The FreeDOS Project / News: Recent posts

Oberon is Niklaus Wirth's successor to Pascal and Modula-2 — a small, strongly-typed systems language. This project implements a practical DOS dialect of Oberon-07: the core language "plus what real 16-bit systems programming needs." Programmers who are interested in experimenting with a programming language that was meant to succeed Pascal, find it at DosWorld's Trubo Oberon at GitHub.

Michael Brutman created an interesting project, a basic packet driver that enables you to use the DaynaPORT SCSI/Link Ethernet device under DOS. These devices were usually used on early Macintosh computers which had SCSI controllers but not much else for expandability. Today these devices are somewhat hard to find but they are emulated by devices like BlueSCSI and ZuluSCSI. If you would like to use the DaynaPORT for networking on FreeDOS, download it at the project on GitHub.

We set up a FreeDOS store on Zazzle in 2011 so folks could buy stickers, tshirts, mugs, ties, and other items with the FreeDOS logo on them. However, maintaining the store is starting to become a hassle, so we're planning to close the Zazzle store a month from now, in August. This is your last chance to buy stickers and tshirts if you want them.

NASM is the Netwide Assembler, an assembler for the x86 CPU architecture. NASM 3.02 was recently released with updates and fixes which should be interesting to assembly programmers. Read more in the change log. Download the new version from release build 3.02 on the NASM website. We've also mirrored the new release in the FreeDOS files archive at Ibiblio, at /devel/asm/nasm

FreeDOS Kernel is the core part of FreeDOS that provides DOS services (program loading, file and device I/O, memory management, and the INT 21h API most DOS software uses). Kernel 2046 is an incremental maintenance release with edge‑case fixes and compatibility updates. Changes in this release include: - bugfix: CD on remote Lantastic mapped drives - bugfix: print to Lantastic redirected printers - misc: port some improvements from FDPP (Stas & Andrew) - bugfix: move control-break handler off stack, fix Invisible Lan redir - bugfix: rework truename so when on mapped drive with invalid CDS properly resolves character devices (i.e. fix copy CON). Thanks to Andrew Bird and Jeremy Davis for these updates to the FreeDOS Kernel! You can find it at FreeDOS Kernel at GitHub or more directly from the FreeDOS Kernel 2046 release tag. We've also mirrored this to the FreeDOS Files Archive at Ibiblio, under files/dos/kernel.

FDNPKG16 is a Network Package Manager for FreeDOS, which runs in 16-bit mode. Victoria has been making updates to the package manager, and recently released a new update. Victoria share these changes: "- cleaned a bunch of code - added basic error levels - fixed a potential bug with an error catcher and lsxflag - fixed the untested open watcom 1.9 compiling with the makefile in DOS." FDNPKG16 is open source, under the MIT license. You can download the new release from FDNPKG16 at GitHub or more directly as a zip file at fdnpkg16·zip. This is also mirrored on Victoria's personal server at fdnpkg16·zip.

It was 32 years ago today (June 29, 1994) that we announced what became the FreeDOS Project. We welcome everyone to contribute by writing code, testing, debugging, documenting, translating, advocating, .. or anything else that helps FreeDOS. Also join the email list: developers hang out on freedos-devel, general questions are on freedos-user.... read more

UPX is a free, secure, portable, extendable, high-performance executable packer for several executable formats, including DOS. UPX will typically reduce the file size of programs by around 50% to 70%, thus reducing disk space. UPX version 5.2.0 was recently released, containing mostly bug fixes. Full details at the UPX website. You can download the DOS version and source code from the 5.2.0 release page on GitHub.

DUGL is a super fast, open source, 32bits/DOS only/ C, Assembly Game library using software rasterizer. DUGL Player is a GUI video/audio player for DOS systems, using DUGL. Version 1.0 Alpha6 was recently released with several improvements, including: - Now use FFMPEG 5.1.8 with pentium-MMX CPU enabled including assembly optimizations - Add support of Aspect Ratio with built-in list that could be overwritten by config file - Add fast video decoding - Add Aspect Ratio widget - Severals other fixes and speed improvement. Find it at the DUGL Player on GitHub, part of the DUGL repository. Or download the alpha 6 player directly as a DPL10A6.zip file (github.com).

FDNPKG16 is a network-aware package manager for FreeDOS. Thanks to Victoria for releasing another update with fixes and new features: * case-less file name comparisons when checking packages for conflicting files on hard disk * you can now press a or 3 to abort the installation of a package with files on disk * updated translations. You can get it from the FDNPKG16 v0.99.8254c release in Victoria's Git instance.

Lynx is a web browser that works in text mode. Lynx version 2.9.3 was released on May 31, and includes several key fixes and updates; see the list of changes for details. However, this version does not have a DOS exe (although the sources contain a DOS makefile). If you'd like to contribute, consider compiling (and sharing) a DOS exe for others to use. You can get the new release from the Lynx website.

X-VESA is a DOS diagnostic program for in-depth analysis and verification of VESA interfaces on real hardware, written entirely in x86 assembly language. Thanks to Marco for sharing this program. See X-VESA on GitHub for more information, including a full list of features and source code. X-VESA is available under the GNU GPL v3.

If you want to play DOS games on modern hardware, another option to emulate SoundBlaster is VSBHDA, the Virtual Sound Blaster for HDA sound cards. Thanks to Japheth for releasing an updated VSBHDA with several fixes, including: fixed regression in v1.8: sound may have been distorted in Open Cubic Player, and contains preliminary hdpmi v3.24. Download the latest release from VSBHDA on GitHub or more directly from version 1.9.

Classic DOS games talk directly to sound hardware, such as a SoundBlaster. Modern systems don't have SoundBlaster cards, but you can use SBEMU to emulate one on DOS, so your DOS games will work on new hardware. DOS developer Crazii is doing some new work in VDPMI with dynamic switching of PVI that helps against some stuttering. VDPMI and SBEMU both have several fixes. Check out the latest updated via the Vogons message board for more news.

Mathias Eberle wrote: "I created a single-pass self-compiling BASIC compiler for DOS, targetting 8086/8088 and size optimized COM files as output. The compiler itself generates NASM-compatible code. But since NASM usually generates 386+ code, I have also included a special assembler written in BASIC, so that the toolchain is complete. The language is pretty compatible (subset) to GWBASIC and QBasic/QuickBASIC." You can find it at BASCOMP on GitHub. Note that "development was assisted by a coding AI" so we are unlikely to include this in FreeDOS. Mathias has shared BASCOMP under the CC0 "public domain" license.

NetHack 5.0 is an enhancement to the dungeon exploration game NetHack, which itself is a distant descendent of Rogue and Hack. NetHack 5.0 was released a few weeks ago, and includes some general architectural improvements to the game and to its build process. You can read the announcement or download the new version via the NetHack website. Most importantly, the binary releases include a DOS version.

FDNPKG16 is a 16-bit network-enabled package manager for FreeDOS. Victoria Crenshaw (sparky4) has announced a new version v0.99.8254 with several new fixes and updates: A new download feature means you can download files into the current working directory. And you can now press y or n for the force package install choice. This version also fixed the no packet driver issue, it will quit if there is no packet driver. Find more details and download the new version from Victoria's FDNPKG16 package page. FDNPKG16 is open source, under the MIT license.

Volkov Commander is a small but powerful file manager for DOS. Volkov Commander was originally shareware, but Vsevolod recently released the Volkov Commander source code as open source, using the 2-clause BSD license. You can find the original sources for Volkov Commander 4.05 and Volkov Commander 4.99.09 alpha on Vsevolod V. Volkov's website. Danila Sukharev has also created a VC on GitHub project to archive the sources.

If you use EtherSlip to get your DOS system online, developer Michael Brutman has released EtherSlip 11.8, based on EtherSlip 11.7 from the Crynwr packet driver collection. This new version of EtherSlip fixes two bugs: 1. The incorrect MAC address was being set in the simulated Ethernet header. This broke mTCP NetDrive and possibly other programs. 2. The code in EtherSlip that simulates ARP responses has a pointer bug in it. This can cause data corruption or crash your program any time it tries to send an ARP request. Get the updated EtherSlip 11.8 from Michael's Device Driver collection. EtherSlip is open source, under the GNU GPL v1.

DOS-era games expect to use a SoundBlaster or other sound card, which aren't available on modern hardware. Instead, if you run DOS on a modern PC (like a laptop) then you need to emulate a SoundBlaster. That's what SBEMU does: "Emulate Sound Blaster and OPL3 in pure DOS using modern PCI-based (onboard and add-in card) sound cards." DOS developer crazii released a new 1.0.0 beta.rc6 version last week, with new fixes and features, including performance improvements. Find the new release at SBEMU on GitHUb. SBEMU is open source, under the GNU GPL v2 license.

DUGL is a super fast, 32bits/DOS only/ C, Assembly Game library using software rasterizer. This project is an attempt to create a new version of DUGL that provides much of the same functionality as the Dust Ultimate Game library. DUGL version 1.0 alpha 3 was released last week with these features: - Add experimental sound decoding/support using Sound Blaster 16 driver - Improve config file with new sound audio paramters, true|false to enable/disable - Add reverting to 640x480 if selected config file video resolution isn't available - Keyboard 'P' now pause continue playing current video. Tested successfully with freedos/csmwrap/vsbhda. Download the new version from DUGL on GitHub or download directly as a zip file

If you're interested in learning a new programming language, you might be interested in XPL0. From the website: "XPL0 is essentially a cross between Pascal and C. It looks somewhat like Pascal but works more like C. It was originally created in 1976 by Peter J. R. Boyle, who designed it to run on a 6502 microprocessor as an alternative to BASIC." XPL0 is available under the GNU GPL2. More information at the XPL0 website.

MicroWeb is a web browser for DOS that runs as a 16-bit real mode application and is designed to run on minimal hardware. To run it, you will need at least an 8088 CPU, CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules graphics, network interface, at least 640k memory. Basically, any DOS machine should run this. The latest release is version 2.1, which includes XMS memory support, simple file download support, optimized memory usage, and several bug fixes. Get it from MicroWeb 2.1 on GitHub

Victoria continues to update the FDNPKG command-line network-aware package manager. The newest release includes an updated Kitten library to support multiple languags, and now has / support so you can use more DOS-like command line options. The latest version is at FDNPKG16 releases. Please download and help with testing.

Stefan Mader created a very interesting editor that programmers may find useful: VCode is a Text/Hex-Editor and NC-like file manager for DOS. Stefan notes that it's "not yet optimized for performance or stage space" but it works well on real hardware. The editor runs in graphics mode, so you get a higher resolution, which means more lines of text. And I find it is clear enough for writing code. You can find it at VCode on GitHub