I'm not sure what you are asking for. What do you mean "compatibility chart"? Are you looking for a list of DOS applications that do/do not work on FreeDOS?
Almost every DOS application works on FreeDOS. Some people have problems getting Windows to work, but that's an AARD problem.
For example, games work great on FreeDOS! And I've run tons of DOS applications on FreeDOS.
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Would you say this is better than Dosbox?
This is fully compatible with modern hardware?
You run natively? Or in a hypervisor/vm?
I know this is an OS not an emulator... https://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?letter=a
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOShttps://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?letter=a
DOSBox does NOT host these games. This list is a compatibility list. If you are looking for games, you can visit www.classicdosgames.com or GOG.COM.
www.dosbox.com
We used to keep a compatibility list for FreeDOS, but stopped maintaining it long ago because it stopped being necessary. FreeDOS is compatible with MS-DOS. There are very very few instances where people hit compatibility issues, and usually it's Windows/AARD or similar.
"Better than Dosbox" is a question about preference. Of course I think FreeDOS (a full DOS operating system) is better than Dosbox (an emulator). There are more features & utilities included in FreeDOS, which you don't have with Dosbox.
Yes, you can run FreeDOS natively on real PC hardware. And many people do. Note that your PC needs to have an Intel-compatible CPU and a BIOS (or legacy BIOS services, if UEFI). Very new computers have UEFI instead of BIOS, and the UEFI doesn't provide legacy BIOS services. But for regular hardware like Pentium or '486 or '386 hardware, FreeDOS works great.
You can also run FreeDOS in an emulator or hypervisor. I recommend this for most people, unless they want to install on classic hardware. You can use a variety of PC emulators or virtual machines. I like QEMU. Others use Virtualbox, but note that Virtualbox introduced a regression since we released FreeDOS 1.2 - see the workaround listed on our Download page.
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Almost every DOS application works on FreeDOS.
right.
Some people have problems getting Windows to work,
right, too.
but that's an AARD problem.
complete nonsense. there was NEVER an AARD problem in real life. not with DRDOS then, nor with FreeDOS now. (AARD only existed for a very short time in a Windows Beta, only available to few selected developers).
Last edit: tom ehlert 2020-01-04
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This is a feature request, not a bug. I'll move to feature requests and we can follow up there.
This might be something to implement in the FreeDOS wiki, maybe as a compatibility table or at least a list of software that's known to have issues (and fixes/workarounds where available)
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I'm not sure what you are asking for. What do you mean "compatibility chart"? Are you looking for a list of DOS applications that do/do not work on FreeDOS?
Almost every DOS application works on FreeDOS. Some people have problems getting Windows to work, but that's an AARD problem.
For example, games work great on FreeDOS! And I've run tons of DOS applications on FreeDOS.
Would you say this is better than Dosbox?
This is fully compatible with modern hardware?
You run natively? Or in a hypervisor/vm?
I know this is an OS not an emulator...
https://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?letter=a
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOShttps://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?letter=a
DOSBox does NOT host these games. This list is a compatibility list. If you are looking for games, you can visit www.classicdosgames.com or GOG.COM.
www.dosbox.com
Last edit: Jim Hall 2019-10-14
Thanks for the clarification.
We used to keep a compatibility list for FreeDOS, but stopped maintaining it long ago because it stopped being necessary. FreeDOS is compatible with MS-DOS. There are very very few instances where people hit compatibility issues, and usually it's Windows/AARD or similar.
"Better than Dosbox" is a question about preference. Of course I think FreeDOS (a full DOS operating system) is better than Dosbox (an emulator). There are more features & utilities included in FreeDOS, which you don't have with Dosbox.
Yes, you can run FreeDOS natively on real PC hardware. And many people do. Note that your PC needs to have an Intel-compatible CPU and a BIOS (or legacy BIOS services, if UEFI). Very new computers have UEFI instead of BIOS, and the UEFI doesn't provide legacy BIOS services. But for regular hardware like Pentium or '486 or '386 hardware, FreeDOS works great.
You can also run FreeDOS in an emulator or hypervisor. I recommend this for most people, unless they want to install on classic hardware. You can use a variety of PC emulators or virtual machines. I like QEMU. Others use Virtualbox, but note that Virtualbox introduced a regression since we released FreeDOS 1.2 - see the workaround listed on our Download page.
Almost every DOS application works on FreeDOS.
right.
Some people have problems getting Windows to work,
right, too.
but that's an AARD problem.
complete nonsense. there was NEVER an AARD problem in real life. not with DRDOS then, nor with FreeDOS now. (AARD only existed for a very short time in a Windows Beta, only available to few selected developers).
Last edit: tom ehlert 2020-01-04
This is a feature request, not a bug. I'll move to feature requests and we can follow up there.
This might be something to implement in the FreeDOS wiki, maybe as a compatibility table or at least a list of software that's known to have issues (and fixes/workarounds where available)
Ticket moved from /p/freedos/bugs/249/
Opened discussion on freedos-user, looking for feedback and suggestions to create a wiki page to track software compatibility