Thanks, for bringing this up, actually, when I posted this, it was before virtual box was avialabñe, or at least before I knew anything about virtual box, and I had tried DosBox, but really was not to happy with the result,
So I need to do some work, and update, not only this but a bunch of stuff, changes in technology, includeing Free Dos, have changed things a lot.
In fact, I no longer have 5 partitions, nor windows, (any version),... I am using Linux Mint 10, but I do have a small (2GB) Dos partition, for
Free Dos I did try virtual box, with Linux after reading a post in the FreeDos User list, a mail list:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user about a tutorial, which is very good,
INSTALLING Freedos in Virtual Box Yes it dose work very well, I liked it, I did not get the chance to read all of the details, in the Virtual Box manual, so there may be a way around the problem I did have, the new version of Freedos, Freedos 1.1,
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/ All though it dose come with a few utilities, not many. But also, since I use it to run qbasic, qb4.5, and also a PacMan game, and a few others,.. ok well I installed, Freedos, to the VM, but I did not think, to include , qbasic, and qb4.5, Ted's qbasics, my games etc,.. and to my disappointment, I could not find any way to simpley copy, or install those programs, to the Freedos, on the VM,..apparently one needs to be sure to include all the programs, and files in the image they make, before they install it.
If I am wrong and anyone, or you Axlyon, knows more on that, it would be nice to know, and how.
With Dos on it's own partition, I can still open it, and copy anyfiles or packages (zipped), to the Dos partition, and when I run Dos, they are there, to be un-zipped and installed, or ready to use,..
I don't know if windows 7 even allows one to make a seperate partition, Xp just barely allowed that,..
With Linux, it is very easy, no "special programs" are needed, it is a simple matter of re-sizeing, the existing partition, if it uses the entire HD, create a new primary partition, the size desired, format it, using a FAT file structure, and thats it, it is ready to install dos, the FreeDos installation CD, wiil "see" the FAT, partition, also the Linux partition, and it (the GUI) gives the options, as to where to install too, if one desires, it can overwrite the entire HD, and install, so one needs to pay attention to what they do.
It was more trouble, to install Virtual Box, the it was to create the dos partition and install Dos,
But that is with Linux, no offense, but windows, has turned into a pretty much useless OS, (in my opinion), the earliest versions, were ok, with the multi task capabilities, etc.
This ,(multi task) is a limitation, with dos,..With Linux it is no problem, linux has the same ,in my opinion, better multi task capabilitys, as windows, with less chance of a system crash, and certainly, after a system crash, it is much easier, to re-cover. But that is a different subject.
It is good though that there are things like virtual box, VM,s they allow one to run dos programs, from either windows, or linux, with out ever re-booting, which is something I like,...
again , though thanks for bringing this up, because I definatley needed to up date this a little. I am glad you mentioned about virtual box.
from Garry,
more responses, or input is welcome.
I am going mention, one more thing, both Os's windows or linux have thier pros and cons, and all though Linux can be installed under or along side of windows, with out ever doing anything with the partitition,.. I strongly recommend, based on my experience, not going that route, The same, as with dos, it is better, to create a partition, (primary) dedicated to Linux, Part of my reason for saying this, is after about 6 months, with Linux/windows, both on the same partition, "testing" Linux, I found I liked Linux so much, I was never using windows anymore, so MS Windows, was just taking up space,..To make a long story shorter, because the Linux, was so tied into the windows partition, there was no real way, to un-install Windows, with out also loseing all my files in Linux,..all though, Linux is a better written Os, and as a "program", along side of windows, they do have a un-install, option, that allows for it to be easily removed with out damageing any of the windows junk, ...this is a BIG over site on the part of the folks at MS, as far as I know they never though to include a un-install option,.. The othe advantage, Linux, give you access to all the source files, if you have the knowledge and skill, and there is something you don't like about the OS, you can actually modify it, to fit you taste or needs,..this is what led to so many "distros", ( various versions), debian,ubunto,etc.
http://www.linuxmint.com/ is a good place to start if anyone is interested in learning more about the BEST OS, I know of, in my opinion.
from Garry
