Free Software for DOS:
Introduction

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• INTRODUCTION
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Useless stats

• Can I mail you a program suggestion or other comments?
  • Because of current time constraints on the author, I am no longer soliciting program suggestions for this list. I will gladly accept suggestions, which could be added at a later date. Unfortunately, I can't always respond to e-mail in a timely fashion so please forgive me in advance. Send mail

• What is the Free Software for DOS site?
  • This site has been on the web, in one form or another, since 1994. It started as a "personal favorites" list of free DOS programs and has undergone a process of slow and broad accretion over the years. The site has been maintained by one person who uses DOS exclusively for recreation (e.g., this site) rather than work. Consequently, the contents are geared more toward the DOS hobbyist and end-user rather than the business user/ power user /programmer who may be searching for "mission critical" programs.

• What types of programs are (and are not) listed?
  • Programs should run under MS-DOS 6.x (and/ or previous versions). What's not listed here are command interface/ Win32 console programs for Win9x/NT, although you should see a mention of these if they are distributed along with a DOS counterpart. I've included a few Win3x/9x GUI programs that may interest DOS users. Because this list was never intended to be exhaustive, there exist huge gaps in coverage:
    • Power users will not find the entire spectrum of Unix-ish programs, no batch tips or files, program patches, v. few device drivers, text documents, or extremely specialized programs. No game, printing, programming, network or DOS Internet programs (except browsers) are currently listed.
    • I haven't been consistent listing DOS version, processor, or video requirements for many programs because that information is often not available from the docs. No serious attempt has been made to determine which programs run on old PC's (e.g., 8088, 286). Many programs here are old and may or may not not be Year 2000 compliant. Many older file and disk utilities won't perform adequately on PC's with the latest hardware and filesystems (multi-gigabyte drives, FAT 32, etc.)
  • Try perusing the SimtelNet, Garbo, and other ftp sites for programs not found here. I've collected a short list of DOS freeware sites.

• Why create a freeware list devoted to a "dying, obsolete" operating system?
  • A still-significant proportion of computer users can't (or won't) transition to 32-bit environments. For many, DOS remains a familiar, sufficient, and highly productive operating system for (at least) home use. I often hear that new desktop PC's are so cheap that there's no good reason for not buying the latest hardware and OS. "Cheap" is a relative term; and consider how many of us hang onto older laptops which, by any measure, remain pricey as new systems.
  • There seems to be a general under-appreciation of the potential for cross-platform usage of many DOS programs, e.g., OS/2 includes great DOS support; DOSEMU provides DOS emulation under Linux.
  • The number and diversity of quality freeware programs developed for DOS over 15+ years are staggering.
  • As DOS exits from use in business environments, it is becoming more of a freeware developer's OS; also some excellent DOS shareware have now been re-calssified as freeware by their authors.
  • There should be an increasing historical/ nostalgic interest in older hardware and DOS as the years pass. A small but devoted group of hobbyists enjoy the fun challenge of using old PC's and DOS. Although difficult for some to fathom, the limitations of DOS create the challenge....and thus, the enjoyment.
  • More than anything, I'm creating the list as a fun experiment in HTML and freeware, and for me, DOS represents a manageable "model."

• Your site is [too cumbersome] / [so easy] to navigate. (or "Finally, an opportunity to let off some steam"... <g> )
  • The rather plain HTML design of these pages is intentional: they should be navigable and adequately viewable with *any* browser or offline HTML viewer (text mode or GUI). I attempt to keep page sizes at or below 35K, and split them when they exceed that limit. (I can't quite comprehend the 100K+ pages that some software sites force on readers.)
  • Addressing page layout, this site attempts to be an offline/online reference rather than a quick list of freebies. Layout and organization differ significantly from most commercial software sites which may house huge collections but sometimes suffer from insufferable presentation (e.g., 20 pages devoted to a single program group requiring the reader to scroll through pages of randomly listed programs). The highly subjective and personal "taxonomy" of software classification obviously varies widely among readers; I've attempted to address some of that variation, e.g., use of sub-categories for large program groups, introductory header text, inclusion of both functional and alphanumeric indices and a primitive text search interface, use of liberal cross referencing in text and redundant listings (i.e., the same prog can be listed or cross-referenced on more than one page). Plus, the entire site can be downloaded in one neat package and queried with a reader's own search tools. In summary, I try to keep the "information / HTML byte" ratio high. (Of course, if I was trying to make a fast buck off this site, the approach might not be as pragmatic...<g>)

[ ^ ] Acknowledgments . . .

To the generous and thoughtful programmers who create some very enjoyable and useful software. Second, to the FTP sites, administrators, and mirrors who grant free access to their file collections. And to those who submit tips to the DOS newsgroups- many of the gems here were first discovered through newsgroups. A big thanks to all those who have so graciously offered advice, correction, and support. And to my girlfriend who patiently endures this addiction.

Special persons who have contributed to this effort:

Very special thanks to: Bjørn Simonsen whose wisdom and patient advice throughout have been invaluable, and Howard Schwartz who has contributed several excellent reviews to this compilation. Also, thanks go to Yves Bellefeuille, Bob Appleton, and Dev Teelucksingh for their immensely helpful freeware/ software lists. (Of course, all errors included within are my own invention!)

Too many other wonderful people to list...

• Jean-Francois Buisson
• Robert Bull
• Tomas Brunclik
• Timo Gransch
• Miky Gutman
• Greg Head
• Rick Lively
• Scott Nesbitt
• Arturo Padilla
• Lars-Erik Sandberg
• Howard Schwartz
• Bjørn Simonsen
• Dev Teelucksingh
• Marianna Van Erp
• Michael Wann
• Worm
• Jennifer Zahn.
• and to all who have sent suggestions, updates, and corrections over the years- thank you!

Rich Green, editor.
Newport Coast, CA [USA]
Staff

SITE STATISTICS...

Dates Online...NOV 1994-JUL 1995; SITE: U. of Illinois, Urbana
               DEC 1996-MAR 1999; SITE: Sprynet-Mindspring
               MAR 1999- current; SITE: GeoCities, @HOME mirror

#Pages.........50

Disk usage.....~1.2MB (text)

HTML ..........#URLS.......~1000 (external)
               #Lines.......20781
               #Words.......185998
Text only......#Lines.......20459
               #Words.......124920

Reference hardware, OS usage:

• 1991 Swan (Samsung) laptop. 386sx/20 (C&T), 387 FPU, 8MB RAM, 40MB HD (FAT16, Stacked), greyscale VGA (256K), no soundcard, Backpack parallel port CD-ROM. MS-DOS 6.22, and for fun, sometimes tomsrtbt Linux.
• 1993 Gateway desktop 486DX/33, 32MB RAM, 200MB HD (FAT16), SVGA (<1MB), CD-ROM, no soundcard. Win95.
• 1994 AST desktop P60 w/ bug, 8MB RAM, 420MB HD (FAT16), SVGA (1MB), no soundcard. DR-DOS 7.02, OS/2 Warp 3.0 (FAT, Stacked, and Slow), WFW 3.11.
• 1999 HP desktop PII/400, 96 MB RAM, 12GB HD (FAT32), SVGA (8MB), 100MB ZIP drive, CD-ROM, sound card. Win98, Phat Linux, LoopLinux.

(Text below is for search engine to catch; none of the software below are listed on this site:)

MSDOS 6.22 is not here, MSDOS 6 is not here, MS-DOS 6.22 is not here, MS-DOS 6 is not here, DOS 6.22 is not here, DOS 6 is not here, DR-DOS is not here, DR DOS is not here, print drivers are not here, DOS games not here, interlink interlnk not here, laplink not here, MS_DOS backup is not here.