• Dos Ain't Dead

    From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to All on Wed Jul 17 10:36:02 2024
    DOS ain't dead
    ==============
    By K.G. Orphanides.
    Posted Feb, 2024

    The last stand-alone version of MS-DOS was released in 1994, so you
    might be surprised to know that a commercial DOS game came out on
    Steam in 2023. Hadrosaurus Software's The Aching, is an otherworldly
    horror adventure with 16-colour graphics, an arrow key and text
    parser interface, and hardware support for the Tandy 1000, a PC
    released in 1984. You can play it on Raspberry Pi, or anything else
    that'll run the DOSBox emulator

    No one really uses MS-DOS any more, but the modern, open-source
    FreeDOS ships with every copy of DOSBox, and you've quite probably
    used that. Most modern DOS developers use DOSBox and its forks for
    testing, so they can rapidly spot bugs and iterate solutions.

    The year 2023 in DOS also saw the release of Damien "Cyningstan"
    Walker's stylish Barren Planet, a turn-based, space
    exploitation-themed strategy game in which rival mining corporations
    battle for control of resources, with some of the best four-colour
    CGA graphics we've ever seen. Cyningstan has also released a range of
    tools and libraries to support DOS games development in C, as well as open-sourcing his older games.

    <http://dos.cyningstan.org.uk/downloads/7/barren-planet>

    <https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/magpi.cc/cyningstan>

    Juan J. "Reidrac" Martinez, developed Gold Mine Run! in C and
    cross-compiled from Linux to DOS, using DJGPP to target 32-bit (i386)
    DOS. He also open-sourced the game's code to help other developers.

    <https://git.usebox.net/gold-mine-run/about/>

    But you don't have to use C. Tiny DOS city-builder Demografx was
    developed in Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5, an IDE released in 1990, which
    you can run on Raspberry Pi in DOSBox if you can find a copy.
    Microsoft's more common QBASIC and GW-BASIC languages are no longer
    available, but PC-BASIC is a fully-compatible GW-BASIC interpreter
    you can install on Raspberry Pi, and there's even a GW-BASIC
    extension for Visual Studio Code if you want an IDE.

    <https://coconutpizza.itch.io/demografx>

    <https://github.com/robhagemans/pcbasic>

    There's an entire community of developers making wildly distinct
    games based on ZZT, a 1991 game creation system by Tim Sweeny, now
    CEO of Epic Games. ZZT spawned a vast living ecosystem of DOS games
    like WiL's Galactic Foodtruck Simulator, development tools like
    KevEdit, and modding tools such as Weave.

    <https://museumofzzt.com/>

    <https://stale-meme.itch.io/gfs>

    <https://museumofzzt.com/article/view/232/ closer-look-modern-zzt-editing-with-kevedit/>

    <https://meangirls.itch.io/weave-3>

    There are multiple DOS game jams to encourage would-be developers. In
    2023, we saw the DOS COM jam, the DOS Games June Jam, and the DOS
    Games End of Year Jam.

    <https://itch.io/jam/dos-com-game-jam>

    <https://itch.io/jam/dos-games-june-2023-jam>

    <https://itch.io/jam/dos-games-end-of-year-jam-2023/entries>

    The DOS renaissance still has a way to go before it catches up to the
    C64, ZX Spectrum, and Game Boy development scenes, but the sheer
    range of tools available makes it a very approachable space to
    experiment in. If you want some inspiration, check out this DOS games
    we've created.

    <https://itch.io/c/3884754/dos-games>

    FROM: <https://magpi.raspberrypi.com/articles/dos-aint-dead>
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Ben Collver on Wed Jul 17 10:43:09 2024
    Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: Ben Collver to All on Wed Jul 17 2024 10:36 am

    The last stand-alone version of MS-DOS was released in 1994, so you might be surprised to know that a commercial DOS game came out on Steam in 2023. Hadrosaurus Software's The Aching, is an otherworldly horror adventure

    Is it actually meant to run on DOS? I don't think there's a Steam client for DOS, is there? I'm just curious if it's meant to run on actual DOS, and if so, does Steam let you download files to copy over to a DOS PC? Or does it run in a pre-configured DOSBox? I've seen some old DOS games on Steam that are delivered as a pre-packaged DOSBox setup to run on modern versions of Windows & such.

    Nightfox
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  • From kirkspragg@21:2/150 to Ben Collver on Wed Jul 17 21:47:05 2024
    No one really uses MS-DOS any more, but the modern, open-source

    I use MS Dos 6.22 daily on my 286 on which I loging to my favorite BBS and check the message boards I'm interested in.

    The last stand-alone version of MS-DOS was released in 1994, so you
    might be surprised to know that a commercial DOS game came out on
    Steam in 2023. Hadrosaurus Software's The Aching, is an otherworldly

    Looks like I'll be using it quite a lot over the weekend as I try out the new games you mention.

    Thank you, I really would not have discovered this information myself. How/where did you find it?

    ... On all lasergrams: Don't forget the Zap code.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to kirkspragg on Thu Jul 18 22:16:02 2024
    Re: Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: kirkspragg to Ben Collver on Wed Jul 17 2024 21:47:05
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  • From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to kirkspragg on Thu Jul 18 22:18:12 2024
    Re: Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: kirkspragg to Ben Collver on Wed Jul 17 2024 21:47:05

    Looks like I'll be using it quite a lot over the weekend as I try out the new games you mention.

    Cool! I'd like to read about how it goes for you.

    Thank you, I really would not have discovered this information myself. How/where did you find it?

    Ironically, i was actually searching for an update about the DOS Ain't Dead forum outage, and that's how i found this post.
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  • From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to Nightfox on Thu Jul 18 22:21:42 2024
    Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: Nightfox to Ben Collver on Wed Jul 17 2024 10:43:09

    Is it actually meant to run on DOS? I don't think there's a Steam client for DOS, is there? I'm just curious if it's meant to run on actual DOS, NF> and if so, does Steam let you download files to copy over to a DOS PC?
    Or does it run in a pre-configured DOSBox? I've seen some old DOS
    games on Steam that are delivered as a pre-packaged DOSBox setup to run
    on modern versions of Windows & such.

    I don't use Steam, so i can't say for sure, but from what i read it uses a preconfigured DOSBox, but is able to use the "system" DOSBox if desired.
    This leads me to believe that the files could be copied out of steam and
    onto real DOS hardware.

    https://github.com/dreamer/boxtron

    https://github.com/jazzmind/steamcsv
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  • From mary4@21:1/166 to Ben Collver on Thu Oct 17 01:48:58 2024
    i want moar new dos games!!!!! <3 that can run on a 286!

    --mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

    ... A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. Asks: 'Can I join you?'

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  • From mary4@21:1/166 to kirkspragg on Thu Oct 17 01:51:29 2024
    I use MS Dos 6.22 daily on my 286 on which I loging to my favorite BBS
    and check the message boards I'm interested in.
    i use FreeDOS! on my 286s! <3
    Looks like I'll be using it quite a lot over the weekend as I try out
    the new games you mention.

    yeah!
    Thank you, I really would not have discovered this information myself. How/where did you find it?


    im curious too

    --mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

    ... It said "insert disk #3", but only two will fit...

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)
  • From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to mary4 on Wed Oct 16 10:58:02 2024
    Re: Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: mary4 to Ben Collver on Thu Oct 17 2024 01:48:58

    i want moar new dos games!!!!! <3 that can run on a 286!

    I forgot, have you tried TeamDroid yet?

    gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/game/team-droid/
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  • From Roon@21:4/148 to mary4 on Wed Oct 16 18:59:40 2024
    Hello mary4,

    17 Oct 24 01:48, you wrote to Ben Collver:

    i want moar new dos games!!!!! <3 that can run on a 286!

    https://www.doshaven.eu/

    is a good start :)

    Regards,
    --
    dp

    telnet://bbs.roonsbbs.hu:1212 <<=-

    ... Uptime: 33d 2h 35m 40s
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  • From mary4@21:1/166 to Ben Collver on Sat Oct 19 03:26:46 2024
    I forgot, have you tried TeamDroid yet?

    gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/game/team-droid/
    no never i dont know a gopher client for the 286....

    --mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

    ... This virus requires Microsoft Windows 3.x

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  • From mary4@21:1/166 to Roon on Sat Oct 19 03:27:30 2024
    https://www.doshaven.eu/

    is a good start :)

    thanks mate! <3

    --mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

    ... This virus requires Microsoft Windows 3.x

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)
  • From mary4@21:1/166 to Ben Collver on Thu Oct 31 05:02:30 2024
    no never i dont know a gopher client for the 286....

    Gopherus ought to work on a 286.

    http://gopherus.sourceforge.net/

    thanks mate!

    --mary4 (Victoria Crenshaw) the 286 enthusiast

    ... Redundant book title: DOS For Dummies

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    * Origin: Datanet BBS | telnet://datanetbbs.net:23 (21:1/166)
  • From Toast@21:1/176 to Roon on Fri Nov 1 21:15:09 2024
    https://www.doshaven.eu/

    dos ain't dead.....

    i still maintain a few DOS systems at work for making boot floppies... for old DOS machines (think CNC's and the like)

    and even an os/2 warp 4 machie we bought in 2018....

    crazy it's still relevant in business (industrial) in 2024

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
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  • From Ben Collver@21:2/101 to mary4 on Tue Nov 5 21:47:49 2024
    Re: Re: Dos Ain't Dead
    By: mary4 to Ben Collver on Sat Oct 19 2024 03:26:46

    I forgot, have you tried TeamDroid yet? gopher://tilde.pink/1/~bencollver/files/dos/game/team-droid/

    I found another 286-capable game you might be interested in:

    The Aching

    https://www.dosgameclub.com/the-aching/
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