FreeDOS Alpha 5 release (August 10th, 1996) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) REVISED : 08/10/96 ------------------------------------------------------ Original author: James Hall Revised by: Morgan "Hannibal" Toal (01/95) Revised be: Bryon Quackenbush (07/96) Edited by : Bill "Bearheart" Weinman (07/96) TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- SECTION 1: WHAT IS FREE-DOS? 01: What is Free-DOS ? 02: What is the GNU General Public License (GPL) ? 03: Why is Free-DOS released as freeware? what's the catch ? 04: Is "Free-DOS" the same as "PD DOS" ? 05: What software comes with Free-DOS ? 06: Will Free-DOS be the same as MS-DOS ? 07: Will Free-DOS run all my old DOS software ? 08: Will Free-DOS run under Windows, OS/2, Linux, etcetera ? 09: Will Free-DOS be multitasking like UNIX and Windows ? 10: Who is in charge of Free-DOS ? SECTION 2: GETTING THE LATEST FREE-DOS INFORMATION 11: What is the latest version of Free-DOS and its support utilities ? 12: Where can I get the latest Free-DOS information and Software ? 13: I would like to help with the programming, what should I do ? 14: How can I add my own utilities to Free-DOS ? 15: Can I use the Free-DOS source code for my own software ? SECTION 3: The Free-DOS kernel sub-project 16: What is the Free-DOS kernel? and why do I need it ? 17: Who is in charge of the Kernel, and how do I contact him ? 18: What is the latest version of the kernel ? 19: How can I learn more about the Free-DOS Kernel ? 21: Why do you keep referring to the kernel as the DOS-C kernel ? SECTION 4: The Free-DOS command shell sub-project 22: What is the Free-DOS command shell? and why do I need it ? 23: Who is in charge of the command shell, and how do I contact him ? 24: What is the latest version of the command shell ? 25: Why did you take some of the commands out of COMMAND.COM ? SECTION 5: The Free-DOS Utilities sub-project 26: What are the Free-DOS utilities? and why do I need them ? 27: Who is in charge of the Utilities, and how do I contact him ? 28: What utilities are shipped with Free-DOS ? 29: What is the latest version for each utility ? +------------------------------+ | SECTION 1: WHAT IS FREE-DOS? | +------------------------------+ 01: What is Free-DOS? --------------------- The Free-DOS project is the result of hundreds of hours of work on the part of many programmers, developers, testers, and other people across the world to combine their efforts in creating the world's first 100% free, and fully MS-DOS compatible operating system for x86 based IBM PC's and compatible clones. One of the prime objectives of Free-DOS is to be able to work on every x86 processor available, from 8088 processors to 686/Pentium Pro Processors. This is especially important since most operating systems are continuing to move further away from older processors, whereas in many countries around the world, these same older processor computers are in wide use, and will continue to be for many years to come. In addition to this support for earlier computers, Free-DOS is being released under the GNU General Public License, which means that not only will there never be any charges to use Free-DOS, but all of the source will be included with it, and users will be encouraged to make improvements to the software, and to share those with other Free-DOS users. 02: What is the GNU General Public License (GPL)? -------------------------------------------------- The GNU General Public License has been written and sponsored by the Free Software Foundation Inc. Whereas most software licenses take away the user's rights, the GPL enhances them, by providing the means to freely share and distribute software both in executable, and source code form, to allow you to distribute it, as well as change it as you see fit, or even use it for your own free software projects. It also prevents others from taking away your rights for software released under the GPL. A complete copy of this license is usually available with any free software, including the Free-DOS software, which is released using this license. You can download a copy of the GPL from the Free-DOS web site, or directly from FSF. 03: Why is Free-DOS released as freeware? what's the catch? ----------------------------------------------------------- There is no catch to Free-DOS, It is released 100% free of charge! There is not now, nor shall there ever be, any type of fees required to purchase, register, or in any other way pay for the use of Free-DOS, the source code, and the utilities provided with Free-DOS. The only stipulation is that if you make changes and modifications to Free-DOS, you share those changes with everyone else. This is just one way of demonstrating how people across the world can get together, and share information and ideas, without always having to have a price tag waving over there heads. 04: Is "Free-DOS" the same as "PD DOS"? --------------------------------------- Since the project's inception back in 1988, it has gone through many development stages and a number of names. According to Morgan Toal, Free-DOS was originally called "PD DOS", but this name has been dropped to make the important distinction between public domain and free. X-DOS was another name that Free-DOS had in one of its early incarnations. 05: What software comes with Free-DOS? --------------------------------------- Free-DOS is meant to be a fully operational MS-DOS compatible operating system, designed from the ground up. There are 3 major sections to the Free-DOS project, each with it's own coordinator. The Kernel (DOS-C), the command interpreter (COMMAND.COM), and the supporting utilities. Each of these areas are explained in more detail in their own sections of this FAQ. 06: Will Free-DOS be the same as MS-DOS? ----------------------------------------- Free-DOS would not be very useful if it were not compatible with MS-DOS. While there may be some subtle differences in commands between Free-DOS and MS-DOS, these are intended as enhancements, and should not affect compatibility. DOS-C kernel used by Free-DOS is planned to be 100% compatible with MS-DOS at the most fundamental level. 07: Will Free-DOS run all my old DOS software? ---------------------------------------------- Because the DOS-C kernel will be 100% MS-DOS compatible, the answer is yes . . . eventually. 08: Will Free-DOS run under Windows, OS/2, Linux, etcetera? ----------------------------------------------------------- Yes. In general, Free-DOS will run under any DOS-compliant environment, be it Linux DOSEMU, OS/2, Windows NT, etc. When running under another system, you may need to skip the 1st layer (the kernel), and start by running the command processor (COMMAND.COM). 09: Will Free-DOS be multitasking like UNIX and Windows? -------------------------------------------------------- It is not currently in the scope of the Free-DOS project to provide a multi-tasking environment. Whereas the project is not yet cast in stone, we feel it is most important to achieve 100% compatibility with MS-DOS before adding new functionality. OTOH, if someone were to come forward with the knowledge and ability to add multi-tasking support to the DOS-C kernel, while still ensuring full compatibility with all of the Intel processors-- including 8088's and 286's--it would be strongly considered for a future release. 10: Who is in charge of Free-DOS ? ---------------------------------- Nobody, and everybody. Free-DOS is an international and cooperative project. In order to avert chaos and mass confusion among source code updates and releases, a few people have been recognized by the rest of the Free-DOS developers as 'coordinators', these people have volunteered there time and effort to help keep Free-DOS development together, and keep the project moving smoothly, as well as to make sure that the latest components of each project are collected, that bug reports and other feedback are forwarded to the proper individuals, and to make sure things move smoothly. Morgan "Hannibal" Toal is currently acting as the overall project coordinator, as each sub-project has a development coordinator. There names, and e-mail addresses are listed below : Morgan "Hannibal" Toal - Free-DOS Project Coordinator freedos@sunsite.unc.edu (Free-DOS account) mtoal@arctic.nsbsd.k12.ak.us (Personal account) Bryon Quackenbush - Utilities Development Coordinator odo@cris.com (Personal account) Tim Norman - Command shell Development Coordinator normat@rpi.edu (Personal account) Pat Villani - DOS-C Kernel Development Coordinator patv@iop.com (Personal account) +------------------------------------------------------+ | SECTION 2: GETTING THE LATEST FREE-DOS INFORMATION | +------------------------------------------------------+ 11: What is the latest version of Free-DOS and it's support utilities ? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- As of the time of the time of the writing of this FAQ, The latest full release of Free-DOS, the command shell, and kernel is the Alpha-5 release. It is important to note that because Free-DOS is still in Alpha development, it should not be expected to be fully operational. You should expect a number of bugs with the software. If you find them, please report them so we can fix them. That is the main reason for Alpha releases. If you are looking for a 100% operational, and bug free operating system, you may wish to delay your use of Free-DOS until a later release. The latest version of the DOS-C kernel is 0.91a. The latest version of the command shell is 0.61. Each individual utility has it's own version number, and may have been updated since it was included with Free-DOS. You should check the below listed WWW and FTP sites for the very latest versions. 12: Where can I get the latest Free-DOS information and Software ? ------------------------------------------------------------------ The latest copies of the Free-DOS software, the source code, the FAQ, the documentation, project status reports, and much more information, including the latest versions of the individual utilities, can be downloaded from any of our WWW or FTP sites: WWW Sites : http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/micro/pc-stuff/FreeDOS FTP Sites : ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/micro/pc-stuff/FreeDOS In addition, Announcements as well as the latest versions of the Free-DOS FAQ are periodically posted in the following news groups: alt.2600 comp.os.msdos.misc comp.os.msdos.programmer alt.msdos.programmer Discussion will also take place in these newsgroups. Feel free to contribute your opinions. 13: I would like to help with the programming, what should I do ? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The first thing you should do, if you haven't already, is to visit the Free-DOS web site, and read all of the available information on the current project status. Also being sure to visit the Free-DOS developers page, and view the document on Free-DOS coding policies, and the GNU General Public License. The coding standards document is not intended to be "carved in stone," but more as a general guideline to help insure that Free-DOS will be a professional, intuitive, and integrated operating system, as opposed to a bunch of random utilities thrown together in a .ZIP file. It is preferred that code be written in ANSI C. The only other items that are viewed as essential are: 1) that the source you contribute be protected under the GNU General Public License, and 2) that the /? option will be reserved to generate a complete usage statement for the program. Then take a moment to mail to: freedos@sunsite.unc.edu . . . and let us know what you're interested in working on, if there is no one else currently working on that project, then congratulations, you are a Free-DOS volunteer. If there is already someone working on that part of the system, your request will be forwarded to the individual who is currently heading up work on that project, and you will be able to coordinate efforts together from there. 14: How can I add my own utilities to Free-DOS ? ------------------------------------------------ If you feel that there is a useful utility that you would want to see in an operating system , and it does not currently exist in Free-DOS, and you feel you can program it, then you should send a letter to us at freedos@sunsite.unc.edu Tell us about what you want to contribute, and how you plan on do it, we will give you the green light if we feel it would be beneficial to the project as a whole. Even if it is not accepted to be in the free-DOS distribution files, you will be more than welcome to include it in our extended free-DOS utilities library, to be included with a possible future CD-ROM release of free-DOS. No matter what, your project will have to meet a few basic requirements. We would expect that your project be licensed under the GNU GPL policies. As part of this, you would also have to be willing to release your source code to share with others. Also, we would request that your project be programmed in C. ASM is acceptable, but only when necessary. Read the section on CODING on the Free-DOS web site for more information. 15: Can I use the Free-DOS source code for my own software ? ------------------------------------------------------------ That depends. The GNU GPL license is very specific about this. The license allows you to use segments of source code from the Free-DOS project in your own programming projects as long as the following conditions are met : a) Your software is released as free software under the GNU GPL license, and b) you follow all of the same guidelines laid out for software under the GNU GPL license, including the free distribution of the software's source code, and c) you identify in your copyright notice that the software is released under the GNU GPL license, as well as provide a copy of the license to your end users so they know about the rights that they have. You will probably want to review the GNU GPL license in full before proceeding. +----------------------------------------------+ | SECTION 3: The Free-DOS kernel sub-project | +----------------------------------------------+ 16: What is the Free-DOS kernel? and why do I need it? ------------------------------------------------------- In a nutshell, everything that happens from the moment you turn your computer on, to the point where control is passed to your command interpreter (COMMAND.COM) is controlled by the KERNEL. Additionally, the KERNEL provides services to the command shell and most other software you run. When you type SYS to make a new system disk, MS-DOS places 'system' files onto your disk, this is where the kernel is stored. In order to let Free-DOS be fully self-sufficient, an MS-DOS compatible kernel has been developed from the ground up by the Free-DOS project. 17: Who is in charge of the Kernel, and how do I contact him? -------------------------------------------------------------- Pat Villani is the Kernel development coordinator, as well as the head programmer. It is mainly due to his efforts that Free-DOS has a kernel. He is largely responsible for the programming of all of the Kernel Support files. Pat can be reached at the following E-mail address : Pat Villani You can also visit his web site at : http://www.iop.com/~patv/ 18: What is the latest version of the kernel ? ---------------------------------------------- The latest version of Pat Villani's DOS-C kernel is 0.91a. For the very latest version, and for late breaking-news and other information, you should check out the free-DOS web site often. 19: How can I learn more about the Free-DOS Kernel ? ---------------------------------------------------- For those who wish to learn the insides and out of the DOS-C/Free-DOS Kernel, Pat Villani, programmer of the Kernel is in the process of writing a book which in-depth describes the inner workings of a kernel, specifically the DOS-C kernel. This book is expected to be available in the fall of 1996. Watch the news groups, or check the web site for the latest information on this book, including it's exact release date, and how you can reserve your copy. 20: Why won't my software run under the Free-DOS kernel ? --------------------------------------------------------- Most likely, it is a bug. Please report all bugs to Pat directly or to freedos@sunsite.unc.edu so that we can fix them. Because the kernel is still in alpha development, there will probably be a lot of them, and a number or programs may not run correctly. We are currently trying to compile a list of programs that do not work, so we can update the kernel to work with them. 21: Why do you keep referring to the kernel as the DOS-C kernel ? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Pat Villani had originally planned on his kernel to be offered on it's own, but as the Free-DOS project got started, he agreed to allow us to use his kernel. In return, the users of Free-DOS will assist in the wide degree of testing that is required to develop the kernel. The kernel is callsed DOS-C because it is written totally in C, as opposed to the traditional ASM, this making programming and updating of the kernel much easier, and faster. For more information on this, you should read Pat's new book about his kernel. +-----------------------------------------------------+ | SECTION 4: The Free-DOS command shell sub-project | +-----------------------------------------------------+ 22: What is the Free-DOS command shell? and why do I need it ? -------------------------------------------------------------- If you have ever used MS-DOS, and have found yourself faced with something that looked like C:\>, then you have found yourself in the command shell. The command shell sits between the kernel and all of the rest of the software you will run on your computer. Not only does the command shell allow you to run other software, it also serves to provide several basic, and general system and disk management serves such as tools to make, remove, and move around directories and files on your hard drives and floppy drives, as well as a way to control device drivers and other system tools. The command shell also manages the environment variables which other programs can use to be able to know important information about the system. 23: Who is in charge of the command shell, and how do I contact him ? --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tim Norman is currently the command shell development coordinator. And, although several people have assisted in it's development, Tim is the one who has done most of the programming work, and knows the most about the command shell. Tim can be reached for question, comments, and suggestions at the following address : Tim Norman You can also visit his web site at : http:\\www.rpi.edu\~normat\ 24: What is the latest version of the command shell ? ----------------------------------------------------- The latest version of the command shell as of this FAQ is 0.61. You should check the Free-DOS WWW site for the most recent version of the shell, as well as other important news about the command shell. 25: Why did you take some of the commands out of COMMAND.COM ? -------------------------------------------------------------- We separated a bunch of the traditionally-internal commands into separate programs for easier maintenance and easier bug-fixes. The downside is longer execution time. This does not mean that your batch files will fail to work. +--------------------------------------------------+ | SECTION 5: The Free-DOS Utilities sub-project | +--------------------------------------------------+ 26: What are the Free-DOS utilities? and why do I need them ? ------------------------------------------------------------- The Free-DOS utilities are a collection of programs which are meant to enhance the use and efficiency of the rest of the Free-DOS operating system. if you have ever used the FORMAT command, or MEM, TREE, or any of the other many programs located in your \DOS directory, you have used an MS-DOS utility. The Free-DOS utilities are basically the same thing with three major differences. 1) in most cases, they provide more features and support than their MS-DOS counterparts. 2) each utility is also provided free, and with full source under the GNU General Public License. and 3) unlike most of there MS-DOS counterparts, with almost all of the free-DOS utilities, you can directly contact the author for tech support, and continue to get new utility updates. Try contacting the author of MS-DOS's FDISK command for support. ;^) 27: Who is in charge of the Utilities, and how do I contact him ? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Free-DOS utilities are a collection of software from many different contributing authors. It is beyond the scope of this FAQ to list them all, but a complete list, as well as the latest versions, and author E-mail address is available from the free-DOS web site, or in the file STATUS.TXT which is packed with the Free-DOS releases. Bryon Quackenbush has been serving in the position of Development coordinator, and has been working to make sure that, among other things, the latest versions of all Free-DOS utilities are kept current, and that the various utility authors get the proper bug reports. You can contact Bryon at the following E-mail Address : Bryon Quackenbush 28: What utilities are shipped with Free-DOS ? ---------------------------------------------- Many of the same utilities that you are familiar with from MS-DOS, and other MS-DOS compatible OS's are also included with Free-DOS, there are also several other utilities that are not normally included with MS-DOS. Here is a short list of all most of the utilities that are packaged in Free-DOS's main distribution... ATTRIB, ASSIGN, BIN2C, BWBASIC, CHKDSK, CLSX, COMP, COPY, C_LOCK DB, DMAKE, DUALMON, EMACS, EMU86, EXE2BIN, FD, FDISK, FDXMS, FIN, FIPS FORMAT, FREE, HELP, JZCHKDSK, K3PLUS, LABEL, LOADHI, MAESTRO, MAP20, MC-SWAP MICROC, MKDIR, MODE, MSGLIB, NEWLIB, PART, PG, PUSHD, REAWRI, RMDIR, SHAREEXT, SHEXTCTL, SORT, SPOOL, SWSUBST, SYSINFO, TDSK, TOUCH, TOUCH XFDBOOT, XMS, XZIP To learn more about these and other included utilities, to find out there latest version, user information, bugs, and other related material, please check out the Free-DOS web site. 29: What is the latest version for each utility ? ------------------------------------------------- It is beyond the scope of this FAQ to list specific information on every utility. You should refer to the STATUS.TXT file included with free-DOS, or for up-to-the-minute information, visit our Web site.