I tried it for a while on an XT and also on a newer machine (P-120, I think?). Back then, I found it an interesting project but not ready for being a daily driver. I think on the XT, I even had trouble getting it
to boot. There were some neat utilities that one could get separately that would work with MS-DOS, and I did (probably still do) use those.

there is floppy installer for FreeDOS
i am having issues booting up ms-dos 4.00 source coded on my fast 286

These days, the dosemu install on my linux box, in which I am entering this message), boots and runs FreeDOS.

nice! <3

--mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

... Error, no Keyboard - Press F1 to Continue.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)

│ i am having issues booting up ms-dos 4.00 source coded on my fast 286 └─[M=>MP]

I am not too surprised. As I recall, the MS-DOS 4.x family was a little
buggy. The only system I ever saw it on was a 386sx. I assume it would
work on an older machine.

Mike

##Mmr 2.61ß. !link M 7-03-24 1:16
---
■ BgNet 1.0ß12 ≈ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)

│ kermit? dosapp?? sneakernet?
└─[M=>BC]

sneakernet was a term used to describe computers that were "networked"
together by someone carrying a floppy drive from computer A to computer B.
The "sneaker" in sneakernet refers to the shoes that the person carrying
the floppy might be wearing. ;)

1994-96, I worked at a plant that used PCs for data entry (they may have
been 286s!), a PC that ran a "Baby-36" environment on top of DOS 5.0,
another stand-alone PC that ran a custom number-crunching application on
top of DOS, and an AS-400.

The data entry PCs were networked together (via I assume ethernet) so that
one data entry clerk could verify the work of another. Once the data was entered and verified, it was written to 3.5 floppy and sneakernetted to
either the Baby-36 or the AS-400 for processing.

Data between the Baby-36 and the AS-400 was also sneakernetted, as was data to/from the "number-crunching" PC to the Baby-36 and the AS-400.

Sneakernetting has some advantages... like not needing to figure out how to
get mostly uncompatable systems networked together... but there was always
the risk of a floppy going bad.

Now, why they didn't try to get the custom program ported from the "number-crunching" PC to the more efficient AS-400 I will never know. All
I can figure was that it was proprietary and probably no longer supported.
Data entring info into that PC was done by one person, so it was not verified, and was tedious. Most of it was done by someone in data processing -- me -- and not the faster, more accurate data entry clerks.

It would spend hours crunching, and you'd likely not know you'd made an
error until the data had already been processed through one of the other
two systems, the Baby 36 or AS-400, and had been reflected on a report that
a member of management had looked at the next morning.

It had to be done all over again, from scratch. Unlike on the data entry network, batches keyed into that abysmal machine could not be reopened for correction. IIRC, you even had to restore everything from a backup first before starting over.

I was glad I got laid off from that job. ;)

Mike

##Mmr 2.61ß. !link M 7-03-24 2:26
---
■ BgNet 1.0ß12 ≈ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)

│ kermit? dosapp?? sneakernet?
└─[M=>BC]

I meant to mention kermit in the previous message but got long-winded.

Kermit is a file transfer protocol that some BBS packages support. It is
also a terminal program that a lot of people use to access centralized computers.

From 1988-93, I worked in a library at a university. We used the Kermit ternimal to access the university's central computer system, which hosted the library's electronic catalog and checkout system, as well as the university wide email system. Some more curious individuals also figured out that
you could use Kermit it to access the central computer and, from there, the wider internet and play MUD games or read usenet news. ;)

Most of the actual checkout terminals, and the catalog lookup terminals
used by patrons, were dumb terminals, but the DOS PCs in the office areas used Kermit to access the network.

IIRC, we also used Kermit to access the university's VAX system.

At home, I would use my BBS dialout terminal software, GT Power, to dial
into the university system. It didn't interface too well, so I would shell
out once the connection was made and fire up Kermit. It would connect to
the university system via the dial-up connection I had made.

I never knew if the "central computer" was a mainframe or was another application running on the VAX.

After working there, and the place with the sneakernet, I got a job
programming on a mainframe. We did not use Kermit to access it. We used
an application called Attachmate, I think. It reminded me of Kermit except
it was windows-native and had some extra functions I don't remember Kermit having.

Mike

##Mmr 2.61ß. !link M 7-03-24 2:26
---
■ BgNet 1.0ß12 ≈ moe's tavern * 1-502-875-8938 * moetiki.ddns.net:27
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (21:1/175)