Re: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

[Jürgen Wondzinski via Freedos-user]

Hi Jim,
Maybe I can add some tidbits to the “great apps in DOS” saga :=)

I was technical head of “ProLib Software GmbH” at that time. As a Software 
house with up to 40 programmers, we have been a prominent provider for DOS 
development with Microsoft FoxPro, as well as doing training and coaching for 
other companies.   We had lots of programs, which have been used in companies 
of any size. FoxPro/DOS was THE tool for building datacentric applications, 
running first on DOS, then MAC, Linux and later Windows. Regardless if it was 
Cash registers, Merchandise Management, Insurances, Manufacturing: if it needed 
fast data access, then FoxPro was the best tool. And it supported any screen 
resolution with up to 132x60 and any memory provider (EMS, XMS, DPMI).  I 
remember using a tool named “UltraVision” to get the highest Row/Line numbers 
with special crafted fonts (I still have the diskettes, but no serial# anymore )

Even the U.S. Defense Department used FoxPro/DOS to do their worldwide 
logistics and Deployment planning. That thingy was called JFAST and attending 
DevCon sessions about that “app” was one of those jawdropping experiences.  A 
short glimpse can be found here: 
http://portal.dfpug.de/dFPUG/Dokumente/Slideshows/VfpInAction98.pps.  I have a 
private videotape about one of those Devcon sessions from 1993, if you’re 
interested: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AujNq3xu6Q4_nqAarHJRuOev_Xo3cQ?e=hbby6F

Another one was “Countrywide Financial” in USA, the biggest DOS-based FoxPro 
application worldwide, serving many millions of mortgages. That company was 
bought by Bank Of America in 2008 just because of that software, for 4 billion 
$ (in European speak: 4 Milliards). They had hundreds of IT personal to manage 
that beast; and later failed several times to port it to Java due to it’s 
immense options and volume.

Everyone knows about the “Chunnel”, the canal tunnel between France and 
England. They used FoxPro/DOS, because it was the only tool to manage the huge 
amount of data coming in from all those sensors in the tunnel and store it in 
several databases (with 128Gb total it was the biggest database worldwide 
managed in FoxPro tables) for later analysis.

Could go on for hours here :=)

With kind regards from Bavaria

Jürgen Wondzinski
Visual FoxPro Evangelist
Microsoft "Most Valuable 
Professional" from 1996 to 2009, 
"Servoy Valued Professional“ 2011
My XING Profile, and 
LinkedIn and 
Facebook and 
Twitter and…..
GCS d+ s:+ a+++ C++ !U P--- L E? W++ N++ o-- K--? w+++ O? !M--? V-- PS PE !Y? 
!PGP t 5 X R tv- b DI+ D? G e++ h-- r+++ y+++




Von: Jim Hall via Freedos-user 
Gesendet: Montag, 25. Dezember 2023 05:34
An: Discussion and general questions about FreeDOS. 

Cc: Jim Hall 
Betreff: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

I'm thinking about doing a video that shows how to do real work on DOS. I 
sometimes see comments on YouTube with people asking "could you really do 
*work* with DOS?" And the answer is of course you can, that happened every day.
___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

[Robin E. Douglas via Freedos-user]

I have lDOSBox on my tablet with WordPerfect loaded so I can always keep
one copy of on going documents.  I always liked WP and a modern version on
my main system.

On Sun, Dec 24, 2023 at 11:34 PM Jim Hall via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> I'm thinking about doing a video that shows how to do real work on DOS. I
> sometimes see comments on YouTube with people asking "could you really do
> *work* with DOS?" And the answer is *of course you can, that happened
> every day.*
>
> So I'm collecting a list of things you'd do in the 80s and 90s with DOS to
> do work. Sure, I'll put a game it two in there, but I'm focusing on getting
> work done.
>
> What programs or types of programs would you like to see?
>
> __
>
> **For myself:*
> *I've done some videos about DOS apps, but nothing like "here's how I did
> everyday work." When I think back to my 1980s and 1990s (especially the
> early 90s) I think of my time at university as a physics undergrad. So
> that's a spreadsheet and a word processor for sure. Probably make a simple
> chart then include that chart in a "lab report" document (or at least leave
> room in the document to print it when I print on a dot matrix printer).
> Probably a dialup terminal to talk to the uni committee lab? File manager.
> And a compiler to write my own tools.*
>
> *The only difference is for the video I'll try to highlight FreeDOS distro
> tools as much as possible, like Doszip for the file manager. *
> ___
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>
___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

[Chris Date via Freedos-user]

I did a lot of programming on DOS, both professionally and for pleasure.
 Clipper databases, the descendent of dBase, was the day job.  I
learned C programming, starting with the Microsoft compilers Quick C and
MSVC, moving on to various other compilers.

Wordperfect 5.1 was in use every day, along with the WordPerfect Editor
for programming and other plain text files.  Lotus 1-2-3 was used all
the time because I developed and taught classes in it.  Creating a
sophisticated 1-2-3 spreadsheet (lots of macros) for a major company was
my first job when I started my own business.

A huge help to me was DesqView, enabling me to switch between text
editor, compiler and command line, all open at the same time.  I've
never used an IDE since.

  Chris


___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

[EdzUp via Freedos-user]

Hi,
  I remember using Turbo Pascal and Turbo C back in the day (still use it
now), also Lotus 123 and Dbase 3 :)

Ah the memories :)

Still use Turbo C++ 3 as it's output is faster than open watcom C's
compiled code.

-Ed
EdzUp


On Mon, 25 Dec 2023, 04:34 Jim Hall via Freedos-user, <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote:

> I'm thinking about doing a video that shows how to do real work on DOS. I
> sometimes see comments on YouTube with people asking "could you really do
> *work* with DOS?" And the answer is *of course you can, that happened
> every day.*
>
> So I'm collecting a list of things you'd do in the 80s and 90s with DOS to
> do work. Sure, I'll put a game it two in there, but I'm focusing on getting
> work done.
>
> What programs or types of programs would you like to see?
>
> __
>
> **For myself:*
> *I've done some videos about DOS apps, but nothing like "here's how I did
> everyday work." When I think back to my 1980s and 1990s (especially the
> early 90s) I think of my time at university as a physics undergrad. So
> that's a spreadsheet and a word processor for sure. Probably make a simple
> chart then include that chart in a "lab report" document (or at least leave
> room in the document to print it when I print on a dot matrix printer).
> Probably a dialup terminal to talk to the uni committee lab? File manager.
> And a compiler to write my own tools.*
>
> *The only difference is for the video I'll try to highlight FreeDOS distro
> tools as much as possible, like Doszip for the file manager. *
> ___
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>
___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user

Re: [Freedos-user] What DOS programs represent the 1980s and early 90s?

[Walter Oesch via Freedos-user]

I did not catch how to do LPT interrupt, real and protected mode. It would
be a great help if there is an example.
I work with watcom and realized it, but only once, then the ISR is never
called again.
May be LPT is not very often used.

Freundliche Grüsse
Walter Oesch

Walter Oesch
Erlenweg 12
3806 Bönigen
www.webdesign-oesch.ch
Tel: 033 822 22 75
Mobile: 076 382 55 58

[image: Mailtrack]

Sender
notified by
Mailtrack

25.12.23,
08:54:41

Am Mo., 25. Dez. 2023 um 05:36 Uhr schrieb Jim Hall via Freedos-user <
freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net>:

> I'm thinking about doing a video that shows how to do real work on DOS. I
> sometimes see comments on YouTube with people asking "could you really do
> *work* with DOS?" And the answer is *of course you can, that happened
> every day.*
>
> So I'm collecting a list of things you'd do in the 80s and 90s with DOS to
> do work. Sure, I'll put a game it two in there, but I'm focusing on getting
> work done.
>
> What programs or types of programs would you like to see?
>
> __
>
> **For myself:*
> *I've done some videos about DOS apps, but nothing like "here's how I did
> everyday work." When I think back to my 1980s and 1990s (especially the
> early 90s) I think of my time at university as a physics undergrad. So
> that's a spreadsheet and a word processor for sure. Probably make a simple
> chart then include that chart in a "lab report" document (or at least leave
> room in the document to print it when I print on a dot matrix printer).
> Probably a dialup terminal to talk to the uni committee lab? File manager.
> And a compiler to write my own tools.*
>
> *The only difference is for the video I'll try to highlight FreeDOS distro
> tools as much as possible, like Doszip for the file manager. *
> ___
> Freedos-user mailing list
> Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
>
___
Freedos-user mailing list
Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user