As far as I know, there is a Linux version of Real Audio that can play .ram
files. So you don't need Windblows.
> DOS is dead. Live with it. Having a rough time with the fact, myself.
If DOS is dead, CP/M should have been dead a long time ago. I was amazed by the
activity in newsgroup comp.os.cpm. In contrast, there is less than one message
per day average on comp.os.msdos.mail-news.
>Power users need info. There aren't DOS apps for gathering it as it
>exists now, much less as it will be offered in 6 or 12 months. Witness
>all the technical documents in .pdf . Can't read it with GhostScript
>(Which, by the way, is largely considered unbuildable in DOS for current
>versions). Converted to .txt, the tables and diagrams are meaningless.
>Even the most enterprising DOS-only user can't WRITE a pdf reader
>because the spec needed to do it can't be read in DOS.
Is the spec a .pdf file?
One concern I have regarding DOS is whether it will be able to keep up with new
technologies, such as USB and IEEE-1394 aka FireWire. I think DOS is already
unable to see anything past the 8 GB point on hard disks. Anything for DVD?
There was a reference on the FreeDOS Web site to a commercial software support
for USB in DOS. There is apparently no XFree86 port to DOS. There is a
commercial X-Appeal X Window System for DOS costing $199 + shipping. Clearly
much more cost-effective than buying softwares like these is a set of Linux or
FreeBSD CDs. Open-source software is easier to come by for Linux and the BSDs
than for DOS. Net-Tamer seems unable to compete on a large scale with
open-source Unix Internet applications.
Caldera doesn't seem to want to go further with DR-DOS, but they keep it as a
money-maker for embedded systems. DOS for embedded systems doesn't have to read
.pdf files, access USB or IEEE-1394 devices, or run big Web browsers.
>DOS is all I have. Viewing the current alternatives for OSes that have
>apps capable of using the unfortunate current data formats, I might
>simply choose to stay uninformed.
There are a lot of people who still don't have home computers.
