FARK.com: (6422352) MS-DOS turns 30 today. C:\OFFLAWN.COM

(Some Guy)		MS-DOS turns 30 today. C:\OFFLAWN.COM (reghardware.com)		208
		More: Spiffy, MS-DOS, coding

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2595 clicks; posted to Geek » on 27 Jul 2011 at 6:49 AM | Favorite | share:

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Weaver95

2011-07-27 04:05:52 AM

ok, now THAT was a good headline.

Indolent

2011-07-27 04:13:12 AM

Yeah that was a good headline but I think I wouldn't have gone with COM. Maybe .EXE or .BAT.

Alphax

2011-07-27 04:16:54 AM

And died how long ago?

/DOS user from about 1990-1994.

mediablitz

2011-07-27 04:37:33 AM

I used to have a customer named Ed Linn. I miss being able to make edlin puns...

eddyatwork

2011-07-27 05:54:23 AM

Thanks to DOS, I know that Jan 1, 1980 was a Tuesday.

Praise Cheesus

2011-07-27 05:59:25 AM

OFFLAWN.BAT -

@ECHO OFF
ECHO Off my lawn you damn kids
Print

MS-DOS made my life so much easier when I was first working in computers. It was much easier to write a batch file in MS-DOS to create a menu that pulled up a program than to teach the 40 year old office people how to use a command prompt.

Alphax: And died how long ago?

/DOS user from about 1990-1994.

I was still loading systems with MS-DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 back in early 99. It wasn't until May of 99 that the FDIC shifted over to Windows 95 - and even then, the bank reporting machines were still running DOS 6.2.

DarthBrooks

2011-07-27 06:38:00 AM

Back in the day, The Soft Warehouse (precursor of CompUSA) used to sell a monitor spray cleaner named CLS.

I don't think anyone would get the joke nowadays.

DjangoStonereaver

2011-07-27 06:49:22 AM

It is rather humbling to realize that if not for MS-DOS, I probably wouldn't have a career.

DjangoStonereaver

2011-07-27 06:51:09 AM

And, let us not forget Microsoft's forgotten OS, Xenix. (new window)

untaken_name

2011-07-27 07:00:02 AM

DjangoStonereaver: And, let us not forget Microsoft's forgotten OS, Xenix. (new window)

Dude, that's exactly what I've been TRYING to do. You unbelievable bastard. What's next? Are you going to bring up Microsoft Bob or something? Sicko.

Das Kiwizoid

2011-07-27 07:02:32 AM

Sorry subby but youre headline sucks. If you're going to make a joke about Windows ".com" makes no sense because Windows is Not The Internet!

/would have worked better in an AOL joke though

Sock Ruh Tease

2011-07-27 07:08:30 AM

That doesn't look like a URL

/I changed directory to your lawn
//no batch file can save you now

palan

2011-07-27 07:08:46 AM

Alphax: And died how long ago?

/DOS user from about 1990-1994.

And it's still used frequently in silicon manufacturing. Since it boots quickly and you have full control of the system preventing anything from disrupting your test. TSMC is getting dragged into linux kicking and screaming.

SJKebab

2011-07-27 07:17:56 AM

Das Kiwizoid: Sorry subby but youre headline sucks. If you're going to make a joke about Windows ".com" makes no sense because Windows is Not The Internet!

/would have worked better in an AOL joke though

I really hope you're kidding....

DjangoStonereaver: It is rather humbling to realize that if not for MS-DOS, I probably wouldn't have a career.

Yep, I'm with ya there.

I got my first computer in the windows 95 era, ostensibly for homework purposes. Then GTA1 came out, and I couldn't get a decent frame rate to save my life. Eventually, someone told me about DOS and how much better it would run under that, and I had to have a go. Weeks go by, HELP gets typed several hundred times, MEMMAKER.EXE and HIMEM.SYS several hundred times more, and all of a sudden I was hooked. Windows only ever got booted up when homework couldn't be put off any longer.

Fast forward to today, and I'm an engineer because of it. Sure, it's civil engineering, however a technical career would never have occurred to be without that initial DOS experience. It was my first lesson that I had a talent in something other than music. And it was AWESOME.

/csb

BumpInTheNight

2011-07-27 07:23:56 AM

Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

way south

2011-07-27 07:25:23 AM

My first PC was an 8086, and DOS was awesome. You couldn't beat it for stability or simplicity.
I'm hoping that one day someone makes a stripped down version of windows with the same values in mind.

/because near instant booting and having all those resources without all the typing would be AWESOME.

mhd

2011-07-27 07:33:29 AM

way south: You couldn't beat it for stability or simplicity.

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILES=30
STACKS=0,0
BUFFERS=20
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\GENIUS\GMOUSE.SYS

/please, oh please let me have enough hi memory to run my game and load my mouse driver

drumfreek

2011-07-27 07:38:50 AM

BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

Get out of the room...Go on!!

DjangoStonereaver

2011-07-27 07:40:02 AM

BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

You're 12, aren't you?

way south

2011-07-27 07:50:53 AM

mhd: /please, oh please let me have enough hi memory to run my game and load my mouse driver

HEATHEN!

ranak

2011-07-27 07:56:11 AM

DOS + Tandy 1000 + 1st edition Harpoon game = 1,000,000,000 wasted hours.

/i've done naughty things to the Kola Peninsula.

Alphax

2011-07-27 08:00:07 AM

mhd: /please, oh please let me have enough hi memory to run my game and load my mouse driver

Heck, I had 3 bootup configurations on my 286, No loading anything high, so I could turn off the mouse, the RAMDRIVE, or both.

swaxhog

2011-07-27 08:03:08 AM

mhd: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
FILES=30
STACKS=0,0
BUFFERS=20
REM DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=C:\GENIUS\GMOUSE.SYS

/please, oh please let me have enough hi memory to run my game and load my mouse driver

shell=c:\dos\command.com /e:1024 /p
stacks=0,0
buffers=5
files=50
lastdrive=m
device=c:\dev\qemm386.sys ram x=b800-c7ff i=f000-f7ff i=fd00-fdff
device=c:\dev\loadhi.sys c:\dev\smartdrv.sys 1024
device=c:\dev\loadhi.sys c:\dev\ramdrive.sys 4096 256 512 /e
device=c:\dev\loadhi.sys c:\dev\mouse.sys

/ignore qemm analysis at your peril.
farm3.static.flickr.com

4 out of 5 dentists

2011-07-27 08:03:53 AM

Ah, good times.. Still use MS-DOS every now and then to play some old games and just mess around a bit for the heck of it. I know there's DOSBox and what not but it's just not the same.

img703.imageshack.us

Chewlies Gum Representative

2011-07-27 08:07:30 AM

Indolent: Yeah that was a good headline but I think I wouldn't have gone with COM. Maybe .EXE or .BAT.

I thought the exact same thing.

t3knomanser

2011-07-27 08:18:06 AM

DjangoStonereaver: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

You're 12, aren't you?

It looks like VMS's retarded little brother.

In all seriousness, I used DOS. I don't get the affection people have for it, though. It was not very good.

Troggie42

2011-07-27 08:20:17 AM

I just learned recently that you can use notepad to create batch files in windows 7. I now enjoy making files that'll log you off as office pranks. Good times can be had when you change the logo to internet explorer.

BumpInTheNight

2011-07-27 08:24:32 AM

DjangoStonereaver: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

You're 12, aren't you?

When DOS 5 was released yah, My weak troll was weak and pre-coffee, what can I say.

/Does not miss fighting with config.sys and autoexec.bat to make boot scripts to do each different thing
//I used to miss the instant boot but now I have an SSD and use sleep mode.
///definitely don't miss how programs had to supply their own drivers for your misc hardware (read: soundcard) if they wanted to use it

swingerhead

2011-07-27 08:27:42 AM

Troggie42: I just learned recently that you can use notepad to create batch files in windows 7. I now enjoy making files that'll log you off as office pranks. Good times can be had when you change the logo to internet explorer.

If you give your username admin access to their system you can do it remotely in dos,
shutdown -i is fun.

I still use DOS for diagnosing network issues. Ping and tracert with all the options just wouldnt be the same graphicaly.

I got my first field tech job with UPS installing systems because I knew edlin. I was 20 and the boss was amazed that someone could use it efficently.

I still enjoy watching the logon scripts every day in the command prompt.

SlightlyManic

2011-07-27 08:33:02 AM

DarthBrooks: Back in the day, The Soft Warehouse (precursor of CompUSA) used to sell a monitor spray cleaner named CLS.

I don't think anyone would get the joke nowadays.

I laughed. Then I felt really old.

DjangoStonereaver

2011-07-27 08:34:31 AM

t3knomanser: DjangoStonereaver: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

You're 12, aren't you?

It looks like VMS's retarded little brother.

Actually, that title can legitimately pass to the current MS OSes:

Early on in the process of refining what was then OS/2, MS hired Dave Cutler as the
system architect. Mr. Cutler was the principle architect of VMS, and from what I've
heard the internals of Windows NT bear more than a slight resemblence to VMS,
and since NT has been the basis for all subsequent Windows OSes, you are more
right than you realized.

In all seriousness, I used DOS. I don't get the affection people have for it, though. It was not very good.

Back when I worked for AT&T, the MKS Toolkit (new window) was quite popular. It basically
substituted Unix-like commands for the DOS ones. You could even substitute
command.com with their port of the Korn shell, which was a boon for programmers
wanting to prototype things on then-cheaper PCs before deploying them to full scale
servers. I still keep a copy of their commands on all my MS machines, since even
today I prefer using vi to edit config files when I can get away with it.

But, mostly I think its just nostalgia.

BitwiseShift

2011-07-27 08:41:45 AM

CP/M rules. Custom compiled for your machine. Like linux only the syntax is backwards.
Actually MS DOS and TRS80's OS were a step up from Z80 machine language.

nitefallz

2011-07-27 08:50:57 AM

Having setup Dosbox last night after pulling data off some backups from the 90s and firing up my old BBs... getting kicks..

Sid_6.7

2011-07-27 08:53:15 AM

SlightlyManic: DarthBrooks: Back in the day, The Soft Warehouse (precursor of CompUSA) used to sell a monitor spray cleaner named CLS.

I don't think anyone would get the joke nowadays.

I laughed. Then I felt really old.

Don't feel too old. I'm in my 20's and I got it.

Also, I use batch files all the time at work to deal with shoving files around from my machine to network drives when making file updates for spreadsheets and other crap for my group at work. It's a hell of a lot easier than manually archiving a file, copying and renaming the other file, setting it to read-only, etc.

Genju

2011-07-27 08:53:38 AM

This game is hard coded to look for ___ at IRQ port ___? Now I have to go swap everything around to avoid conflict! *Grabs table of all assigned IRQ ports*

Gustavo Alejandro

2011-07-27 08:53:58 AM

BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

That's an insult to Linux. Besides, everybody knows that Linux has a retarded older brother, and his name is Minix.

Alphax

2011-07-27 08:56:23 AM

Gustavo Alejandro: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

That's an insult to Linux. Besides, everybody knows that Linux has a retarded older brother, and his name is Minix.

I heard something back in college about UNIX being a 'neutered' version of Minix, so that's part of where the name came from. A pun.

BumpInTheNight

2011-07-27 09:01:04 AM

Genju: This game is hard coded to look for ___ at IRQ port ___? Now I have to go swap everything around to avoid conflict! *Grabs table of all assigned IRQ ports*

You know A+ still focuses a section on those damned things? Like on one hand I agree with at least knowing the theory behind how they function but honestly...asking people to memorize the standard values for them is a waste of headspace. If an IRQ conflict comes up in my daily activities at this point I'm thinking there's larger problems to deal with.

gopher321

2011-07-27 09:09:10 AM

STOP IT, STOP IT ALL OF YOU!! I'M STARTING TO HAVE THE DOS FLASHBACKS!...

"Not enough 'extended' memory? WTF? What's this 'expanded' memory crap?"

nekom

2011-07-27 09:12:55 AM

slmr, dsz, pkzip/pkunzip, ansi.sys, norton commander, frontdoor, renegade, thedraw

I could go on and on. Those were the days.

Jim_Callahan

2011-07-27 09:13:02 AM

Alphax: And died how long ago?

/DOS user from about 1990-1994.

It's still around, kind of quietly in the background of the Windows OSes. You see a lot of it in the command line interface (yes, even 7 still has a CLI, you just don't need it for much of anything beyond maybe testing nextwork connections and fiddling with IPs and such).

Gustavo Alejandro

2011-07-27 09:14:11 AM

Alphax: Gustavo Alejandro: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

That's an insult to Linux. Besides, everybody knows that Linux has a retarded older brother, and his name is Minix.

I heard something back in college about UNIX being a 'neutered' version of Minix, so that's part of where the name came from. A pun.

Haw haw. Didn't Minix just get virtual memory working, like within the last few years? The only contribution Minix has made was to inspire Linus Torvalds to make something that actually worked.

Aside from all that, I don't get this nostalgia for DOS. I don't miss it in the least bit.

Gustavo Alejandro

2011-07-27 09:16:52 AM

DjangoStonereaver:
Actually, that title can legitimately pass to the current MS OSes:

Early on in the process of refining what was then OS/2, MS hired Dave Cutler as the
system architect. Mr. Cutler was the principle architect of VMS, and from what I've
heard the internals of Windows NT bear more than a slight resemblence to VMS,
and since NT has been the basis for all subsequent Windows OSes, you are more
right than you realized.

Take the letters "VMS", and advance each character to the next in the alphabet. Your mind is blown.

loser0

2011-07-27 09:20:46 AM

Alphax: UNIX being a 'neutered' version of Minix,

Neutered version of Multics. Minix came much later, a mini unix.

/and there is no DOS under modern windows, just a command window that runs a similar-but-not-identical language
//cygwin ftw

Alphax

2011-07-27 09:25:04 AM

loser0: Alphax: UNIX being a 'neutered' version of Minix,

Neutered version of Multics. Minix came much later, a mini unix.

Sounds about right.

I asked my small college librarian about books on UNIX, back in 1996 or so, and she replies "Perhaps under harems?"

RatOmeter

2011-07-27 09:25:19 AM

t3knomanser: DjangoStonereaver: BumpInTheNight: Looks like LInux's retarded little brother.

You're 12, aren't you?

It looks like VMS's retarded little brother.

It's actually more like CP/M's bastard son, with CP/M being VMS' retarded little brother.

RatOmeter

2011-07-27 09:28:08 AM

loser0:
/and there is no DOS under modern windows

Wrong. There's plenty of denial of service under Windows.

ptrifoliata2

2011-07-27 09:32:02 AM

best headline evar. congrats subby.

loser0

2011-07-27 09:33:16 AM

RatOmeter: Wrong. There's plenty of denial of service under Windows.

You speak truth.

Next question: since I have what is, for all intents and purposes, a supercomputer at my fingertips, why can I type faster than the word processor?

star_topology

2011-07-27 09:36:02 AM

I don't think I have enough extended memory to remember this, but I think my dad made me do my multiplication tables in a little DOS program he made for me.

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