Whether you’re new to computers or have used a DOS machine before, you’ve likely asked yourself: “What is DOS, and what do its different types mean?” You might have found yourself wondering the same thing. The following information will help you answer this question:
DOS is a single-user, non-graphical command-line operating system. Its kernel provides basic kernel functions and is non-reentrant, meaning multiple processes cannot run at the same time. The DOS kernel provides many functions to programs, including file management, character I/O, and program loading and termination. It is an extremely useful operating system, but it is also outdated compared to other systems.
The DOS shell has an extensive help system, which provides detailed information on commands and their syntax. A typical command such as DIR /? shows the contents of the current directory. It also lists many more complicated options, such as ‘/O’, which sorts files alphabetically, and ‘/P’, which pauses the display after each screen full of entries. Finally, you can use DEL to delete specified filenames.
If you’re not familiar with the history of DOS, you might want to start with a simple description. DOS is a computer operating system that runs on PCs. It is a universal operating system that runs on many different hardware. You can find a description of each type of DOS at Wikipedia, and many more sources on the Internet. However, it’s important to remember that there’s always a catch – there’s no such thing as a “free” version of DOS.
DOS is an operating system developed by Tim Patterson. He was responsible for the creation of 86-DOS. This operating system was adapted to run on an Intel 8086 16-bit processor. Bill Gates later purchased it, and it became MS-DOS. Microsoft eventually released a PC-DOS version based on it. After acquiring the license from Seattle Computer Products, Microsoft developed its own version of DOS – MS-DOS. Microsoft released version 1.0 in 1981, and version 1.1 in 1982, which made use of double-sided floppy disks.
DOS is an acronym for “Disk Operating System.” It first appeared in 1981, and was later sold to IBM-compatible PCs. During this time, DOS came in two versions. The first was called PC-DOS and sold to the first PC manufacturers. The second was purchased by Microsoft and bundled with the first versions of Windows. There are even clones of the OS that were developed independently.
The first version of MS-DOS included the Microsoft DoubleSpace disk compression utility. Then, in MS-DOS 6.21, Stac filed a patent lawsuit against the company for infringing on its disk-compression patent. However, MS-DOS 6.21 removed this disk-compression utility and introduced DriveSpace, which used a different compression algorithm. If you’re interested in learning more about this operating system, you can read my book, “What is DOS and What are its Types?”
