31–40 of 68 posts
It’s odd to me these days to see a DOS defender. I grew up on DOS, but these days would take a Linux command line over it any day. I guess you need X to do anything graphical on Linux whereas pure dos games exist?
In the olden days we used SDL ports of games that used a framebuffer, just the same as in DOS.
It’s odd to me these days to see a DOS defender. I grew up on DOS, but these days would take a Linux command line over it any day. I guess you need X to do anything graphical on Linux whereas pure dos games exist?
You can have framebuffer applications running without X. Not really much different than DOS other than the kernel is still mediating hardware access. Notably, you can build Qt apps that run without X.
I've also been curious about fbui (in-kernel windowing system). Not sure how well it works with current kernels, though: https://github.com/8l/fbui
Having really modest needs, I even made an effort to use FreeDOS for essential tasks (writing, PDFs, some scripting), but gave up quickly as I cannot live without a good PDF pager or (for some tasks) soundcard support. I also had trouble with constant fan noise on DOS (you'll need some hacks to maybe get around this). It is still mind blowing how fast FreeDOS (or e.g. the even more barebones SvarDOS) boots. It took literally about 2 seconds to greet myself with the good old "C:\>".
Also, it is a system that fits inside the head of even an ordinary person. This is really refreshing these days.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
On this note, the Royal Bank of Canada used a DOS-like system well into the 2000s. The tellers were amazingly proficient with it, entering data, hitting tab-tab-tab, entering more data, tab-tab-tab, etc. When they switched to Windows, you could see how much the point-and-click interface slowed them down.
The Czech taxation authority has the "Automated Tax Information System" as the primary IS. It has been running since 1993, it has a classic DOS text-mode interface and its maintenance cost is huge, which is completely fine with its supplier, IBM, which is the only subject allowed to make any modifications to it (per the contract). Textbook case of vendor lock-in. An official study of what to do with the system from 2…
Would you mind expanding on this a little?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The transition to Windows was a lot more painful than the glossy history suggests. DOS had a huge eco-system of programs, TSRs to help you context switch, incredibly popular word processing and spreadsheet packages and solid networking if you had Netware available. Windows wouldn't even load on some PC's depending on which memory manager you had installed, what else you were trying to run and what kind of network sta…
On this note, the Royal Bank of Canada used a DOS-like system well into the 2000s. The tellers were amazingly proficient with it, entering data, hitting tab-tab-tab, entering more data, tab-tab-tab, etc. When they switched to Windows, you could see how much the point-and-click interface slowed them down.
It's still in use, and although it's been replaced by Linux in current products there were bugfix releases at least as recently as late 2020.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the olden days we used SDL ports of games that used a framebuffer, just the same as in DOS.
I wonder, Does a version of Doom exist doing this? Every version of Doom I have seen for Linux over the years required X
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/09/a-linux-distribution-for-doo... including some converting it to ascii
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When we first starting writing windows programs back then, one of the main considerations of a desktop / client server CRUD program was getting the tabbing order right. A lot of those green screen / dos / mini computer CRUD programs were carefully designed around productivity with a keyboard.
I wish tab order was considered more in some applications. One of our in-house apps has had a lot of fields added over time and it's a jumbled mess trying to tab through it, essentially forcing point/click when a keyboard would otherwise be enough.
The new windows program, on a decent screen resolution, opens instead a small window where the same fields are scattered on three or four tabs.
Even if within the same window fields can be navigated via TAB, you need to switch to the other tabs/windows and it slows down the input, as you never have a "whole" view of the data, so you have to go back through each tab to check whether you missed a field or mistyped inside a field.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Czech taxation authority has the "Automated Tax Information System" as the primary IS. It has been running since 1993, it has a classic DOS text-mode interface and its maintenance cost is huge, which is completely fine with its supplier, IBM, which is the only subject allowed to make any modifications to it (per the contract). Textbook case of vendor lock-in. An official study of what to do with the system from 2…
> ... and its maintenance cost is huge ... Would you mind expanding on this a little?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
On this note, the Royal Bank of Canada used a DOS-like system well into the 2000s. The tellers were amazingly proficient with it, entering data, hitting tab-tab-tab, entering more data, tab-tab-tab, etc. When they switched to Windows, you could see how much the point-and-click interface slowed them down.
The Czech taxation authority has the "Automated Tax Information System" as the primary IS. It has been running since 1993, it has a classic DOS text-mode interface and its maintenance cost is huge, which is completely fine with its supplier, IBM, which is the only subject allowed to make any modifications to it (per the contract). Textbook case of vendor lock-in. An official study of what to do with the system from 2…
Don't remember how I stumbled on this site, but it had to have been 15-20 years ago that I did. Was pleasantly surprised to see that it's still online and that the author is still singing the praises of DOS.
1: E.g: https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=freedos-user@lists.sou...
Or: https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=freedos-user@lists.sou...
Or: https://www.mail-archive.com/search?l=freedos-user@lists.sou...