An archive of important moments in FreeDOS history. These are just the highlights. We used to list "Everthing" but that was too much to maintain.
First announcement of the FreeDOS Project (then "PD-DOS"). (29 June 1994) ~ comp.os.msdos.apps
Name changed from "PD-DOS" to "Free-DOS." (16 July 1994) ~ comp.os.msdos.apps
First FreeDOS FTP site. (~September 1994) ~ sunsite.unc.edu (now called Ibiblio)
Free-DOS Alpha 1 distribution. (16 September 1994)
Free-DOS Alpha 2 distribution. (December 1994)
Free-DOS Alpha 3 distribution. (January 1995)
Free-DOS Alpha 4 distribution. (June 1995)
The FreeDOS Kernel by Pat Villani. [print] (6 January 1996) ~ R+D Books
Name changed from "Free-DOS" to "FreeDOS" (no hyphen).
FreeDOS Alpha 5 distribution. (10 August 1996)
First FreeDOS website. (6 November 1996) ~ www.freedos.org
First FreeDOS logo:
FreeDOS Alpha 6 distribution. (November 1997)
FreeDOS Beta 1 "Orlando" distribution. (25 March 1998)
FreeDOS Beta 2 "Marvin" distribution. (28 October 1998)
FreeDOS Beta 3 "Ventura" distribution. (21 April 1999)
FreeDOS Beta 4 "Lemur" distribution. (9 April 2000)
Italian magazine DEV includes FreeDOS Beta 4 CD-ROM.
Greece's biggest PC magazine PC Master includes FreeDOS CD-ROM.
FreeDOS Beta 5 "Lara" distribution. (10 August 2000)
German magazine Toolbox includes FreeDOS Beta 5 CD-ROM.
FreeDOS Beta 6 "Midnite" distribution. (18 March 2001)
Spanish Magazine Solo Linux (Issue 117) includes FreeDOS Beta 5 CD-ROM.
German computer magazine c't issues 12/2001 and 14/2001 distribute FreeDOS Beta 6.
FreeBSD Press (Issue 6) includes FreeDOS/V and FreeDOS Beta 6 on CD-ROM.
FreeDOS Beta 7 "Spears" distribution. (7 September 2001)
New FreeDOS logo:
FreeDOS Beta 8 "Methusalem" distribution. (7 April 2002)
Dell sells n-series computers with FreeDOS install CD-ROM.
Software Magazine (November issue) includes FreeDOS Beta 8 H1 on its cover CD-ROM.
Managing RAID on Linux (book) mentions FreeDOS ~ O'Reilly Press
Linux User magazine (March issue) includes FreeDOS CD-ROM.
FreeDOS Beta 9 RC1 distribution. (July 2003)
FreeDOS Beta 9 RC2 distribution. (23 August 2003)
M-Systems press release about a bootable USB device based on FreeDOS.
FreeDOS Beta 9 RC3 distribution. (27 September 2003)
Dell sells Dimension n-series pre-installed with FreeDOS.
FreeDOS Beta 9 RC4 distribution. (5 February 2004)
New FreeDOS logo:
FreeDOS Beta 9 RC5 distribution. (20 March 2004)
FreeDOS turns 10 years old. (June 1994–June 2004)
FreeDOS Beta 9 distribution. (28 September 2004)
FreeDOS Beta 9 SR1 distribution. (30 November 2004)
HP sells desktop computers pre-installed with FreeDOS.
Positive Feedback Software releases FreePOS, a restaurant point of sale software and developer kit for FreeDOS. (18 May 2005)
Dell sells Workstation 470 computers pre-installed with FreeDOS.
Dell sells Dimension n-series E510n pre-installed with FreeDOS.
FreeDOS Beta 9 SR2 distribution. (30 November 2005)
Internet Magazine (print) includes FreeDOS CD-ROM.
FreeDOS 1.0 distribution. (3 September 2006)
Dell sells Dimension n-series E520 pre-installed with FreeDOS.
Packard bell sells computers pre-installed with FreeDOS.
FreeDOS turns 15 years old. (June 1994–June 2009)
New FreeDOS logo:
FreeDOS 1.1 distribution. (2 January 2012)
Microsoft releases source code to MS-DOS 1.1 and MS-DOS 2.0 via Computer History Museum. *This source code was distributed under a "look but do not touch" proprietary license, and we asked if you downloaded and studied the MS-DOS source code, you should not contribute code to FreeDOS afterwards.
FreeDOS 1.2 RC1 distribution. (31 October 2016)
FreeDOS 1.2 RC2 distribution. (24 November 2016)
FreeDOS 1.2 distribution. (25 December 2016)
23 Years of FreeDOS by multiple contributors. [PDF and print] ~ Jim Hall, Lauren Holly, Ben Norrman, and Shane Rose (eds)
German magazine PC Welt includes FreeDOS 1.2 CD-ROM.
Using FreeDOS by Jim Hall. [PDF and print] ~ Shareen Mann (ed)
Microsoft releases source code to MS-DOS 1.25 and MS-DOS 2.0 via GitHub. *This source code is distributed under the MIT License (aka “Expat” License) and is compatible with the GNU GPL. Developers who download and study these versions of MS-DOS are welcome to contribute to FreeDOS.
FreeDOS 1.3 RC1 distribution. (3 February 2019)
FreeDOS turns 25 years old. (June 29, 1994–June 29, 2019)
FreeDOS 1.3 RC2 distribution. (9 December 2019)
Microsoft releases source code to GW-BASIC via GitHub. *MIT License
Writing FreeDOS Programs in C by Jim Hall [online and print] ~ Maxwell J. Peterson, Hanan C. Farah (eds).
FreeDOS 1.3 RC3 distribution. (31 May 2020)
FreeDOS 1.3 RC4 distribution. (30 April 2021)
FreeDOS 1.3 RC5 distribution. (8 December 2021)
FreeDOS 1.3 distribution. (20 February 2022)
FreeDOS starts a monthly test release cycle, to collect new updates. *These are released every month, and labeled "Tyymm" where yy is the 2-digit year ("22") and "mm" is the 2-digit month ("06").
Get Started with FreeDOS by Jim Hall. [online]
A storefront on AliExpress sells the Book8088, a "retro" micro-laptop. Comes with MS-DOS, but you can re-install with FreeDOS. *Note: the Book8088 BIOS shipped with a serious bug. Bernd provided an update to Free FDISK to work around it.
The same storefront on AliExpress also sells the Hand386, a '386 pocket computer where you type with your thumbs.
Why We Love FreeDOS by multiple contributors. [PDF and print] ~ Jim Hall (ed).
Microsoft releases source code to MS-DOS 4.00 via GitHub. *MIT License
The same storefront on AliExpress sells the Pocket386, a retro micro-laptop. Comes with Windows95, but you can re-install with FreeDOS: '386-SX at 40 MHz, 8 MB memory, 2 GB storage (CF card on IDE), OPL-3 AdLib-compatible music card.
FreeDOS turns 30 years old! (June 29, 1994–June 29, 2024) *This is a major milestone for any open source software project. Thanks to everyone who contributes to and uses FreeDOS!