I Want DOS Back!

[Flaming_Monkey]

Does anybody know if Windows ME (the most crippled operating system yet) really got rid of real mode DOS, or did Microsoft just do a REALLY good job of hiding it?

Thanks for the help

[Juan Carlos Rey]

You mean that awkward, cryptic, text-based, boring, ugly, but fast, powerful, non-hanging, old operating system that was the base of 386´s and older PC´s?

[Sophtware]

i was watching techtv a couple of weeks ago and the host of one of the show "call for help" was answering a call from a person that asked the same question..and it turns out that WinMe still has Dos in it and he explained how too find it..but i didnt really listen because i dont have WinME myself..i knew i should have payed attention.

but try going to http://www.techtv.com and look through the site..or just leave that question on there message board and i am sure you will get the answer:)

[alex_read]

Juan, the

"You mean that awkward, cryptic, text-based, boring, ugly, but fast, powerful, non-hanging, old operating system that was the base of 386´s and older PC´s? "

might be a bit harsh here.
I'm a techie and continuously answer problems, build pc's etc. Imagine no f8 on win98 startup, imagine no safe mode in win95??
How the hell are do you solve the 1,000,000,000+ bugs MS have in their OS's ???????? Until they get a decent OS with NO bugs, dos will be here to stay.
I know of only a few people who have upgraded to this, I will certainly not!

Ok, Flaming_Monkey yes it's there, like win98, there are a few features been taken out of pure dos, and you can only get to it for games or apps, not the most important part of fixing the OS !

I have been using ME for a few weeks now. And even though I have ranb across a few glitches, they have been slowly fixed. In otherwords, it's no different then when 95/98 first came out. Once MS fixes all the glitches it's fine.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm no MS fan. But WinME has a LOT of nice features that 98 didn't. I won't go back to 98 now.

Also, Even though you cannot REBOOT into DOS, you can still use DOS. It's not gone. It's still fully functional. In fact, I have noticed that they Fixed the DOS part, because one of the old DOS games wouldn't run in a 98 dos window, but worked when I rebooted into DOS Mode. However it works fine in the window of ME. So to me that is an improvement.

All in all, it's still early to make a decision on WinME. Just like 95/98, give it time to have all the drivers and bugs worked out. Of course, that may take forever and when the next 64 BIT OS is on the market, that is probably when WinME will be fully ready.. LOL

Knight

Oh, I forgot to meantion.. If your using a Pirated copy of WinME it's no wonder your having problems. I am using a FULL version of ME bought from the store. Let me tell you, there is a BIG difference. I have seen both. ALSO, WinME has some REALLY neat features if you have a Pentium CPU compared to AMD or others. I was really suprised that MS did that. But they did. I have tested ME in two different machine with the same speed. One AMD and one Pentium. Windows recognized the difference. I REALLY loved that. I was VERY impressed with the install on the Pentium. The AMD install was dull and boring.

So, keep in mind, there are variations of the WinME that you may not be aware of, so don't judge it unless you have seen them all. MS has really outdone themselves on this one. AND WinME will also run in 64-Bit on a 64-Bit machine. 98 cannot.

So, give WinME a chance. :)

BTW - Linux also has a 64-Bit OS too. ;)

Knight

[Flaming_Monkey]

Oh, yeah, don't get me wrong, I like Windows ME, it's just that it bugs me that Microsoft took away my only resort for deleting stuff that windows believes is 'critical'.
The version I have is the cheap $50 upgrade, so it's possible that some features are missing, but I didn't have too much choice but to upgrade (I had the preview release most of the summer, but I forgot to say 'keep existing system files'...)

Anyways, thanks for the help all, it's not that I don't like Windows ME, far from it, it's faster and more stable than 98... It's just that I miss the ability to delete vital system files on a whim
hehe

[Juan Carlos Rey]

Don´t mis the point, dude!

Read carefully, I said "fast, powerful, not-hanging".

Is there something like xcopy, ren, move, dir, attrib, etc. in Windowz? Did you know that "dir," , yes, with a comma, show all hidden files?

What do you think I do when I want to copy a 3-1/2? Go to Win Wxplorer? No way! And old friendly diskcopy is a must!

Do you believe me I still use QBX 7.1? Faster and simpler than VB, I assure.

I began with DOS 3.3 then 4.1, 5.0, etc. -I think DOS 6.22 is the best OS in the world.

Cheers!

[parksie]

Knight_Vision - WinME can't run on a 64-bit system... Although, MS would only need to recompile it and it's fine. I think what they meant was source compatibility.

[HarryW]

I think DOS 6.22 is the best OS in the world
I'm tempted to agree with you here Juan, I was very reluctant to move to Win95 when it turned up. I still much prefer DOS for any kind of file operations, like moving, copying and deleting, but Win9x has it's merits.

Maybe someone should make a natively multitasking version of DOS? I remember back when they were still selling P90s as top of the range PCs, there was IBM PC-DOS 7, which everyone was selling as an alternative to Win95, anyone know if that was any different to the MS offerings?

parksie - Your correct. I went to the MS site and found nothing about it. I then called my local retailer who had been telling people that it will run on 64-Bit, he said he read it somewhere. But he coldn't back his story up. Guess he won't be telling anymore people that. Sorry for the misinformation. Thank you for the correction parksie.

Knight

[Flaming_Monkey]

The other thing is that it's now near impossible to update any kind of hardware bios - actually, that's what prompted this...
I was trying to update my video card bios, and I had to make a windows startup disk, copy the files to the disk, restart with the disk, and then run the bios flasher.

I still like WinMe a lot, don't get me wrong, I just wish they had either left real mode DOS in as an option, or waited the extra 6 months and based it off of NT5.

[Michael]

I think the problem here is that there are 2 kinds of "users" - Developers and Users (forgive the use of the word "User" here for 2 different groups of people - but you know what I mean!!!)

As a developer, I always felt in total control when using DOS. When using Windows I occasionally feel that I am at the mercy of the OS and not always in control.

A friend of mine who is not a developer thought that Windows 95 was a massive improvement on DOS and he loved it.

Because non-technically-oriented "users" outnumber the developers then Microsoft will tend to cater mainly for this group of people and we developers will just have to fit in where we can.

Don't we just love good old Uncle Bill!!!

[HarryW]

If he was really my uncle, then yes I'd probably like him a lot =]