Dave W Plummer

Dave W Plummer

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Dave W Plummer

@davepl1968

27 Apr 2024

I worked on MS-DOS, but not this one! Microsoft has open-sourced MS-DOS 4.00 on Github, but it might not be what you think it is. MS-DOS 4.00 was an attempt at a multitasking MS-DOS, but OEMs weren't really interested, and it was only ever in limited release. So it's almost certainly not the one you used back in the day. MS-DOS 4.01, on the other hand, was the one you all know and "love". Actually, it was much maligned. It included the DOSSHELL. People did not love it, as opposed to MS-DOS 5 and 6, which were very well received! More info can be found on Scott Hanselman's site: hanselman.com/blog/open-sour……

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underscor3

BetaWiki retweeted

underscor3 @underscor31

25 Apr 2024

Windows Longhorn Build 4074, the most widely known (and arguably the most usable) build of Longhorn turns 20 years old today

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BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

25 Apr 2024

Did you know? In 1986, Microsoft released a version of MS-DOS which supported preemptive multitasking for compatible applications. This version was called MS-DOS 4.0 and is completely unrelated to the proper, widespread version of MS-DOS 4.0 from 1988!

ALT Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing a "Switch" popup with "COMMAND", "FDISK", "DISKCOPY" and "Start a program" options.

ALT Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing the output of the command `ps -lp` with multiple processes running on the machine.

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more replies

BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

25 Apr 2024

The design of multitasking DOS 4.0 does in fact share some similarities with OS/2. The DOS kernel exports certain APIs via a NE module called DOSCALLS. The process information structure is the same in both systems. They both also handle errors via a resident hard error daemon.

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BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

25 Apr 2024

To end this thread, one Windows component still shipping today can trace its history directly back to multitasking DOS 4.0 - the Command Prompt. cmd.exe was originally ported from OS/2, which in turn is directly based on the DOS 4.0 COMMAND.COM!

ALT The Windows 11 command prompt.

ALT A Windows NT 3.1 pre-release command prompt.

ALT The Microsoft OS/2 1.0 command prompt.

ALT The Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 command prompt.

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BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

25 Apr 2024

RT @luciascarlet: @dm4uz3 why is this how I find out MS-DOS is open-source

BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

23 Apr 2024

look between B and W on your keyboard

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BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

13 Nov 2023

"Just say WOW!" Presenting the Windows NT "WOW Reversi MIPS Demo", currently the earliest available NT build. This build was compiled in early April 1991 as an early demonstration of Win16 apps running under emulation on a non-x86 machine.

"Reversi" from Windows 3.0 running on an early build of Windows NT from April 1991. The pieces are square rather than round, because the graphics subsystem (GDI) is so early that it didn't support drawing circles yet.

ALT "Reversi" from Windows 3.0 running on an early build of Windows NT from April 1991. The pieces are square rather than round, because the graphics subsystem (GDI) is so early that it didn't support drawing circles yet.

ALT The x86 emulator console and output windows.

ALT A dialog box captioned "WOW!", that says "Just say WOW! This 16-bit x86 Windows app brought to you by the MVDM Team"

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BetaWiki

BetaWiki @BetaWiki

13 Nov 2023

Credit goes to @jeffpar for sharing this build, and to @hyenaskyy, @substanc3dev and others for working hard to make this obscure build work in an emulator!

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Travis Goodspeed

BetaWiki retweeted

Travis Goodspeed @travisgoodspeed

4 Sep 2023

Geoff Chappell passed away today on his own terms, surrounded by family and while his good humor remained intact. Please listen to a Beatles record and read a little assembly code in his honor.

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