.22 or even DOS 5.0 is needed but then you run into the FAT32 wall. Ah the fun of DOS game compatibility ...
@@redavatar Would you give an example of what games are problematic with the native FreeDOS memory managers?
@@magnum333 If I can find my notes I'll post them here. I usually write down all the problems I experience in a little book so I can avoid making the same "mistakes" in the future.
FreeDOS 1.3 looks good, the future is looking bright for this project. Quality video as always! You inspire me a lot and one of the reasons I'm in this amazing hobby.
Y😀es it is a great project and they are making progress. Looking forward to testing version 1.4
Now if only ReactOS could be advancing this fast. Granted, there's a whole lot bigger API set that ReactOS has to replicate.
I would try ReactOS because I have a scanner for WIndows XP. It of course isn't supported by any newer versions of Windows and the manufacturer no longer is in business. It is a Memorex Mem 48U. There are a couple other scanners that are the same thing but they also have no more driver support. It was also a TWAIN scanner. Why Microsoft no longer supports that is a mystery. I refuse to buy an all in one (scanner, printer and fax) because they will often refuse to function when ink is low even if you are only trying to scan something. That just has to stop, it is 100% fully inexcusable and there should have been massive class action lawsuits every single to such a horrendous pile of junk is made!!
@@charleshines1553 I wonder if you'd be better off using some VM USB passthrough or an air gapped XP box
API set LOL. ReactOS is NT. it is a way more complex operating system than DOS.
@@charleshines1553 Agreed. HP was banned from selling ink for a while, due to the shady, time-to-kill ink cartridges, that would lie and tell you the ink was low without even using it (sometimes straight out of the package). Of course it didn't get reported much but the printer companies take a loss on their printers because ink is their bread and butter. They charge outrageous prices for colored dirt. I have a Brother printer that takes three color cartridge and a black cartridge. I rarely print anything but when I do, I always have to replace a cartridge. Never ran one empty but the printers says it's always catastrophically low on one or the other.
If you need a Windows NT system then go and use a Windows NT system like Win2K, WinXP, Win7. ReactOS will have to go another 30 years. It's nowhere close to replace WinXP. At least not at that development speed.
If you want to speed that up, then learn programming and improve it.
This is really impressive considering how many problems 1.2 had. I remember spending way too much time fighting CD-ROM problems and gave up on it quite quickly. Can't wait to try this new version out!
Great video, thanks Phil.
Was really happy to see this appear as a premiere. Glad to hear FreeDOS has been making great strides, I relied on it pretty heavily to help get a Frankenstein(‘s monster) Win98 Core 2 system configured, now I’m on the lookout for a ‘proper’ vintage system.
get a pentuim 4
Anything with AGP and classic PCI slots is great for Windows 98.
It's been a while since FreeDOS 1.2. Great to see that its issues have been fixed :).
Always great to see a new Video from the channel. thank you.
Thanks for the video! I was really curious about this.
Thanks for the Video and all the Testing Phil. looks like a big improvement
Glad to see FreeDOS is improving! I tried messing with it last year and couldn't accomplish much of anything...
It's not only a good video about freedos 1.3 but also a good recommendation video for dos games.
So Great Video.It has become easier to handle due to the capacity improvement and improved files that were problematic in MS-DOS. thank you.
This is great news, really appreciate your work.
Welcome back , good job😁
so glad u came by with another retro build vid! all tha news about GPU shortages n stuff can really be stressful but bringin' back some good o retro gaming couldn't have came at a better time
currently i'm waitin' on a GTX 780Ti to get really dirt cheap so i can grab it for a Windows XP Retro Gaming Project pairing with a old system with a FX 8350 i retired for modern uses and yes it will be a offline PC for tha most part
780 Ti for XP 😅 A 750 Ti will do the trick, you could build a nice Vista / DX 10 Retro build with the 780?
@@philscomputerlab i'll save Vista for a spare Sandybridge board i have second hand or should i dig out my Q9450 i have gotten for free a few years back? hmmmm
Yep, it's Good for retro gaming. I have tested worms, duke, blackthorne and others. Any game was working well.
But why not just use MS DOS?
@@vardekpetrovic9716 It works fine on all my retro systems. The use case is for what, DOSBOX?
Nice!! Great video, as always.
Happy Philday!
Such a great collection of games tested here
Yay Phil's back! Happy to see your video again. So, it's the right time to stock up on 8GB sd cards while they're still around. I'm honestly quite impressed by the 1.3 (wow, has it really been that long since your 1.2 video)
Yea time just flies.
I'm happy it's progressing well
Great video! One issue that I had in the past with FreeDos is that it is not compatible with Ontrack DDO.
I even made a bug report on their website and they said: We don't care.
This is an important issue, because on older machines, such as a 286 or 386, their bios support only very small drives (less than 100mb) and when you want to use a 1gb or 2gb sd-to-ide adapter, you pretty much have to use Ontrack Dynamic Drive Overlay. Then, on MS-DOS, you can use the full capacity. This does not work with FreeDos. So what do you do? Stick with MS-Dos even if you wanted FreeDos.
Yes it takes just one or two things that don't work and you want to stick with MS-DOS. For me it is that old computers have enough issues, so I don't need another variable thrown into the mix 😅
XT-IDE (or XUB) is maybe a better option for something that old, though that may require some added hardware.
386 BIOS support up to 540MB. There are other overlay programs ,but they use a tiny memory and this can be issue for older games that depends on the first 640KB to run
@@simeonjohnston5941 Xt-ide can make it work, but it is quite slow and expensive. It cannot be used in laptops too.
I read the bug report on SourceForge. It's fairer to say that they didn't have the resources to look into the bug, rather than "we don't care".
I have a Compaq Portable II with Disk Manager and MS-DOS 5.0 booting from a 512 MB SD card. It would be nice if FreeDOS worked, but not super important. The good thing about FreeDOS is most of the software that comes with it will also run under MS-DOS.
Looks like great progress is made in FreeDOS. Would be interesting to also try if Glide games and analog and digital gameport controllers work.
Hello! First I am very thankful for your very good english pronunciation, and then for the good video and the contents you so clearly explain. Greetings from Argentina!
Thank you! 😃
"windows popup like a christmas tree" :) :) :)
Awesome!
This review comes out at the right time.
Thanks man!!
That's great news, I'm gonna try it with the ao486 core on the Mister. I wonder if it works well.
really good review!
bravo man
i respect those who help to preserve these nostalgic things and the historic achievements of the mankind... it's wonderful
BTW seems many things of the past are still useful and enjoyable... at least the games! cheers
Nice review
Absolutely worth it, especially with guys like me deving new stuff to this day for it. And if a point and click interface is stopping you from using a dos enviroment, may wanna look into N2K-OS which is built specifically with them FreeDOS users in mind :D
Thanks for the review just going to build a super7 system and need to decide if I should grab msdos 7.1 from win98 again or give freedos a Try. Will do the latter now. 😊
Phil is my best friend content creator since last month.
I'm actually developing a DOS port of a new point and click adventure game I'm making and I'll be sure to test it out on FreeDOS too, when I reach beta.
Any releases there now of your adventure?
@@AncapDude unfortunately, licencing issues have meant that I couldn't release it. The game has been completed and works flawlessly on FreeDOS
@@shdon 😥
The racing game you showed here looks fun.
Reminds me of SEGA Rally from the looks of it too.
Screamer 2? Yea it's a good game but I found it hard to beat.
YES!!!!!!!
@@philscomputerlab Steering wheel and pedals help tremendously in that game.
JUST launched! been trying out 1.3-rc5 and had a problem with JEMMEX and the bonus disc thing, but having a blast! and used Grub4DOS in Partition to select between FreeDOS Kernel.Ssys and Windows ME IO.Sys! Gud times!
8:45 I like partitioning in Windows to keep the partitions aligned. I donno about FreeDOS' FDISK if it does that or not... but, I find it easy enough use windows 10.
If I remember correctly, in DOS 6.22 the max partition size was about 2 gigs The biggest hard drive I have seen using DOS was 500 megs. They might be keeping with that max partition size just in case there are programs that a larger partition size might be an issue. The only programs I could think of that might have that issue would be disk editing programs.
Decent 2 giving me flashbacks!
Hello Phil, loves your movies. Greetings! :)
Excellent!
Another great Video Phil! Thanks! Just curious what do you use to capture video from your DOS games. Seems like most of the common VGA capture solutions can't do anything under 800x600. I just put together an old socket 478 P4 box with voodoo2's (in SLI) and an ati 9800pro (has drivers for both win98SE and XP). Looking to do some video capture from it.
Cheers!
You will need to capture the monitor signal if you want profit from the 22 bit postfilter of the Voodoo cards.
Nice to see they improved a lot, but since you mentioned MS-Dos 6.22 is still the gold standard it does make me wonder. Are there any games that work fine on MS-Dos 6.22 that do not work on a FAT16 formatted MS-Dos 7.1 partition? Because so far i have never run into MS-Dos 7.1 specific issues with games.
Yea I also don't remember running into an issue with MS-DOS 7.1...
The only issue on MS-DOS 7.1 is that it requeres 286 to run . The 8088 can run up to DOS 6.22 . But freeDOS works on 8088 and supports FAT32 like 7.1
Back in the day I used DOS 7.x over 6.x because it more aggressively freed conventional memory which helped in a few situations. I don't recall running into any issues. EDIT: except FAT32 defragging.
A feature I'd like to have in FreeDOS would be an 'autolaunch creator'. A little tool that autoatically creates a batch that reboots the PC using the right memory options for a given .exe and autolaunhes the .exe after reboot. So you only have to execute the batch files created by the tool later and not care for the boot options.
FreeDOS 1.3 seems to be a complete turnaround.
Well, Windows 3.x enhanced mode (386 mode) support is still missing. Only Windows 3.x standard mode (286) runs in FreeDOS.
Have you ever tried PC DOS 7.0 released by IBM? It was really good for getting conventional memory freed up compared to MS DOS 6.22.
I remember using some DOS version where it was also really easy but don't remember if it was FreeDOS or MS-DOS 7.x from Windows 95. Don't think that it was PC DOS as they only seem to come as XDF images and a CD "Upgrade" release.
Thing is, with my DOS 6.22 setup I'm never running into issues with too little conventional memory. 617K with mouse, CD-Rom and sound card drivers loaded.
When I selected this video, I was thinking you were talking about DOSBox.
It's really nice that a Free software distrobution of DOS is this good. I always prefer to run libre software when I can, though I don't have a DOS machine . . . yet. If I ever get one, FreeDOS will be what I install. I just need to see what's compatible. I think the only soundcard that it works with is SoundBlaster16's right? I'll probably have to make sure of compatibility if I buy anything.
It should work with all Sound Cards, just need to install the drivers and you're good to go!
Use to have dosbox on a jailbroken iPad mini. It could barely play doom and that blew my mind. Haha.
The expanded memory tests are funny with the minimum performance impact. Back in the 386 days I'm pretty sure it was more than 0.3%, lol.
It's an admirable achievement but presumably it has to be totally compatible and then add some new cool stuff to ever be a better choice? I'll definately have to take a look and test it out a bit, heard about free dos but never tried it.
I never understood why - just use DOS 6.22, it's era correct and it does everything you need.
i use the freedos provided by rufus, it works fine with sbemu but in catacombs 3d there is slight greenish colour but atleast i works and has sound
Oh good. You're still making videos.
Nice, I like FreeDOS a lot... Although I've never used it.
Stil, I'm curious to see if it can run quake ? Syndicate ? Syndicate Wars ? Dungeon keeper ? Red alert ? Dune ? Theme hospital ?
So many games are supported on ms-dos, I'd become worried to have chosen the wrong OS. I tend to stick to ms dos 7.1.
Just give it a try and let us know of any issues.
In the future, I would love to see you do testing with some of Papyrus’ games, like NASCAR Racing and Indycar Racing II.
Hoping they make their way to GOG...
@@philscomputerlab unfortunately I don’t think it’ll happen. Papyrus folded after the release of NASCAR Racing 2003 and re-formed as iRacing.com a few years later. The rights to their old games are up in the air and they’re pretty much abandonware at this point. It’s a shame too, they’re some of the most realistic racing simulators for DOS. but you can still find physical copies on eBay occasionally.
@@skraegorn7317
Don't forget Grand Prix Legends too xD
@@paulgraves1392 oh of course, I was just naming their DOS titles. They also did NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Racing, NASCAR Legends, and SODA off road racing for Windows 9X, they apparently did the Windows port of Road Rash too.
I think there is no point in getting old Indycar Racying to run on DOS. Reason: You will find much better racing games today and these old racing games do have nothing special which make them unique.
The story is different for games where you do not find a modern replacement.
1.1 in VirtualBox was the last one I tried just to see how it looks and how the hardware was detected, didn't try to run anything beyond what couple things came with it.
Its awesome that anyone is even working on anything dos related. I hope to see new OSes for old computers some day. We should try to repurpose them for new task in my opinion. They last a lot longer when they are being used.
very cool! dang. I wonder how my floppies are.
I think 3 or 4?
Speaking of dos did you ever make a video on how to connect old comptuers to the modern internet?
good old Phil with retro improtance
Tried using freedos to do a bios update on my AMD HT2000 board. it would not work, the bios tool thought there was a bios to files size difference where there was not. seems like a file system issue/big in freedos. had to use MSDOS 6.x to do the install (was a pain as it and the bios update would barely fit on a single floppy)
I've had a lot of problems with Arena, the first elder scrolls game. Has anyone tested this with FreeDOS 1.3?
Also do you know why Computers you get in germany often a have Freedos option if you don't wanna pay for windows?
Does it work with games with goofy memory managers, notoriously hard games to run like Ultima 7? Thanks!
Phillscomputerlab: I had to ask; did you overwrite your descriptions of your videos? Must have been a "Oh no" moment.
Great video! Can't wait to test this version on my old pc. Does it work in modern hardware or semi-modern, like on a Athlon XP with the same Radeon 9200 and a AC97 soundcard? Like do we have support for modern soundcards, or anything like that?
there are currently supported tools like unisound for PNP ISA cards.
LGR installed freedos on a Ryzen. In fact i think dell actually still sells pc's with freedos as an option.
Theres nothing for AC97, unless the sound card has the sblink. I run a Athlon Tbird with an audigy 2 zs and it can run dos drivers.
I also think the 9200 would be fine for ega, but some of the newer cards dont do all EGA fully correct (keen 4 scrolling)
If the machine has PCI slots there are options for DOS compatible sound cards. Also there are printer port sound devices.
@@Pickle136 thanks for the reply. will check the LGR video. As I have tried, I think my Ac97 doesn't have the sblink, so I will try something different. Do you know if an ensoniq card will be good to try? Or maybe a sound blaster live?
@@philscomputerlab thanks for the reply, Phill!! I think I'll try to get another soundcard for it. Do you know if an Ensoniq card will work, or maybe a sound blaster live? I don't want to spend much on this, and don't know if these cards work good enough with DOS/Windows 9x games.
@@marcelofrau8818 yeah for dos support live 5.1 is just as good, they basically all use the same emulation. The audigy driver can also be made to work on the live its somewhere on vogons.
Can freedos 1.3 with an industrial pc vortex86dx based like ebox-3300 be used for retrogaming?
i just tried installing FreeDOS via floppys but it failed at disk 2 with a read error (the floppy itself has no bad sectors, formats fine.)
Also i tried to boot the setup from USB via plop boot but it crashed the hell out.
The regular LiveCD Iso booted from USB can´t find it´s kernel image to actually boot up...
I really don´t want to burn and waste another CD-R for this...
Using a Compaq Armada 7770DMT with a PCMCIA USB cardbus inserted.
No idea if this would cause the issues i´m facing.
So in the end i simply give up and continue using my unofficial DOS 7.1 installation CD.
Hi! What Hardware do you need for getting FreeDOS 1.3 to work?
I have a Windows XP Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.00GB RAM 3.00 GHz computer.
Please answer thank you
I have 1.2 on a p3 laptop. Is it possible to drop the updated files into the FreeDos boot partition and it's upgraded or does it need a complete reformat and reinstall? I'm afraid I'll mess up my bootloader/other installs. I might install 1.3 in a vm then copy those files to the laptop and see what happens.
Speaking of Screamer 2 (and by extension, Rally), that's a game I keep getting illegal read error crashes from in DosBox and both of my P-IIIs. Do you run into the same issue?
Hmm I know there is a speed related bug with the setup menu. On some machines I had to disable CPU Cache to run setup. But game works fine at full speed. Maybe this is what you're observing?
@@philscomputerlab Nah, it crashes/locks up while in game after a few minutes.
Any problems getting 3Dfx (like Tomb Raider 1) running and are there any problems with drivers?
Also did you run the games not working off a 2G partition or a larger one? Had games before that had problems when the expected disk size was too large. The support of long file names (if activated) might also create problems.
Will give it a try as exchanging CF cards at the back of the PC is easy. :D
Awesome, let us know how you go!
@@philscomputerlab First update: Test Drive 2 - The Duel works, had to remove TDS2HISC.DAT and .BAK (should be config files as the date is newer than the rest of the files) and started it via the DUEL.EXE. CF is partitioned and formatted to 2GB FAT16, but don't know if this was also a problem as the game got stuck at a black screen without sound, freezing the whole system, before removing these two files.
Short update. Now after rebooting is doesn't work anymore, even with no new TDs2HISC files. Need to test longer, if there is another cause for it not starting. Had the PC running for more than an hour, while on the phone and suddenly the game worked (after removing the files).
Update 2, on how I really got it working. Before, I used edit to look into the TDS2HISC, before removing it and then ran the game. Now I moved the files back, loaded the editior and closed it again and suddenly the game is running. So try running the FreeDOS editor before starting the game. Wonder if this works with other games too.
Update 3: GP Circuit also works with this trick. Both games from Accolade (same engine?) so can't really say anything about other games. Also tried running the game from Norton Commander, using the NC editior and also running and closing NC before starting the games but this always resulted in a system hang. So far only running the normale FreeDOS edit beforehand worked.
Tomb Raider 1 with 3Dfx (using the Voodoo 2 workaround, which works fine under 6.22) freezes after the Core Design intro (STRG+ALT+Delete still works unlike the TD2 freeze) even if set to no sound card. Orphinit (Orpheus I sound driver) works fine and so does the DOS USB driver.
Update on TR1 3Dfx: Seems to be a JEMMX problem. Booting Option 3 with JEMM386 helps.
Stonekeep has problems installing from CD, no matter the boot and install options used. Works fine under 6.22.
Tried CD-Rom drivers and MSCDEX from 6.22, which are working but installation of the game still has the same problem. Stops at copying the GROUP files from the DATA folder.
What's up Phil?
Hi PhilsComputerLab. Any idea how commander Keen works in 1.3?
Well, should work. I think the Freedos guy Jim Hall has played it on the FreeDos channel under it. But that was under 1.2 i think.
What is your opinion of that Kingspec SSD? I see they make an IDE version as well, though I suspect that there's just some kind of SATA to IDE chip or CF card under the hood.
I think I got dud models, they are quite slow, feels like a USB flash drive more than a SSD. I would pick another brand, but it is possible I got fake ones.
@@philscomputerlab That's a bummer. I'm partial to the HyperDisk disk-on-modules that plug directly into the motherboard, but the chip shortages are making those difficult to get now so I've been looking for alternatives, and Kingspec is one of the few companies making IDE drives (and the more reputable companies that make them, they're quite a bit more expensive). I'd be wary too of that SATA to IDE converter. I may experiment with some industrial CF cards since at least those are natively IDE.
@@retro-computing-gaming Just use a larger SSD with SATA to IDE adapter. Limit capacity by entering IDE values manually into BIOS. I want to do a video on this actually...
@@retro-computing-gaming CF cards work very well. For DOS a half decent brand / model will work wonderfully. Also check out IDE to SD card adapters. These use a converter chip, but work also very well with old computers.
@@philscomputerlab A video on all the various "solid state" options for retro PC's would be great. Because there's a ton of options, and each one has its own caveats. I've never tried the SD card route only out of concern for the longevity of the read-write cycles. I've played with CF cards before but only the industrial variety allow for more than 1 partition, and any OS newer than Windows 98 will detect a non-industrial variety it as a removable device if the TrueIDE bit can't be flipped. If you only need 1 partition and won't be installing anything newer than 98, regular CF cards seem to work great.
👏🏾👏🏾👍🏽
Is it possible to install free dos at z170 i7 cpu mother board?
Try it, it should boot from USB.
Hi Philis!
Have you by a chance tried to run "The Elder Scrolls: Arena" on FreeDOS?
In every machine I have tried it, the game hangs on a black screen after character creation.
I tried all sorts of JEMMEX options, etc.
Could you please try that game?
Try MS-DOS
@@philscomputerlab Yes, of course, the game works on MS-DOS.
But I would like to know if it works for you on FreeDOS,
@@manuelalfayatecorchete1806 Well it seems it doesn't work. Just use MS-DOS man, it's more compatible and what I would recommend.
@@philscomputerlab Ook, thanks.
I won't use anything with the MicroSoft name on it, but well, thanks for the recommendation.
Nice) what next? New free windows 9x?)
Funny you should ask... ReactOS is still in alpha though.
@@Caseytify ReactOS isn't a remake of Windows 95, it is a remake of Windows NT.
What's the compatibility of FreeDOS with newer computers ?
Say, for example, laptops > 2015 ?
from ibm pc-dos any difference?
Time to fire up mTCP and transfer all my games!
80 TB in MS-DOS? 😉
@@philscomputerlab Actually we got 20 TB drives now and a 10 bay NAS.
So...
😮
Fin fact: The maker of freedos has a YT channel called, well, freedos. and he makes some dos lets plays and explains some technical things. its actually pretty good and they need the support! go check it out!
Is there's any dos that came with soundblaster and 3dfx emulation? For modern hardware
Hmm not sure what you mean. There are versions of DOSBox with those features...
you should check out pcem (x86 emulator with sb and voodoo 2/3 emulation)
@@vardekpetrovic9716 deadlink for edrdos
For modern hardware use pcem or DOSBox-X (not classic DOSBox)
Do you know if Windows 3.11 works under FreeDOS 1.3? I could never get it to work under 1.2.
I haven't tried. Note that it needs FAT16.
Windows für Workgroups 3.11 does require enhanced mode which doesn't work in FreeDOS. But Windows 3.1 does run in standard mode in FreeDOS.
i am going try it out on my laptop i do have spare drive i don't want to over write my windows 10 drive
i am getting no sound
What Rally game is this at 9:00 ? Cant remember the Name. Sorry for the silly question. Thanks!
I believe this is Scramer 2.
Does freeDOS supports FAT 32? Why it makes 2GB partition ?
Yes it does! Created a single 32 GB partition through fdisk.
FreeDOS looks great but the only thing I can’t quite understand is it’s actual purpose, what benefits would I have running my DOS gaming computer on FreeDOS over MS-DOS?
I have the exact same doubt! Why? - does it include utilities for play speed sensitive games? Does it have a one for all solution for sound compatibility? What is the benefits? Why?
@@DhinCardoso It's open source. That's more than enough reason for some people.
@@DhinCardoso You can install it on as many machines as you have. For MS-DOS you still need a license for every machine you want to install it on.
I do have a couple of old machines, but only one license from MS-DOS 6.2 and another one from DR DOS 3.3.
None what so ever. But if you are trying to sell old DOS software to run on a modern system then it does offer a legal way of packaging up a ready to run package without having to worry about MS licencing.
It's mostly intended for embedded systems, or replacing old industrial computers that can no longer be repaired, but are still a vital to controlling machinery. Hence the fact it works on modern hardware. It's also free and doesn't require licensing to be used in a commercial setting. So no benefit to someone with a retro gaming PC but could be useful in those settings.
Will it run on raspberry pi?
The compatibility of FreeDOS 1.3 with Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.0 has improved over FreeDOS 1.2?
You can run Windows 3.x in standard mode (286 mode) on FreeDOS 1.3 but sadly not in enhanced mode (386 mode).
@@OpenGL4ever ah so it has improved! Because, according to something I read (I haven't tried myself) while windows 3.1 was able to run on standard mode, windows 3.0 was only able to run on real mode.
So now windows 3.0 is functional on standard mode as well?
@@chrll I don't know. I thought there is no big difference between Windows 3.0 and 3.1 in standard mode.
You might need to try it.
Screamer 2, what a game.
MS-DOS 7.1 (CDU) works fine for me. 😁
Made my own MS-Dos 7.1 spin that i originally based off that but its evolved so far past it its really its own thing now. Can send it to you if you like.
👍
Since it has nothing to do with msdos 6.22, have you measured its performance? I mean like testing a game on a same hardware on different windows.. ♥️
I haven't observed much if a difference if I recall ...
i like freedos support of fat32 and it usually seems to have more free memory than msdos. The dimples app installer is quite nice also.
[Ediit: looks like this isnt the case anymore] -> the one big thing i find missing is any support for win 3.1, This is alone causes me to have some windows install in parallel.
Windows 3.11 doesn't work on FreeDOS?
@@philscomputerlab looks like i need to try it again and quick search shows it working for some. I thought there was an issue with 386 enhanced mode, but maybe this isnt the case anymore
Just FYI, I found the best way to run Windows 3.1 on modern PCs was under OS/2. Particularly eComStation or ArcaOS.
Getting Windows 3.1x working under FreeDOS was considered not worth the bother until recently, I think... but late in the 1.3 cycle they managed to get it more or less down.
I managed to run Lost Eden on FreeDOS on QEMU. However, when I enable sound it seems to crash or get stuck. Any clues on what the problem could be?
Use MS-DOS, problem solved!
@@philscomputerlab Thanks. I tried but it's the same issue. Might be the game, might be QEMU. It's playable on Dosbox, crashes on Windows 3.11 if the mouse pointer reaches the edges. Tricky game.
@@leandroperalta Yea stick with MS-DOS, HIMEM and EMM386. Best compatibility with old games.
Does FreeDOS support USB storage?
For games, I don't want add another layer of issues on top of the standard complications of getting games from so many different eras running correctly. So I will stick with MS-DOS 6.22.
@Dmetsys 1. It is still illegal to use MS-DOS without a license.
2. FreeDOS does get better along with big partitions and more RAM. And the tools shipped with it are usually better.
So what exactly is the advantage of FreeDOS over Dos 6.22?
Proper usb support is one of them.
@@EvilTurkeySlices fat32 (but you can also get this with DOS 7 (win 98)
Payment-free option to bundle with modern software that works with DOS, like bootdisks and hard drive scanners. Works on more modern platforms so it helps keep old systems alive like industrial systems designed in the 1980s, or so I've heard at least.
Now, how can I build a legacy computer to run FreeDOS 1.3 with SB support?
What do you mean? Make sure it has ISA slots and get a half decent sound card and you're set.
It looks like a good OS but I think I’ll stay with MS Dos 6.22