FreeDOS： 已经积极开发了 23 年的 DOS
FreeDOS DOS

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> 23 年后，FreeDOS 仍在积极开发，并将 MS-DOS 的生命延长了几年
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![4 cool facts you should know about FreeDOS ](/data/attachment/album/201707/06/093712vsososfamlsatdli.jpg "4 cool facts you should know about FreeDOS ")


在 90 年代早期，我是一位 DOS 的 “资深用户”。我用 DOS 做任何事，甚至写我自己的工具来扩展 DOS 命令行。当然，我们有 Microsoft Windows，但是如果你还记得当时的计算机，Windows 3.1 并不是那么好，我更喜欢在 DOS 中工作。


你可能会理解，在 1994 年，当微软（在科技杂志的采访中）宣布下一个版本的 Windows 将会取消 MS-DOS 时，我感到有些困惑和不安。我想：“如果 Windows 3.2 或 4.0 看起来像 Windows 3.1 一样，我不想用它了。” 我四处选择，并决定如果 DOS 要继续下去的话，那么需要有人创建一个 DOS，在 MS-DOS 消失的时候，让每个人都可以使用它。


因此在 1994 年 6 月 29 日，我在 Usenet 讨论组写了一个信息，宣布了新的 “free DOS” 项目：



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> 几个月前，我发表了一篇关于启动公共领域版本的 DOS 的文章。当时对此的普遍支持是很强烈的，并且很多人同意这个声明，“开始编写！”
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> 所以，我要……
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> 宣布首次尝试制作 PD-DOS。我写了一份描述这样一个项目的目标和工作纲要的“清单”，以及一份“任务清单”，展示了需要编写些什么。我会在这里发贴，让我们进行讨论。
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今天，已经是 23 年之后了，[FreeDOS](https://opensource.com/article/17/6/www.freedos.org) 仍在变得更强大！


我们继续发布有新功能和特性的版本。我们的 FreeDOS 1.2 发布于 2016 年 12 月 25 日，这证明很多人喜欢使用和在 FreeDOS 上工作。当我回顾我们的历史，有一个你应该知道的关于 FreeDOS 的很酷的事实列表：


### 可以立即开始的软件开发


在原始的 DOS 中，很难做任何编程。DOS 提供了一个简单的 BASIC 解释器，一些用户可以用 DEBUG 做些精巧的事情，但是你不能在 DOS 中做真正编程的事情。在 FreeDOS 中，有许多不同的工具做软件开发：编译器、汇编器、调试器、解释器和编写脚本。在你安装 FreeDOS 之后，你可以立即用 C、汇编、Pascal、Perl 和几种其他语言编写代码。


### 浏览 web


DOS 是一个老式系统，并且原本不支持开箱即用的网络。通常，你必须安装硬件的设备驱动程序才能连接到网络，一般是像 IPX 这样的简单网络。只有很少的系统会支持 TCP/IP。


在 FreeDOS 中，我们不仅包含了 TCP/IP 网络栈，我们还包含了让你浏览 web 的工具和程序。使用 Dillo 作为图形 web 浏览体验，或则使用 Lynx 以纯文本形式浏览 web。如果你只想要抓取 HTML 代码并自己操作，使用 Wget 或者 Curl。


### 玩很棒的 DOS 游戏


我们知道很多的人安装 FreeDOS 来玩经典的 DOS 游戏，运行古老的商业程序或者做嵌入式开发。使用 FreeDOS 的许多人只是拿来玩游戏，那对我们来说是件很酷的事，因为一个游戏很老并不意味着它很无趣。DOS 有许多很棒的游戏！安装你最喜欢的经典游戏，你会玩得很开心。


因为有如此多的人使用 FreeDOS 来玩游戏，我们现在包含了不同的 DOS 游戏。FreeDOS 1.2 包含了第一人称射击游戏像 FreeDOOM、街机射击像 Kiloblaster、飞行模拟器像 Vertigo 等等。我们目标是为每人提供一些东西。


### FreeDOS 现在已经比 MS-DOS 活的更久了


微软在 1981 年 8 月发布了 MS-DOS 1.0。13 年之后，微软在 1995 年 8 月发布 Windows 95 后抛弃了 MS-DOS，虽然 MS-DOS 直到 2000 年 9 月之前一直存在。总的来说，MS-DOS 是一件已经存在了 19 年的东西。


我们在 1994 年 6 月宣布了 FreeDOS，并且在同年的 9 月发布了第一个 Alpha 版本。因此 FreeDOS 已经大约有 23 年了，比微软的 MS-DOS 还多了几年。确实我们在 FreeDOS 上努力的时间已经比 MS-DOS 更长了。而 FreeDOS 还将继续保持强大。


FreeDOS 与其他 DOS 另外一个重要的不同是*它仍在开发中*。我们有一个积极的开发者社区，并一直在寻找新人来帮助。请加入社区并帮助构造新的 FreeDOS 版本吧。


（题图： FreeDOS）




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作者简介：


Jim Hall - 我是 FreeDOS 项目的创始人和协调者。我还担任 GNOME 基金董事会董事。在工作中，我是明尼苏达州拉姆齐县的首席信息官。在业余时间，我致力于开源软件的可用性，并通过 Outreachy（之前针对妇女的 GNOME Outreach 项目）指导 GNOME 中的可用性测试。




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via: <https://opensource.com/article/17/6/freedos-still-cool-today>


作者：[Jim Hall](https://opensource.com/users/jim-hall) 译者：[geekpi](https://github.com/geekpi) 校对：[wxy](https://github.com/wxy)


本文由 [LCTT](https://github.com/LCTT/TranslateProject) 原创编译，[Linux中国](https://linux.cn/) 荣誉推出


OK
In the early 1990s, I was a DOS "power user." I used DOS for everything and even wrote my own tools to extend the DOS command line. Sure, we had Microsoft Windows, but if you remember what computing looked like at the time, Windows 3.1 was not that great. I preferred working in DOS.


You might understand that I was a little confused and upset in 1994 when Microsoft announced (via interviews in tech magazines) that the next version of Windows would do away with MS-DOS. I thought, "If Windows 3.2 or 4.0 looks anything like Windows 3.1, I want nothing to do with that." I looked around for options and decided that if DOS was going to continue, someone would have to create a DOS that everyone could use when MS-DOS went away.

So it was on June 29, 1994, that I wrote a message to a Usenet discussion group, announcing a new "free DOS" project:

A few months ago, I posted articles relating to starting a public domain version of DOS. The general support for this at the time was strong, and many people agreed with the statement, "start writing!"

So, I have...

Announcing the first effort to produce a PD-DOS. I have written up a "manifest" describing the goals of such a project and an outline of the work, as well as a "task list" that shows exactly what needs to be written. I'll post those here, and let discussion follow.


Today, it's 23 years later, and [FreeDOS](http://www.freedos.org/) is still going strong!

We continue to make new releases with new functionality and features. Our FreeDOS 1.2 distribution, released on December 25, 2016, is a testament to how many people enjoy using and working on FreeDOS. As I look back over our history, there's a short list of cool facts about FreeDOS you should know:

### Software development right out of the box

With the original DOS, it was difficult to do any coding. DOS provided a simple BASIC interpreter, and some people could do neat things with DEBUG, but you couldn’t really do much programming in DOS. With FreeDOS, there are a bunch of different tools to do software development: compilers, assemblers, debuggers, interpreters, and scripting. After you install FreeDOS, you can immediately start writing code in C, Assembly, Pascal, Perl, and several other languages.

### Browse the web

DOS is an old system and the original didn't support networking out of the box. Typically, you had to install device drivers for your hardware to connect to a network, which was usually a simple network like IPX. Few systems supported TCP/IP.

With FreeDOS, not only do we include a TCP/IP networking stack, we include tools and programs that let you browse the web. Use Dillo for a graphical web browser experience, or Lynx to view the web as formatted plain text. If you just want to grab the HTML code and manipulate it yourself, use Wget or Curl.

### Play great DOS games

We know that many people install FreeDOS today to play the classic DOS games, run legacy business applications, or do embedded development. A lot of those people use FreeDOS just to play games, and that’s cool with us. Just because a game is old doesn’t mean it's boring. DOS had a lot of great games! Install your favorite classic game and have fun.

Because so many people use FreeDOS to play games, we now include a variety of DOS games. The FreeDOS 1.2 distribution includes first-person shooters like FreeDOOM, arcade shooters like Kiloblaster, flight simulators like Vertigo, and others. We aimed to include something for everyone.

### FreeDOS has now been around longer than MS-DOS

Microsoft released MS-DOS 1.0 in August 1981. And thirteen years later, Microsoft effectively deprecated MS-DOS with the release of Windows 95 in August 1995, although MS-DOS was still around in some form until September 2000. In total, MS-DOS was a thing for nineteen years.

We announced FreeDOS in June 1994 and made our first Alpha release in September that same year. So FreeDOS has been around for 23 years, edging out Microsoft’s MS-DOS by a few years. Truly, we've been working on FreeDOS for longer than MS-DOS was a thing. FreeDOS has staying power.

Another important way that FreeDOS is different from other versions of DOS is that *it is still being developed*. We have an active developer community and are always looking for new people to help out. Join the community and help build the next version of FreeDOS.

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