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FreeDOS, like MSDOS, relies on BIOS calls to control the hardware. Most PCs aren't pure EFI-only and can still boot with some BIOS compatibility, but of course
by scottjg 7y ago
FreeDOS, like MSDOS, relies on BIOS calls to control the hardware. Most PCs aren't pure EFI-only and can still boot with some BIOS compatibility, but of course not all of the BIOS implementations are bug-free.
When legacy BIOS compatibility is truly dead, I guess DOS will die with it.
- vocatus_gate 7y agoI would assume...(guess?) that FreeDOS will continue to exist in VM's to support extremely old industrial control systems (for example, one of the major dairy plants in my hometown of Phoenix, which still uses [last I checked, 2016] software running in a VM on actual DOS). Beyond that however, maybe outside of educational scenarios, I can't see it sticking around much longer as the move to pure EFI continues full steam.
- jdboyd 7y agoI suspect that when we get computers that are pure EFI and completely free of legacy BIOS, it will be possible to use something like SeaBIOS to continue to add back BIOS compatibility for use with tools like FreeDOS.
- farmerbb 7y agoI've tried booting FreeDOS on my Chromebook with SeaBIOS installed, and it just does not handle it well. The system will completely lock up when running most programs or even just by hitting the Tab key. FreeDOS doesn't even boot unless I have it skip loading AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS on startup.
- jdboyd 7y agoThanks for posting that. Sounds like SeaBIOS or FreeDOS.