Comparison of DOS operating systems
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article details versions of MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS, and at least partially compatible disk operating systems. It does not include the many other operating systems called "DOS" which are unrelated to IBM PC compatibles.
Historical and licensing information
Summarize
Perspective
Originally MS-DOS was designed to be an operating system that could run on any computer with a 8086-family microprocessor. It competed with other operating systems written for such computers, such as CP/M-86 and UCSD Pascal. Each computer would have its own distinct hardware and its own version of MS-DOS, a situation similar to the one that existed for CP/M, with MS-DOS emulating the same solution as CP/M to adapt for different hardware platforms. So there were many different original equipment manufacturer (OEM) versions of MS-DOS for different hardware. But the greater speed attainable by direct control of hardware was of particular importance, especially when running computer games. So very soon an IBM-compatible architecture became the goal, and before long all 8086-family computers closely emulated IBM hardware, and only a single version of MS-DOS for a fixed hardware platform was all that was needed for the market. This specific version of MS-DOS is the version that is discussed here, as all other versions of MS-DOS died out with their respective systems. One version of such a generic MS-DOS (Z-DOS) is mentioned here, but there were dozens more. All these were for personal computers that used an 8086-family microprocessor, but which were not fully IBM PC compatible.
| Name | First public release date | Creator | Owner or maintainer as of 2021[update] | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86-DOS 0.42 | 1981-02-25 | Seattle Computer Products | Support ended | Proprietary |
| 86-DOS 1.00 | 1981-04-28 | |||
| PC DOS 1.0 | 1981-08-12 | Microsoft (for IBM) | ||
| PC DOS 1.1 | 1982-05-?? | |||
| PC DOS 2.0 | 1983-03-?? | |||
| PC DOS 2.1 | 1983-10-?? | |||
| PC DOS 3.0 | 1984-08-?? | |||
| PC DOS 3.1 | 1985 | |||
| PC DOS 3.2 | 1986 | |||
| PC DOS 3.3 | 1987 | |||
| IBM DOS 4.0 (called PC DOS 4.0) |
1988 | |||
| IBM DOS 5.0 (called PC DOS 5.0) |
1991 | |||
| PC DOS 6.1, PC DOS 6.3 | 1993 | |||
| PC DOS 7.0 (revision 0) | 1995 | |||
| PC DOS 2000 (PC DOS 7.0 revision 1) |
1998 | |||
| PC DOS 7.10 | 2003 | Support ended by IBM | ||
| MS-DOS 1.25[1] (first version named "MS-DOS") | 1982 | Microsoft | Support ended | Open source, MIT License[2] |
| Z-DOS 1.25 | 1982-05-?? | OEM Zenith Data Systems | Proprietary | |
| MS-DOS 2.0 | 1983-03-?? | Microsoft | Open source, MIT License[2] | |
| MS-DOS 2.11 | 1983-12-?? | Proprietary | ||
| MS-DOS 3.0 | 1984 | |||
| MS-DOS 3.1 | ||||
| MS-DOS 3.2 | 1986 | |||
| MS-DOS 3.3 | 1987 | |||
| MS-DOS 4.0 | 1988 | Open source, MIT License[2] | ||
| MS-DOS 5.0 | 1991 | Proprietary | ||
| MS-DOS 6.0 | 1993 | |||
| MS-DOS 6.20 | ||||
| MS-DOS 6.21 | March 1994[3] | |||
| MS-DOS 6.22 | April 1994[3] | |||
| MS-DOS 7.0 (Windows 95A) | 1995 | |||
| MS-DOS 7.10 (Windows 95 OSRs 2 and 2.5, 98, 98 SE) | 1996 | |||
| MS-DOS 8.0 (Windows Me and later)[4] | 2000 | Support ended by Microsoft[5] | ||
| DOS Plus 1.1, 1.2/1.2a | 1985 | Digital Research | Support ended | |
| DOS Plus 2.1 | 1986 | |||
| DR DOS 3.31-3.35 | 1988 | |||
| DR DOS 3.40-3.41 | 1989 | |||
| DR DOS 5.0 | 1990 | |||
| DR DOS 6.0 | 1991 | |||
| Novell DOS 7 | 1993 | Novell | ||
| Caldera OpenDOS 7.01 | 1997 | Caldera, Inc.; Caldera UK, Ltd. |
Support ended officially; a derivative, Enhanced DR-DOS, was maintained by Udo Kuhnt until 2011 |
Partial, free non-commercial use |
| Caldera DR-OpenDOS 7.02 | Support ended | |||
| Caldera DR-DOS 7.02 | 1998 | Proprietary | ||
| Caldera DR-DOS 7.03 | 1999, 1998 prereleased | Caldera Thin Clients, Inc.; Caldera UK, Ltd; Lineo, Inc. |
DRDOS, Inc. | |
| DR-DOS 8.0 | 2004 | DeviceLogics | Support ended | |
| DR-DOS 8.1[6] | 2005 | DRDOS, Inc. | ||
| FreeDOS 1.0 | 2006-09-03 | Jim Hall, et al. | The FreeDOS Project | Open source, GPL |
| FreeDOS 1.1 | 2012-01-02 | |||
| FreeDOS 1.2 | 2016-12-25 | |||
| FreeDOS 1.3 | 2021-12-14 | |||
| PTS-DOS 6.4 | 1993 | PhysTechSoft[7] | PhysTechSoft | Proprietary |
| PTS-DOS 6.5 | ? | |||
| PTS-DOS 6.6 | ||||
| PTS-DOS 2000 (6.7) | ||||
| PTS-DOS 32 (7.0) | ||||
| PTS-DOS 6.51 | ca. 1995 | Paragon Technology Systems | Paragon Technology Systems | |
| Paragon DOS 2000 Pro | ? | |||
| ROM-DOS 6.22[8] | Datalight | Datalight | ||
| ROM-DOS 7.1[8] | ||||
| Embedded DOS | General Software | General Software | ||
| DIP DOS 2.11 | 1989 | DIP Research, Atari Corporation | Support ended | |
| RxDOS 6.2 | 1999 | Michael Podanoffsky | Support ended | Open source, GPL |
| RxDOS 7.20-7.24 | 2018 | C. Masloch | C. Masloch | |
| SISNE plus | ? | Itautec, Scopus Tecnologia | Support ended | Proprietary |
Technical specifications
| Name | Hard drive: partition size max | Native support: File systems |
Native support: floppy capacities 3.5" |
Native support: floppy capacities 5.25" |
Native support: floppy capacities 8.0" |
Integrated disk compression utility | Native support: long file names |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86-DOS 0.42-1.00 | — | FAT12; (CP/M 2 through RDCPM) |
— | NorthStar 87.5 KB; Cromemco 90 KB | Cromemco/Tarbell 250.25 KB; Tarbell 616 KB; Tarbell 1232 KB[9] | No | No |
| MS-DOS 1.25 | — | FAT12 | — | 160 KB; 320 KB | 250.25 KB[10] | No | No |
| MS-DOS 2.0-2.11 | 16 MB (32 MB with third-party FORMAT)[11] | FAT12 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB | 250.25 KB;[10][12][13] 500.5 KB;[10][12][13] 616 KB;[12][13] 1232 KB[10][12][13] | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.0 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.1 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.2 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720 KB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.3 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 3.31 | 512 MB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 4.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 5.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB, 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 6.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | DoubleSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 6.20 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | DoubleSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 6.21 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| MS-DOS 6.22 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | DriveSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 7.0 (Windows 95A) | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | DriveSpace | No |
| MS-DOS 7.1 (Windows 95B/OSR2, Windows 95C/OSR2.5, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE) | 124.55 GB with FAT32[14] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | DriveSpace for Windows 95, none for Windows 98 | No |
| MS-DOS 8.0 (Windows Me and later Windows versions)[4] | 124.55 GB with FAT32[14] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 1.0 | — | FAT12 | — | 160 KB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 1.1 | — | FAT12 | — | 160 KB; 320 KB (double-sided) | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 2.0-2.1 | 16 MB (32 MB with third-party FORMAT)[11] | FAT12 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 3.0 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 3.1 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | — | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 3.2 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720 KB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 3.3 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| IBM DOS 4.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| IBM DOS 5.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB, 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 6.1 (early version) | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PC DOS 6.1 with Compression / PC DOS 6.3 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | SuperStor | No |
| PC DOS 7.0 / PC DOS 2000 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 1.86 MB (XDF), 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB, 1.54 MB (XDF) | — | Stacker | No |
| PC DOS 7.10 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 1.86 MB (XDF), 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB, 1.54 MB (XDF) | — | Stacker, not on FAT32 | No |
| DOS Plus 1.1 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16, CP/M-86 | 315 KB; 720 KB; CP/M 315 KB; CP/M 720 KB; MSX-DOS 360 KB; MSX-DOS 720 KB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 800 KB; 1.2 MB; CP/M 160 KB; CP/M 320 KB | — | No | No |
| DOS Plus 1.2-2.1 | 32 MB | FAT12, FAT16, CP/M-86 | Apricot 315 KB;[15] (720 KB[16]) | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB; Acorn 640 KB; Acorn 800 KB;[17] CP/M 320 KB | — | No | No |
| DR DOS 3.31-3.35 | 2 GB[citation needed] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| DR DOS 3.40-3.41 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | No | No |
| DR DOS 5.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | No | No |
| DR DOS 6.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | SuperStor | No |
| PalmDOS 1.0 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | SuperStor | No |
| Novell DOS 7 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker | No |
| OpenDOS 7.01 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker | No |
| DR-OpenDOS 7.02 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker | No |
| DR-DOS 7.02 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, (FAT32 in FDISK only) | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker | Partial, COMMAND.COM and LONGNAME only |
| DR-DOS 7.03 | 2 GB | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, (FAT32 in FDISK only) | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker | Partial, COMMAND.COM and LONGNAME only |
| DR-DOS 7.04-7.05 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 (non-bootable) | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker, not on FAT32 | Partial, COMMAND.COM and LONGNAME only |
| DR-DOS 7.06-7.07 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 (bootable) | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Stacker, not on FAT32 | Partial, COMMAND.COM and LONGNAME only |
| DR-DOS 8.0 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 160 KB; 180 KB; 320 KB; 360 KB; 1.2 MB | (250.25 KB[18]) | Supported, not on FAT32 | Partial, COMMAND.COM only |
| DR-DOS 8.1 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| FreeDOS 1.0 | 2 TB [citation needed] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | ? | No |
| FreeDOS 1.1-1.3 | 2 TB [citation needed] | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | Yes |
| PTS-DOS 32 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PTS-DOS 2000 | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| PTS-DOS 2000 PRO | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | No |
| Datalight ROM-DOS | ? | FAT12, FAT16, FAT16B, FAT32 | 720 KB; 1.44 MB, 2.88 MB | 360 KB; 1.2 MB | — | No | Yes |
| DIP DOS | — | FAT12 | — | — | — | No | No |
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.