It was 32 years ago today (June 29, 1994) that I announced what became the FreeDOS Project.
If you'd like to see where things started, I have shared a copy of the Alpha5 and Beta1 "distributions" on Ibiblio: https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/pre-1.0/ Note that Alpha5 didn’t have a kernel yet, it’s just a collection of free DOS tools. You need to have a minimal DOS bootable C: drive (I created a small disk image and booted it with FreeDOS 1.4, and did SYS C: to make it bootable with a command.com shell) and install from there. You need to copy the disk contents to separate floppies, and run the installer from the C: drive (like the C:\INST directory). Beta1 included a kernel, but not a bootable floppy to start with. That means you need to start with a minimal DOS bootable C: drive (see above) and install from there. Copy the disk contents to separate floppies, and run the installer from the C: drive. Afterwards, you can use the BAT file in the KERNEL directory to make a floppy bootable. Optionally, you can also boot from the floppy and SYS the C: drive, so the C: drive can boot itself. It's really interesting to go back in time to see these early releases. Things were working at a basic level, but it was enough to get the ball rolling. Download and try them out! _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
