Questions about DOS

[DobaMuffin]

Hello,

I am wondering what the best version of DOS would be to install on an old computer. This would be used for gaming. Would an official Microsoft DOS be best, or something like FreeDOS?

[beta.a.brian]

Define "old". For gaming, MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.22 is fine. You could still probably use MS-DOS 4.0 or even 3.0.

[Lucas Brooks]

It depends on what year of the computer and game. Don't use FreeDOS, MS-DOS is much better.

MS-DOS 2.x for computers and games from 1980 - 1984
MS-DOS 3.x for computers and games from 1984 - 1988
MS-DOS 4.x for computers and games from 1988 - 1990
MS-DOS 5.x for computers and games from 1990 - 1993
MS-DOS 6.x for computers and games from 1993 - now

It also depends on the manufacturer of the machine. If you have an OEM disk, that would be the best. Don't use DOS 1.x, they don't support fixed hard drives and you must use a specially formatted floppy with apps designed for them.

[LilShootDawg]

It depends on what year of the computer and game.

No, it doesn't. Just use 6.22, DobaMuffin.

[AlphaBeta]

Oh boy, it does. There is a lot of stuff out there that depends on a specific version of DOS and doesn't work on MS-DOS 6.22. Windows 1.x for instance.

[Overdoze]

I would recommend using proper MS-DOS. Although FreeDOS does a decent job at imitating it, it's not perfect, and software using weird undocumented quirks could very well break on it. You should use an MS-DOS version that the software you wish to run on it officially supports, or at least a version from around that time period.

That said, I would definitely avoid DOS 1.x since it's very primitive and thus not a whole lot of software actually supports it. In general, you should get decent results with DOS 3.x for 80s software, and with DOS 5.0 or 6.x for 90s software.

[os2fan2]

Up to about 1990, the video mode varied by vendor, so you had to make sure the game was written for your video. For example, there was IBM and Tandy and a few others. Compaq reverse engineered the video, and we get the age of IBM compatibles.

Most 386 and later are IBM compats. Dos 5 or later is fine here. I used Pcdos 6.3 here because it was optimised for the 386.

Up to 1997, most stuff was written for Dos, and very little hard version checks were done. Instead, it's the memory issue you need to look at.

[winnt32]

It really does matter what version of MS-DOS you use.

DOS 5/6.x are generally fine for anything made after 1989/1990, such as Windows 3.x, 1990s DOS games (e.g. SimCity 2000 and Doom) or most productivity software written during the 1990s. Yes you can use setver to make Windows 1.x run, but it still doesn't run perfectly IIRC.
DOS 4 wasn't really hugely popular IIRC, so only really run software on DOS 4 if it really won't run on anything else.
For stuff made from 1984 or so to 1990, Compaq DOS 3.31 is the best version to use, as it supports partition sizes above 10 megabytes.
Network anything requires DOS 3.1 or above. As I said, for older mid 80s to 1990 software, use Compaq DOS 3.31. Microsoft even used it for Windows 3.0 development. If that doesn't work, try regular DOS 3.3, 3.21, or 3.2.
For early DOS stuff (~1982/83 to ~1984/85), such as Windows 1.0 DR5, use DOS 2.x. There were quite a few differences between 2.x and 3.0

1.0 and 1.1 are a special case. DOS was pretty much rewritten between 1.1 and 2.0, to the point where 1.x is essentially 86-DOS with some IBM customization, and the design is quite similar to CP/M.
Don't bother using them for anything after 1983/84, because software dropped support for 1.x almost immediately. If you need to run anything from before 1983, I highly suggest you use PC-DOS 1.0 or 1.1. 1.x also does not support hard drives AT ALL (2.0 only adds support for hard drive sizes of up to 10 MB), so you can't install software to a hard drive when running in a DOS 1.x environment.

Also, before the later 3.x releases, PC manufacturers made systems that weren't IBM compatible but ran DOS. Unless you're specifically emulating Tandy, etc, stuff, I suggest that you run IBM PC-DOS.

[DobaMuffin]

Thanks everyone. I didn't know that there was such a huge difference between versions like that. Though if I stop to think about it, it does make sense.

I guess I'll have to see what version the games I was thinking to run need.

[JimOlive]

For DOS games, using official MS-DOS, I'd use 6.22. If you're okay with an unofficial MS-DOS, then 7.1, though I'd probably only use it for installing Windows 95 or something, using it's CD support.

[asad10]

Just use DOSBox.

[Lucas Brooks]

No, DOSBox isn't the best way to emulate MS-DOS, most older DOS apps won't even run because of version problems. Not to say he has an OLD computer, he want to install DOS on it instead of emulating DOS.

[DVINTHEHOUSEMAN]

Use 86box

[Lucas Brooks]

NO, you can't run 86Box on 1990s hardware!

[ntalaec]

I use MS-DOS 6.22 in my old Pentium. Unless you have a very slow machine you can use this version. If you have an XT, AT or a slow 286 maybe you should use DOS 3.3.

If you want the "full retro" experience, play the games in your old PC, but if you just want to play and old game, use DOSBox. It's way easier to setup than a real machine.

[asad10]

No, DOSBox isn't the best way to emulate MS-DOS, most older DOS apps won't even run because of version problems. Not to say he has an OLD computer, he want to install DOS on it instead of emulating DOS.

As the OP says, "this would be used for gaming". So DOSBox is entirely appropriate and sufficient.

[AlphaBeta]

No, DOSBox isn't the best way to emulate MS-DOS, most older DOS apps won't even run because of version problems. Not to say he has an OLD computer, he want to install DOS on it instead of emulating DOS.

As the OP says, "this would be used for gaming". So DOSBox is entirely appropriate and sufficient.

That's only your assumption. This of course depends on the specific games that the original poster wants to play. No emulator is perfect and therefore I am pretty sure there are games that DOSBox won't run. Futhermore, DOSBox by default also emulates the BIOS and DOS interrupt handlers, so there are even more opportunities to break.

Also OP said he wants to play the games on an old computer. You guys are telling the dude with a broken car to use public transport instead of telling him how to fix the car.