Disclaimer: The information provided here is based on the authors(s) experiences with various versions of PC/GEOS and later versions of the CI builds of FreeGEOS, along with information provided in the readme.txt file suppled with each version of PC/GEOS/FreeGEOS. Where others have provided information, the author(s) have tried to provide acknowledgement and references for such information. Running any DOS based system on modern hardware (post 2000, possibly earlier) can be difficult, and could impact the performance and stability of PC/GEOS/FreeGEOS as a result. This should probably be a wiki to simplify collaboration!
| DOS type | config.sys |
geos.ini |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR-DOS | Set FILES=120 or higher, and BUFFERS=30 (or HIBUFFERS=30). |
PC/GEOS Requires DR-DOS v5.0 or higher | |
| FreeDOS | Set !STACKS=0,0 and !FILES=120 in fdconfig.sys. Also try !buffers=30 1 |
If you are having issues, try setting fs to fs = os2.geo or fs = ntfat.geo |
I recommend using version 1.3 and the latest packages (run fdnpkg update) from the DOS prompt. Hans (hans046071) also suggests trying out this kernel if you have a 386 or higher 1: https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/repositories/1.3/pkg-html/kernel.html |
| MS-DOS/PC-DOS | Set BUFFERS=30 (or higher) and FILES=30 (or FILES=120 if you use DOSSHELL). |
PC/GEOS Requires PC/MS-DOS v3.3 or higher | |
| OS/2 DOS Session | Set fs to fs = os2.geo |
PC/GEOS Requires OS/2 V3 or higher | |
| PTS-DOS | Compatibility unknown | ||
| REAL/32 | Compatibility unknown | ||
| ROM-DOS | Known to work (with PC/GEOS 4.x), v7.x supports FAT32 partitions. Supplied ROM-DOS EMM386.EXE is more basic compared to the MS-DOS equivalent (i.e., does not support automatic testing/scanning of UMBs for free memory). |
By default, FreeDOS seems to set up Jemm wihh the assumption it is running under emulation/virtualisation. If you are running FreeDOS directly on a Pentium or higher system, you might want to change the following parameters for the memory managers in fdconfig.sys:
- Remove
NOINVLPGstatement. This disables the INVLPG opcode, but seems to be only necessary when running FreeDOS under emulation/virtualisation. - Replace
NOVMEwithVME. This will enable your CPU's V86 Mode Extensions, which may (or may not) boost performance.
- Jemm readme (FreeDOS memory manager) - Section 3 may be useful for maximising conventional memory and/or improving system stability on a case-by-case basis.
- ROM-DOS 6.22 user guide
- ROM-DOS 7.1 user guide
- blueway.Softworks Discord community
Footnotes
-
Suggested by Hans (hans046071), https://discord.com/channels/1256900870176510013/1268316663309144155/1300107005448683652 ↩ ↩2