Comparison of x86 DOS operating systems
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This article details various versions of DOS-compatible operating systems.
Historical and licensing information
Originally MS-DOS was designed to be an operating system that could run on any 8086-family computer. It competed with other Operating Systems written for x86 based computers, such as CP/M-86 and UCSD Pascal .Each computer would have its own distinct hardware and its own version of MS-DOS, similar to the situation that existed for CP/M, and with MS-DOS emulating the same solution as CP/M to adapt for different hardware platforms. So there were many different versions of "MS-DOS" for different hardware. But the greater speed attainable by direct control of hardware was of particular importance, especially when running computer games. So very soon an IBM-compatible architecture became the goal, and before long all 8086-family computers closely emulated IBM's hardware, and a only single version of MS-DOS for a fixed hardware platform was all that was needed for the market. This version is the version of MS-DOS that is discussed here, as all other versions of MS-DOS died out with their system. One version of such a DOS (Z-DOS) is mentioned here, but there were dozens more.
| Name | Creator | Current code owner/maintainer | License | First public release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC DOS 1.0 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1981, August 12 |
| PC DOS 1.1 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1982, May |
| PC DOS 2.0 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1983, March |
| PC DOS 3.0 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1984, August |
| IBM DOS 4.0 (called PC DOS 4.0) | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1988 |
| IBM DOS 5.0 (called PC DOS 5.0) | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1991 |
| PC DOS 6.1, 6.3 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1993 |
| PC DOS 7 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1995 |
| PC DOS 2000 | IBM | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1998 |
| MS-DOS 1.0[1] | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1982 |
| Z-DOS 1.25 | OEM Zenith | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1982, May |
| MS-DOS 2.0 (first version with name of "MS-DOS") | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1983, March |
| MS-DOS 3.0 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1984 |
| MS-DOS 3.2 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1986 |
| DOS 3.27 (similar to PC-DOS 3.20 with minor improvements) | OEM Olivetti | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1986, December 22 |
| MS-DOS 3.3 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1987 |
| MS-DOS 4.0 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1988 |
| MS-DOS 5.0 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1991 |
| MS-DOS 6.0 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1994 |
| MS-DOS 6.22 | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1994 |
| MS-DOS 7.0 (Windows 95A) | Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1995 |
| MS-DOS 7.10 (Windows 95B/OSR2, 95C/OSR2.5, 98, and 98SE) |
Microsoft | No longer supported | Proprietary[2] | 1996 |
| MS-DOS 8.0 (Windows Me)[3] | Microsoft | No longer supported [4] | Proprietary[2] | 2000 |
| DOS Plus 1.2 | Digital Research | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1986 |
| DR-DOS 3.x | Digital Research | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1988 |
| DR-DOS 5 | Digital Research | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1990 |
| DR-DOS 6 | Digital Research | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1991 |
| Novell DOS 7 | Novell | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1993 |
| OpenDOS 7.01 | Caldera Systems | No longer supported | Free for non-commercial use | 1997 |
| DR-OpenDOS 7.02 | Caldera Systems | Not officially supported; maintained by Udo Kuhnt as Enhanced DR-DOS |
Free for non-commercial use | 1997 |
| DR-DOS 7.02 | Caldera Systems | No longer supported | Proprietary | 1998 |
| DR-DOS 7.03 | Caldera Thin Clients/ Lineo |
DR DOS Inc. | Proprietary | 1999 |
| DR-DOS 8.0 | DeviceLogics | No longer supported[5] | Proprietary | 2004 |
| DR-DOS 8.1 | DR DOS Inc. | No longer supported[5] | Proprietary | 2005 |
| FreeDOS 1.0 | Jim Hall | The FreeDOS Project | GPL | 2006 |
| PTS-DOS 32 | PhysTechSoft | PhysTechSoft | Proprietary | ? |
| PTS-DOS 2000 | PhysTechSoft | PhysTechSoft | Proprietary | ? |
| PTS-DOS 2000 PRO | PhysTechSoft | PhysTechSoft | Proprietary | ? |
| ROM-DOS | Datalight | Datalight | Proprietary | 1989 |
Technical specifications
| Name | Max Hard Drive partition size | File systems supported natively | 3.5" Floppy capacities supported natively | 5.25" Floppy capacities supported natively | Integrated disk compression utility? | Long File Names supported natively? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MS-DOS 1.1 | n/a | FAT12 | n/a | 320kB (double-sided) | No | No |
| MS-DOS 2.0 | 10MB | FAT12 | n/a | 360kB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.0 | 32MB | FAT12 | n/a | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.2 | 32MB | FAT12 | 720kB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.3 | 32MB | FAT12 | 720kB, 1.44MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 4.0 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 5.0 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| MS-DOS 6.0 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | DoubleSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 6.22 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | DriveSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 7.0 (Windows 95A) | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | DriveSpace | No (DOSLFN) |
| MS-DOS 7.1 (Windows 95B/OSR2, 95C/OSR2.5, 98, and 98SE) | 124.55GB (with FAT32) | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | DriveSpace for versions of Windows 95, None for Windows 98 | No (DOSLFN) |
| MS-DOS 8.0 (Windows Me)Template:Fn | 124.55GB (with FAT32)[6] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No (DOSLFN) |
| DOS Plus 1.2 | 32MB | FAT12, FAT16, CP/M-86 | n/a | 360kB, 1.2MB, CP/M 320kB | No | No |
| DR-DOS 3.x | 32MB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| DR-DOS 5 | 512Mb | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| DR-DOS 6 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | Super-stor | No |
| Novell DOS 7.0 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| (DR-)OpenDOS 7.0x | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | ? | No |
| DR-DOS 7.03 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | Stacker | No |
| DR-DOS 8.x | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 (buggy ?) | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| FreeDOS 1.0 | 2TB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | ? | No (DOSLFN) |
| PC DOS 1.0 | n/a | FAT12 | n/a | 160kB | No | No |
| PC DOS 6.1 (early version) | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB |
360kB, 1.2MB, |
No | No |
| PC DOS 6.1 with Compression / 6.3 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB |
360kB, 1.2MB, |
SuperStor | No |
| PC DOS 7 / 2000 | 2GB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 1.86MB (XDF), 2.88MB |
360kB, 1.2MB, 1.54MB (XDF) |
Stacker | No |
| PTS-DOS 32 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No (DOSLFN) |
| PTS-DOS 2000 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| PTS-DOS 2000 PRO | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | No |
| ROM-DOS | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 | 720kB, 1.44MB, 2.88MB | 360kB, 1.2MB | No | Yes |
References
- ↑ Doug Conner. "Father of DOS Still Having Fun at Microsoft". Micronews. http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Micronews/paterson04_10_98.htm.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Current understanding has it that if one has a license to run a Windows version, one can also legally install any MS-DOS version up to the level of that Windows' version.
- ↑ MS-DOS 8.0 has most of the functionality of previous versions, but there are significant losses of usability, like: the loss of FORMAT /S command, that can be substituted by formatting HDD/FDD and then copying IO.SYS from CD-boot A: image, as first ever file onto drive; loss of SYS A: (or SYS B:) command for floppies, that can be substituted too in the same way as FORMAT /S; inability to boot to a command prompt without substitution/modification of IO.SYS (other than CD-boot version) and COMMAND.COM. For purpose of booting from C: drive, an unmodified IO.SYS from simulated A: boot diskette image, that is placed on Windows Me OEM CD, from which that CD boots, can be used, and English COMMAND.COM can be modified by replacing in this file at hex offset 00006510 byte 75 by byte EB, or substituted by (now freeware) 4DOS (from which NDOS is derived) http://www.jpsoft.com/download.htm
- ↑ While Windows Me may be unsupported and end-of-life, a version of its underlying DOS is included with Windows XP. When one formats a floppy in Windows XP and selects "Create an MS-DOS startup disk", the floppy is formatted with a DOS version that identifies itself as "Windows Millennium [Version 4.90.3000]".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The entire DR DOS 8 series was pulled from the market after it was discovered that 8.1 code had been lifted from FreeDOS in violation of the GPL license.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 As mentioned at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q184006& Microsoft's KB article 184006 , the limit of 124.55GB for FAT32 partition size is a primarily a limitation of Windows 95/98's 16-bit SCANDISK utility. Other DOS versions supporting FAT32 may allow a larger partition size closer to the theoretical ~8TB maximum suggested by FAT32's specifications (maximum of 268,435,445 clusters times 32 Kb cluster size). Windows 2000 and XP can mount and use a FAT32 partition larger than 32GB, but they cannot natively create one, which according to Microsoft is by design.
See also
- Timeline of x86 DOS operating systems
- List of operating systems
- Comparison of Linux distributions
- Comparison of operating systems
External links
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