How to use pure DOS under Windows XP

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

I need DOS, from one reason? So, how can I work under pure DOS under Windows XP?

Any tool, or emulator, perhaps.:confused:

[Revgen]

There is Dosbox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1)

But it's mostly designed to emulate games. I don't know if it would work with other programs.

[smok3]

and what reason would that be?

[foxyshadis]

Dosbox runs whatever random stuff you need just fine, in fact they even got it to run windows 3.1. win32s is still crashy.

Otherwise, just boot into DOS with a bootdisk/cd. Nero has an option where you can emulate a boot floppy, vfd (vmware's back) can rip an iso of a virtual floppy, and bootdisk.com has old dos boot floppys. Put the three together and you get an easy dos boot cd.

[Guest]

Start/Run, enter "cmd" and OK. You are now running a DOS window.

[Shinigami-Sama]

actualy thats not a dos window: start > run > command.com is a real dos window, cmd.exe is just a command line, my NOS teacher made a big deal of it...

[Kostarum Rex Persia]

Ok, I will try with Dosbox. But, I heard that some programs won't work under Dosbox.

[foxyshadis]

Make sure you use the current cvs build, which is a lot more complete and faster: http://ykhwong.x-y.net/page.htm

[Sirber]

Start/Run, enter "cmd" and OK. You are now running a DOS window.That's way far from DOS. It's purely a NT commandline. Most of DOS games will not run and you will get no sound. Best get DosBox.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I'm not upto speed with this sort of thing but would this help those people wanting to flash RC2 drives to RC1?


Cheers

[Doom9]

VirtualPC or VMWare and you won't have any problem as you'll have a real PC with a real OS.

[Sirber]

I'm not upto speed with this sort of thing but would this help those people wanting to flash RC2 drives to RC1?


CheersThen you boot with a DOS bootable system disc? Or you use a windows flasher ;)

[Doom9]

as far as flashing goes, there's a windows flasher for most drives, and I'm going to clobber people over the head with a stick if they claim a dos flash is safer.. it's an urban myth.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I've never re-flashed a DVD drive.... so I would not know ;)

[Inventive Software]

OT a little:
@Doom9: That's a little extreme isn't it? Several posts in the last few weeks I've come across extremeties I wouldn't normally expect from a mod. Then again, it is your forum, your rules go. I can't stop you!

Back on topic: Maybe Partition Magic (or something equivalent) and FreeDOS is in order. FreeDOS only needs around 10 MB to work, give another 40 MB for other stuff if you need it, and there's your DOS environment.

[mpucoder]

The only pure DOS is one you boot. Anything that can coexist with Windows is running in a virtual machine, and therefore does not have control of the ports.
Older Windows could boot into a real DOS (they were actually applications running in DOS), but DOS does not exist anywhere in a WinXP machine.

[Inventive Software]

Cause it's built around NT, which was designed from the start to NOT be DOS.

[arch_angel16]

Networking in a single-threaded environment is "finicky" anyway, so the ports really don't matter. Besides, using VMWare and an additional $5 NIC I believe you can have direct port access anyway.

Question - what's the application you need to run under DOS?

[mpucoder]

I was talking about the IO ports of the CPU. In a virtual machine the use of these is controlled by the protected mode programming. Interrupts are also "reflected" which causes a delay. In essence the protected mode program is always in control, and the virtual machine is at its mercy as to what it may do.

[olyteddy]

M$oft also has a virtual machine program. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx They offer a free trial. You need your own DOS, though.