I'm trying to figure out the best DOS configuration for emulation and maybe real hardware, too. Right now, I am considering IBM DOS 5.02 upgraded to PC DOS 7 Rev. 1 (2000). You get an IBM branded DOS-Editor, but still all the nice tools from the future, like DELTREE.EXE, DEFRAG, PC DOS-Shell 7.0 or Windows Undelete. Seems to be the best overall DOS package...
Any other ideas / suggestions?
@nergahak@mastodon.socialMy Chessmaster 3000 standalone version, using PC-DOS 2000, "MINI.CAB" (You can find it on the Windows 95/98 installation CDs) and 86Box, using these ingredients I created an environment to just run this game. Why? Because I have fun!
Download here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/xflg2r80vl82235/CM3000.7z
You will need the 86Box executable from here: https://github.com/86Box/86Box/releases
Put the executable file (.exe or .AppImage) inside the "CM3000" folder.
Today, I was finally able to complete my collection of PC DOS 2000 boxes, at least for the German versions. I unpacked the CD-ROM Edition from 1998, which seems to be a bit smaller than its 3.5" floppy disk variant.
By the way: The CD-ROM includes a complete set of floppy disk images, which makes it even more an awesome collector's item!
I uploaded the disc to The Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/pcdos_2000_de_cdrom
Enjoy!
I just upgraded my virtual 486 to 86Box v4.2.1. Thankfully everything seems to be working fine!
I still think it's mindblowing this awesome software is distributed as freeware!
Installed a few more games onto my virtual retro setup... Yes, it does now also run DOOM.
"DOOM Ultimate" ! 
As we all know, defragmenting your data is no longer a thing on modern SSDs. It no longer speeds up anything, but rather hurts your memory cells. But yeah... it makes me kinda sad. Because it used to be one of the most satisfying things ever!
Saturday night and I'm still checking out PC DOS 2000 compared to MS-DOS 6.22. Both systems are very compatible, but there are loads of small tweaks and differences. IBM mostly worked on polishing stuff, but a few of the included tools also got a complete overhaul.
UNDELETE for example got a fancy graphical user interface! This is sooo much nicer than what Microsoft delivered! Makes me wish PC DOS would have gained more popularity back in the day over its counterpart.
I just received this sealed box of PC DOS 2000 to add to my retro collection. German version. This was the last, genuine version of DOS to be sold as a retail product back in 1998. Expect pristine KryoFlux disk images later today!
@nergahak@mastodon.socialMy Chessmaster 3000 standalone version, using PC-DOS 2000, "MINI.CAB" (You can find it on the Windows 95/98 installation CDs) and 86Box, using these ingredients I created an environment to just run this game. Why? Because I have fun!
Download here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/xflg2r80vl82235/CM3000.7z
And you will need the 86Box executable from here: https://github.com/86Box/86Box/releases
?) @wyatt8740@tech.lgbtWhat did people do back in the day to manage changing CONFIG.SYS files around? - Before DOS 6 when the menu commands were introduced. I ask because PC-9800 series MS-DOS 6.20 doesn't seem to have the boot menu capability of western DOS.
I wrote a batch script [gitlab.com] but it feels like this is a task a lot of people would have had to do at some point and there might be a popular tool for it. #DOS #msdos #pcdos #pc98
@TopazRabbit@oldbytes.spaceLook, it's a game! (kind of!)
@TopazRabbit@oldbytes.spaceMy next step with the game was building a workflow for taking the spritesheet and turning it into assembler. Writing image bytes directly using unrolled assembler on older PCs is way faster than copying pixels in sets of (x,y) loops, especially when transparency comes into play. And this speed up is just from the arena tiles! Once the characters and shots are using assembler, it'll be even faster.
I wrote Ruby code that reads the spritesheet image and a YAML config file, and builds Open Watcom Assembler-friendly sprites & a C include header so I can call the sprites easily. Not only did I learn a lot about assembler and using it with C, I also learned about C calling conventions and how to get those working well.
Next is collision detection between objects, which will require tweaking the Ruby code to make it nice, and then I can get on with the actual game part of all this.
@TopazRabbit@oldbytes.spaceMaking progress on my DOS game! The character's target cursor tracks the mouse pointer. They can fire by holding down the mouse button, but they can only have 12 shots on screen at once. I also improved the structure of the dirty rendering code in anticipation of having to redo it anyway once I have many many more things on the screen and need to actually deal with performance issues.
@TopazRabbit@oldbytes.spaceI finally figured out how to effectively use the Sound Blaster! I managed to wrap my head around the DMA and DSP APIs, collapse all that down into a handful of structs and functions, and get (pretty much) clickless playback of fairly long 11KHz 8 bit PCM files working with a sub-4K buffer on an emulated 386DX-33.
Music is "Industrious Ferret" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com), license CC-BY 4.0, a song I use a bunch in my videos.
@TopazRabbit@oldbytes.spaceContinuing on my PC programming adventure, I got the following working in C:
* 256 color BMP file loading
* Unchained Mode 13h 320x200 graphics
* Double buffered graphics
* Mouse and keyboard reading
* "Sprite" rendering across unchained VGA planes
Next will be reading from sprite sheets and sound programming, then I'll make a little game out of all of this!
This video gives an in-depth look at what is currently the oldest known copy of 86-DOS, the antecedent to #MSDOS aka #PCDOS, where we go through the process of moving from CP/M, translating Z80 to 8086 code, and assembling it. Since this DOS predates the IBM PC, it must be simulated via #SIMH as a Gazelle with a Cromemco 4FDC controller. #retrocomputing https://youtu.be/Zd7T5euID1E
Vintage IBM PC / clones pinboard. Mindset-heavy at the top. I'd never seen a Mindset II before this recent eBay auction.
https://www.pinterest.com/blakespot/ibm-clones-vintage/
#IBM #PC #DOS #IBMPC #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #vintagecomputers #MSDOS #PCDOS #8088 #photos #pics #album #pinterest
