[Freedos-devel] FreeDOS 1.2 and 2.0 roadmap discussion

[Jim H. <jh...@fr...>]

Mike pointed out that the FreeDOS Road Map
<http://www.freedos.org/wiki/index.php/FreeDOS_Road_Map> (wiki) is out of
date and short on details and suggested a broad discussion on the road map,
get consensus and have it updated.

I figured we should start a separate discussion thread about that.


First, a little history on the "road map":


When I started FreeDOS in 1994, the goal was to create a free version of
DOS, compatible with MS-DOS. (original PD-DOS announcement
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.msdos.apps/oQmT4ETcSzU/O1HR8PE2u-EJ>)
(original Free-DOS manifesto
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.os.msdos.apps/W6MuhF__R9s/MgdzBrlanTwJ>
)

That aim remained essentially the same for a long time. And I believe we
met that with version 1.0 a few years ago. FreeDOS 1.1 was an update to
FreeDOS 1.0, so things didn't really change there.

In 2009 <http://www.freedos.org/jhall/blog/?id=20090511-192954>, I briefly
stepped away from FreeDOS to focus on a graduate program (I ended up
changing jobs instead, and didn't do the M.S. program until a few years
later). During that time, Pat Villani stepped in as project coordinator.

Pat wanted to do something to spur development, so in 2010
<http://www.freedos.org/wiki/index.php?title=FreeDOS_Road_Map&oldid=845> he
wrote the first version of the FreeDOS Road Map (see old version
<http://www.freedos.org/wiki/index.php?title=FreeDOS_Road_Map&oldid=845>).

In 2011 <http://www.freedos.org/jhall/blog/?id=20110502-164858>, Pat's
health was getting worse, so I came back as project coordinator. Nothing
had been done on the road map, so I replaced it with a copy/paste from a
blog post I had written earlier (see blog post
<http://www.freedos.org/jhall/blog/?id=20110502-164858>) until I could go
back and update it "for real" later on.

A few days ago, Harold (aka Mercury Thirteen) mentioned the road map on the
wiki. I realized I never updated the road map, so I tacked a "THIS PAGE IS
OUT OF DATE" notice at the top of the wiki entry.

More recently, Chelson announced on our Facebook group
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedos/> his kickstarter project to fund
development of FreeDOS-32, with the hope that this kernel could be part of
"FreeDOS 2.0". I shared his announcement on the website and on
freedos-devel this morning.



I think that brings us to this discussion. :-)


*My thoughts on FreeDOS 1.2 and FreeDOS 2.0:*

I think the next distribution will be FreeDOS 1.2 because I want to reserve
"2.0" for a major shift in how FreeDOS software is organized and what we
include. I'm currently looking at the packages we list on the Software
List, so maybe we'll get to "2.0" soon - but I think it's safe to assume
the next FreeDOS distribution will be 1.2 and the one after that would be
2.0.


*My thoughts on FreeDOS 1.2:*

FreeDOS 1.2 is basically an update from FreeDOS 1.1. The biggest change is
probably the installer: It should be very simple, very straightforward.
FreeDOS isn't very big or complex, so it doesn't make sense to have a lot
of install options.

The current install process (FreeDOS 1.1) has a lot of steps to it. I think
we could simplify this a bit. I'm not sure about the full steps for the
install process, but to brainstorm something, here's a sketched out plan:

1. *Boot the FreeDOS Install CDROM.* This is basically a "live" FreeDOS,
which happens to boot into an automated install process.
- If you Exit the process at any time, you go back to a DOS prompt. (This
is useful for people who just want to run FreeDOS from CD without
installing it.)

2. *Does the C: drive exist?*
- If not, prompt the user to run FDISK. Reboot to re-read the partition
table.

3. *Is the C: drive usable?*
- If not, prompt the user to run FORMAT.

4. *Start the INSTALL program.*

5. *Run SYS to make the C: drive bootable.*

6. *Do any follow-up steps* (such as creating a default CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT, set language, etc).

7. *Done*




*My thoughts on FreeDOS 2.0:*

I'd like to see a modernized version of DOS. This might be as ambitious
as Marc Perkel mentioned in his 1991 letter to his Novell bosses about a
modern DOS, which he called "NovOS" (read NovOS letter <http://Marc Perkel>).
Or it could be something less ambitious, basically a modernization of the
FreeDOS userspace (utilities, etc) while keeping the original DOS kernel.

I haven't used FreeDOS-32 but if it supports classic DOS programs on modern
systems, while adding new and useful features, I would support using that
kernel in FreeDOS 2.0. (I said this on Facebook, too
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedos/permalink/10152599941377887/?comment_id=10152600011617887&offset=0&total_comments=27>.)
Above all, application compatibility is 100% important. FreeDOS 2.0 needs
to run applications written for MS-DOS.


Thoughts?