Carbon / Blog: Recent posts

Hello all,

I know from the last blog post I promised development of Carbon would pick back up, but unfortunately I can't deliver. I had fun developing Carbon OS and learned a lot about DOS, but it's extremely difficult and time-consuming to develop for it when I have to fire up a virtual machine and re-install the OS every time I make a small change.

Carbon OS began it's life as LightDOS in 2012, a similar project with similar goals. But my limited DOS skills meant there was never a way to install it, beyond writing it's USB image to a flash drive, and it had limited support for other hardware. Most development stopped in late 2013, and I created Carbon OS in mid-2014 as a successor.... read more

You've probably noticed Carbon OS hasn't been in active development for a while. In fact, it's been about six months since the last commit was pushed. Simply put, I've been busy with other projects and haven't worked on Carbon much.

I just pushed a commit fixing compile issues under Windows, and I'm starting work on the 0.5.0 release right now. There might be a 0.4.1 release first, but I'm not sure yet.... read more

The last three releases were huge in terms of development, so I thought Carbon needed a refinement update to fix bugs and streamline the experience. Here's what's new:

• Improved installer: This release I worked a bit to refine the Carbon Installer, and it should work a little better now.
• VirtualBox VM: Carbon is now available pre-installed on a VirtualBox Virtual Appliance. You can import it directly into VirtualBox and use it right away!
• Source code: The installation disc for Carbon now includes the source code for FreeDOS and (nearly) every program included in both the installation disc and the operating system.
• Drive-independent: Carbon can now boot and run perfectly from a drive marked something other than C:, which could help in multi-drive systems.
• and more!... read more

The Carbon compiler, aka the compile.bat/compile.sh scripts, is used to create bootable disc images of Carbon OS. It was originally based on the FreeDOS OEM Disc Builder, but since it was only designed for Windows we wrote a version for Linux/Mac.

Until now the compiler for Windows was essentially the same as the OEM Disc Builder. Today we pushed the new Windows compiler to the code repository. The new Windows compiler has two improvements over the old script:... read more

The first major release of Carbon after our move to SourceForge, version 0.3.0 Alpha, is here! 0.3.0 has tons of new features, including:

• 4DOS 8.00 command line: 4DOS adds far more functionality and flexibility than FreeCOM
• Long File Names: Long file names on FAT file systems was added with Windows 95, and using the DOSLFN driver this has been ported to Carbon. The new command line 4DOS, as well as most programs, will recognize and use file names longer than eight characters.
• CD/DVD Drive Support: Carbon 0.3.0 Alpha includes SHSUCDX and XCDROM to provide the ability to read from the disc drive. The disc drive is mounted as the D: drive, and it should work with almost any disc drive (as well as emulated ones in VirtualBox, QEMU, etc).
• Silent Boot: Quick, fast boot with no messages that don't make sense. The screen is black until all drivers and 4DOS completely loads.
• Mouse support: Carbon now includes CTMOUSE and loads it at boot, for full mice support for programs and games. No need to load a separate driver!
• and more!... read more