Welcome to FreeDOS

AsEasyAs spreadsheet running on FreeDOS

• What is FreeDOS?
  FreeDOS is a free DOS-compatible operating system that can be used to play games, run legacy software, or support embedded systems. FreeDOS is basically like the old MS-DOS, but better! For example, FreeDOS lets you access FAT32 file systems and use large disk support (LBA) — a feature not available in MS-DOS, and only included in Windows 95 and newer.
• Is FreeDOS really free?
  Yes, FreeDOS is really free. It doesn't cost anything to download and run FreeDOS. Even better, FreeDOS is open source software; you can view and edit our source code. All FreeDOS programs are distributed under the GNU General Public License ("GNU GPL") or a similar open source license. Because we are open source software, anyone can contribute to it. Even if you don't write code, you can help out the FreeDOS Project by reporting bugs.
• What programs can I run in FreeDOS?
  FreeDOS is a complete, free, DOS-compatible operating system. While we provide our own programs and utilities, you should be able to run any program that was intended for MS-DOS. You can even do networking! However, you may experience problems running Windows on FreeDOS. For example, Windows standard-mode works on FreeDOS, but 386-mode Windows for Workgroups 3.11 does not.
• How do I install FreeDOS?
  To install, simply download the FreeDOS 1.1 CD image. Write this to a blank CD, and boot your computer with it. The automated installer should walk you through the rest. If you need help, please read the FreeDOS Install HOWTO (this is for VirtualBox, but should apply to any PC.)
• What do I need to run FreeDOS?
  FreeDOS should run on any standard PC, although you will need at least an Intel ‘386 or better processor and a CDROM drive if you want to install FreeDOS using our standard CD image. 2MB or more memory recommended for best performance, and 40MB disk space. If you are new to DOS, we recommend you use a PC emulator such as VirtualBox to install and boot FreeDOS. You can find PC emulators for all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac.) You can even run FreeDOS using a PC emulator written in Java, right in your web browser!
• How can I contribute to FreeDOS?
  We welcome new users to FreeDOS. You can contribute to the FreeDOS Project by downloading our latest release and telling us what you think. If you find a problem, please report a bug, to help us improve FreeDOS. By participating in the development and debugging process, you help everyone. Also, consider joining the email lists. If you are a programmer, please also check the software list and see what needs to still be done!

What's New?

UIDE etc. (Apr. 30)

2013-05-20 10:22 On April 30, Jack Ellis once again updated his UIDE etc. drivers. Changes: "UHDD/UDVD2 can now be run without XMS (at lower speed) for FreeDOS 'scripts' or for tests. UDVD2 can now do 'raw' (trackwriter) input. Other drivers unchanged (re-dated only)." For now, you can only grab binaries and sources at iBiblio (/dos/cdrom/uide/). Thanks again, Jack!

mTCP 2013-04-26

2013-04-27 12:05 On April 26, Michael Brutman released his latest updates to the mTCP suite of 16-bit networking tools (GPLv3). Changes include: * All: improved TCP/IP lost packet and retransmit support, * All: DHCP lease expiration detection and warning, * IRCjr: mIRC color codes, improved logging support, 132 column, awareness, bug fixes, * FTP client: user input can be longer now (2 lines), 125 responses handled better, * FTP server: improved compatibility with more clients. * Telnet: improved emulation (scroll regions and origin mode support). Grab binaries and sources at http://code.google.com/p/mtcp/ - or on iBiblio under http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/net/mtcp/ - Thanks, Mike!

JWasm 2.10

2013-04-26 11:59 On April 20, Japheth released JWasm 2.10, his heavily-improved, MASM-compatible fork of OpenWatcom's WASM (Sybase v1 license, OSI approved). Grab binaries and sources at http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html - or mirrored on iBiblio under http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/asm/jwasm/ - and read the changelog at http://www.japheth.de/JWasm/History.txt . Thanks, Japheth!

XFDOS: graphical FreeDOS distribution

2013-04-24 9:33 Georg Potthast has announced XFDOS, a graphical distribution based on FreeDOS. Please note that THIS IS NOT THE OFFICIAL FREEDOS DISTRIBUTION, but a user-created "spin" of FreeDOS using a graphical desktop. XFDOS consists of a graphical desktop called SLWM combined with the FLTK based applications I ported to DOS plus other DOS applications. This provides a desktop similar to Windows for FreeDOS. Includes the new Dillo for DOS browser. You can add just about any application to this desktop by editing a small configuration file for it. You can move and arrange the icons as you like on the desktop. XFDOS comes in two versions. One is an ISO file to be burned on a CD to provide a Live-CD of XFDOS. Or you can download a hard disk version which allows you to start (and exit) the XFDOS desktop and its applications from your hard disk. http://code.google.com/p/nanox-microwindows-nxlib-fltk-for-dos/downloads/list

hexed 1.2c

2013-04-24 9:25 On April 3, Chris Evans released an update to the hex editor Hexed. Version 1.2c removed the boot sector code loader, too dangerous esp. when writing to hard disks. so you'll have to load sector with debug and edit the sector file with hexed instead. You can find it at ftp://digitalatoll.com/DMSOFT/hexed12c.zip or mirrored to ibiblio at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/file/hex/hexed/

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