FreeDOS aims to be a complete, free, 100% MS-DOS compatible operating system.

FreeDOS 1.1 (technotes) On the FreeDOS mailing lists, we've been discussing the directory structure for the planned FreeDOS 1.1 distribution, and for the new Update program. These are now available as technotes: 232: Update Server directory structure, and 233: FreeDOS 1.1 directory structure

Why FreeDOS

FreeDOS is a free DOS-compatible operating system for IBM-PC compatible systems. FreeDOS is made of up many different, separate programs that act as "packages" to the overall FreeDOS Project.

These days, there are three main uses for FreeDOS:

  1. Running classic DOS games
  2. Running business software that only supports DOS
  3. Supporting embedded DOS systems, such as a computerized cash register or till

FreeDOS should run on any standard PC, but if you are new to DOS, we recommend you use a PC emulator to install and boot FreeDOS. You can find PC emulators for all computer platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac.) You can even run FreeDOS using a PC emulator written in Java, right in your web browser!

FreeDOS is open source software; you can view and edit our source code. Most FreeDOS programs are distributed under the GNU General Public License ("GNU GPL"). Because we are open source / Free software, FreeDOS would not exist were it not for all the people who contribute to it. Even if you don't write code, you can help out the FreeDOS Project by submitting comments and bug reports.

We welcome new users to FreeDOS. You can contribute to the FreeDOS Project by downloading our latest release and telling us what you think. We have a bug tracking system that helps you report problems and submit requests, and otherwise tell us how to improve FreeDOS. By participating in the development and debugging process, you help everyone.

Latest News

Updated UPX
2008-05-04 07:21 -
UPX has released a minor update, from 3.02 to 3.03. Changes in 3.03 (27 Apr 2008): * implement cache flushing for PowerPC (esp. model 440) * fix cache flushing on MIPS (>3 MiB compressed, or with holes) * fix MIPS big-endian * bug fixes. Visit http://upx.sf.net/ (or see the mirror at ibiblio.)
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FreeBASIC update
2008-05-04 07:14 -
The FreeBASIC folks have released an update to the 0.18 branch, now version 0.18.5b. Specific issues related to packaging, installation, and running FreeBASIC have been addressed in this release. This is likely to be the last release in the 0.18 series as development continues on in version 0.20. You can get it at http://www.freebasic.net/index.php (also mirrored at ibiblio.)
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YASM 0.7.0 is out
2008-05-04 07:09 -
A few weeks ago. YASM released 0.7.0 of their assembler. Changes from 0.6.2 to 0.7.0: * Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) instruction support. * Multi-section binary support (see #71, #99, [2010]). * Add support for ELF32 and ELF64 TLS (thread local storage) relocations. * Allow use of 0X in addition to 0x to prefix hex constants (#127). * Allow underscores in hex, binary, and octal constants (e.g. 0111_1111b). * Fix memory sizes on SSE/SSE2 instructions (#119). * Allow standalone prefixes (#122). * Simplify new varieties of sym-sym values (#124). * Support SAFESEH directive for win32 SEH handlers (#130). * Enable sym@FOO constructs in GAS parser. * SSE5 condition code support. * Other bugfixes. Download at http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/wiki/Download
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Updated 4DOS
2008-05-04 07:06 -
Lucho has released another updated version of 4DOS (7.63) released May 3. In this version: * If EditMode is not Init*, cursor shape is now reset on hitting Enter * "Warm" REBOOT in DOS now also pulses RESET pin on ATs (still "warm") * If InstallPath is not set, OPTION can now invoke 4HELP (Note: OPTION can't be built yet, so that's only in source). Download version 7.63 at http://4dos.z-bg.com/ (also mirrored at ibiblio.)
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Euphoria for DOS
2008-05-01 13:47 -
Marco Achury writes: "I'm sure Euphoria is the best interpreted language available for DOS today, is under active development, and is really cross platform DOS/Win/Linux. In the 90's I was a QBasic and later user, but now I prefer this language. And if the speed is not good enougth for you, the complete pack includes an Euphoria-to-C translator. So you can write in euphoria and get an optimized .exe program." Euphoria is distributed under a modified MIT license. As there is not an official Euphoria release for DOS (it's included in the Windows installer) Marco has posted a DOS-only zip file of Euphoria that you can download from http://www.geocities.com/marcoachury/eudos/
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OpenWatcom 1.7a (1.7.1)
2008-03-20 09:34 -
Arkady Belousov wrote:"OpenWatcom 1.7a (1.7.1) distributive in .zip archives! Although there is no longer an official distribution of OpenWatcom as a collection of .zip archives after OpenWatcom 1.3, you can download OW 1.7a (1.7.1), and previous releases, as multiple zip files from ibiblio. These archives are prepared by Arkady Belousov, and placed on ibiblio by Jim Hall. Here you will find archives with the same layout as the OW 1.3 distribution, including the files license.txt, readme.txt (short introduction) and descript.ion (archives description file, compatible with FAR Manager, NDOS and 4DOS)." You can find it at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/c/openwatcom/1.7.1/
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Arachne v1.93
2008-03-20 09:29 -
Florian Xaver was the first to point out the new release of Arachne, the web browser for DOS. From the announcement on http://cisnet.com/glennmcc/a193gpl/ : "v193;GPL is essentially Joe's v1.90;J1 with just few small 'tweaks'. Most notably.... dial-up connection info will now be written into LSPPP.CFG for use with LSPPP.EXE as dialer/packet driver. The setup 'wizard' and internal connection setup pages now give the option of choosing MINITERM/EPPPD as dialer/packet driver or LSPPP which is both a dialer and packet driver all-in-one. In addition..... this version also includes quite a few changes 'stolen' from Joe, Ray, Werner & Udo which will also be in Joe's next release. Also included is a new 'help file' written by Christof Lange. (connword.htm)"
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leetIRC v1.1
2008-03-18 09:46 -
Mike Chambers wrote: "i just wanted to let you know that i have written a freeware open-source IRC client for DOS. [...] there are a number of features in it that have never been implemented in any DOS IRC client that i've come across. it supports mirc color codes, has a scrollable log, drop down menus, integrated server list for connecting quickly, full DCC file download support, integrated help function, log files, plus other things... it uses TCPDRV or NTCPDRV with a packet driver to access a network card." Version 1.1 is released under the GNU GPL v3, and you can download it at http://www.rubbermallet.org/mysoftware.html
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Mpxplay v1.56 alfa3 with ftp-client
2008-03-12 08:00 -
Florian Xaver points us to the latest release of MPXplay. From the announcement on the MPXplay forums: "A new Mpxplay version is out. I've implemented an FTP-client (you can see/use an ftp-server like a local drive), but there are some known bugs and missing features yet: - id3-tag editing doesn't work (I think so it will not work, because we can edit the end of a file only: id3v1,apetag editing can work, id3v2 cannot) - playlist handling works paritally only (playlist loading from server works, but saving may have problems) - Mpxplay doesn't see directories of some ftp servers (because the directory structure has no exact standard) - Startup doesn't work in every cases (and saves the username:password in mpxplay.ini!) - the DOS (WATTCP) version is not tested at all (just compiled) - and of course don't wait too much from a 1 Mbit internet connection (but someting is slow in the tcpip protocol of WinXP too)." Obviously, the DOS version needs testers. Download from http://www.freewebtown.com/mpxplay/
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CC386 3.74
2008-03-02 10:43 -
The CC386 project may have released its last version (3.74). CC386 is a general-purpose 32-bit C compiler. It is not an optimizing compiler but the code generation is fairly good. There are two versions: MSDOS/DPMI and Win32. The Win32 version has a full-blown IDE included with it, capable of editing, building, and debugging Windows programs. Debugging in MSDOS is rudimentary at best, and there is no IDE for DOS. From Rugxulo: "It's discontinued because the author [David Lindauer] no longer has time (although he still has interest). Too much "real life" (i.e. job) getting in the way." Best of luck to David, and thanks!The web site http://www.members.tripod.com/~ladsoft/cc386.htm is no longer available, so this 3.74 release has been mirrored at http://rugxulo.googlepages.com/ and at http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/devel/c/cc386/372/
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