The LPX Podcast recently posted an interview with Jim about FreeDOS. From the podcast website: "A generation of computer users grew up using Microsoft DOS in the 80s and 90s, but Microsoft started to phase out the operating system with the launch of Windows 95. Decades later, there are still people playing DOS-based games and even corporations using DOS-based software. For more than two decades the developers of FreeDOS have been offering a free and open source alternative to Microsoft’s defunct operating system. I reached out to Jim Hall for a conversation about FreeDOS, classic computing, and free software." The podcast episode is about 30 minutes.

If you are new to FreeDOS and are looking for how to contribute, may I suggest the FDSHELL program? This project aims to implement similar functionality to the old MS-DOS DOSSHELL.EXE program: a file manager, application launcher, and task switcher as either a TUI or GUI. Written in VisualBASIC For DOS (with some Assembly) the program hasn't been updated since at least 2013; development stalled at version 0.10(beta). It would be great to see new development on this interesting program. For example, you might use FLTK for the GUI, or update the program to use C/C++.

On July 1, mikulas released Links 2.13, the lightweight web browser for both text and graphics modes. Read the changelog, grab (GPLv2+) sources, and grab DJGPP binaries, also mirrored on iBiblio. Thanks!

Mateusz Viste has released DOSMid v0.9. The new version includes a bunch of fixes and features, including: - solves buffering troubles on MT-32 gears - fixes around how OPL percussion instruments are emulated - support for custom sound banks (IBK on OPL, SBK on AWE) - sound hardware is initialized once, instead of being inited for every song - reorganized the display so more MIDI textual data fits on the screen. You can download the new release at dosmid.sourceforge.net.

On April 28, the DJGPP developers released their compiler builds of the GCC 6.1.0 suite for various languages (C, C++, Ada, Fortran). You can grab binaries (and GPL'd sources) from your nearest mirror. Thanks to DJ, Juan, Andris, Eli, and more!