At A Glance
Publisher
Microsoft
Web
www.microsoft.com
Status
No longer sold, no longer supported
Introduced
1981
Latest
6.22
Design
Text based, single tasking
Type
Workstation
Details
Summary
This was the first successful OS for the IBM PC platform, and was chosen by IBM for its PCs. Each major version added considerable improvements, but today is quite dated. Typical usage is with a command line interface, but a number of shells were produced that allows avoidance of the command line. Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to IBM, which produced their minor variant PC-DOS. DOS still lives on, as most functions are supported under Windows and Linux.
News
MS-DOS is no longer sold or supported by Microsoft, but the commands can be run from a “DOS box” of Windows.
All sales in all channels were discontinued in November 31, 2001.
All sales in all channels were discontinued in November 31, 2001.
Requirements
Product
MS-DOS 6.22
Processor
8086, 80386 or better for advanced memory management
RAM
512 KB
Drive space
5 MB
Drives
Runs from hard disk or diskette
Video
Monochrome, CGA, EGA, VGA or better
File systems
FAT
Compatibility
DOS programs
DOS device drivers
DOS device drivers
Interface
Text based OS. With the addition of Windows 3.x, the user gets a GUI like OS.
Installation
DOS must be installed on a primary partition on the first drive.
Variants
Full
Upgrade from prior versions of MS/PC-DOS
OEM
Upgrade from prior versions of MS/PC-DOS
OEM
Versions
V1.0 1981 First release
V1.25 Jun-1982 Bug fixes, double sided floppy support
V2.0 Mar-1983 Hard disk support, print spooling, installable device drivers
V2.01 1983 International support
V2.11 1983 Bug fixes
V3.0 Aug-1984 Larger hard disk support, file locking, extended error reporting
V3.1 Nov-1994 Network print and file sharing, supports Windows 1.0
V3.2 1986 Support for 3.5″ diskettes
V3.3 1987 Improved multi-language support
V3.31 1987 Bug fixes
V4.0 1988 Visual shell, support for logical partitions larger than 32 MB
V5.0 9-Apr-1991 Bug fixes
V6.00 10-Mar-1993 Bundled various utilities, disk compression
V6.20 30-Sep-1993 Improved disk compression
V6.21 1994 – Removed disk compression (patent issue)
V6.22 31-May-1994 – New disk compression added
V1.25 Jun-1982 Bug fixes, double sided floppy support
V2.0 Mar-1983 Hard disk support, print spooling, installable device drivers
V2.01 1983 International support
V2.11 1983 Bug fixes
V3.0 Aug-1984 Larger hard disk support, file locking, extended error reporting
V3.1 Nov-1994 Network print and file sharing, supports Windows 1.0
V3.2 1986 Support for 3.5″ diskettes
V3.3 1987 Improved multi-language support
V3.31 1987 Bug fixes
V4.0 1988 Visual shell, support for logical partitions larger than 32 MB
V5.0 9-Apr-1991 Bug fixes
V6.00 10-Mar-1993 Bundled various utilities, disk compression
V6.20 30-Sep-1993 Improved disk compression
V6.21 1994 – Removed disk compression (patent issue)
V6.22 31-May-1994 – New disk compression added
Downloads
None
Links
Microsoft
Technical Reference
List of DOS related sites (ringsurf)
Technical Reference
List of DOS related sites (ringsurf)
Books
Categories: All DOS – DR-DOS – MS-DOS – PC-DOS
Publisher
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 USA
Phone 1-206-635-7000 (support, maybe)
Web: www.microsoft.com
Support
None
Alternatives
PC-DOS 7, OpenDOS, Windows 95/98/Me, Linux
Secrets
Command line options
Pricing
Retail price: n/a
Upgrade price: n/a
Upgrade price: n/a
Compare
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