>
There is a small problem here:
When I think about a DOS that is nativly 32-bit, multitasking, and
can handle most of the bells and whistles, people tend to ask me
why I cant just move to Linux "because its exactly what you're
describing". Well, its not. I tried, and after I failed I even tried
to force myself, but Linux is absolutly what i'm not expecting from that
system. No, i'm not bashing it - its good. Its just not the thing i'm
describing.
People who do not ask the Why-not-linux question, tend to ask something
else: Will it still be DOS?
Well, it might not be another "MS-DOS clone". But it will be DOS.
Because when I think of an OS I do not tend to automaticly decide
what its hardware confiments will be. As far as I concern, the MacOS
can remain being MacOS even if apple will start running it on PC boxs.
>
There is something close to being a DOS superset that is natively 32-bit,
multitasking, with GUI: OS/2, which was actually 16-bit prior to v2.0. IBM
screwed up on the marketing and on the Internet software. Now Serenity
Systems, an IBM OEM (http://www.serenity-systems.com) is marketing eComStation
(http://www.ecomstation.com), now in a preview edition, which is supposed to be
a successor to OS/2 Warp 4. Now it looks like they're charging $89 extra for
30-day installation support (is that good marketing?!)
http://www.indelible-blue.com/datasheet/ecomstation
Problem with DOS is making memory above 640 KB more difficult to access.
Arachne won't start if low memory is insufficient. But DOS is good for testing
video modes and other hardware capabilities without interference from Windows
device drivers.
So far, DOS only runs on Intel/compatible. MacOS made a successful switch from
68k to PowerPC.
Are there any free or noncommercial DOSes ready for serious business?
Any further development on DR-DOS, or is Caldera just keeping it mainly for
embedded devices?
