[HN Gopher] The weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option (2022)
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       The weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option (2022)
        
       Author : wibbily
       Score  : 51 points
       Date   : 2025-03-02 16:28 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.tmm.cx)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.tmm.cx)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Discussed at the time (of the article):
       | 
       |  _The weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31389893 - May 2022 (149
       | comments)
        
       | ForOldHack wrote:
       | It was weird, it was free and it allowed you to install firmware.
        
         | bityard wrote:
         | I don't think you can install firmware from inside QEMU.
        
       | dingdingdang wrote:
       | The real pertinent question here is:
       | 
       | Can I install Win311 on it!?
        
       | somat wrote:
       | The fun part about freedos is that it feels like a very modern
       | dos environment. A lot of what you would call quality of life
       | features compared to the last MS dos.
       | 
       | I have always wondered why you could not have a 64-bit native
       | dos, The answer I have come up with is that it would not be dos
       | because it would not be compatible with dos programs. the second
       | perhaps more important reason is that, sure dos is an operating
       | system. but it leans really hard on the pc firmware, the bios. if
       | you squint right, the bios could be considered the actual OS and
       | dos just a shell on it. And the bios has a lot of legacy cruft
       | and limitations, modern pc operating systems ditch the bios as
       | fast as possible and lean on direct access. But in that light the
       | modern 64-bit native dos might be the uefi shell.
       | 
       | Conclusion. As a big unix snob, I don't really like dos all that
       | much and it have little nostalgia for it. I suspect HP could(and
       | do it appears) get away with a minimal console only linux install
       | for their firmware flashing needs. but the long tail of low level
       | dos tooling for the PC world is still hanging on.
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | The UEFI shell is pretty much a glorified MS-DOG anyway.
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-03 23:00 UTC)