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Speaking of DOS and configuration. Everyone used to whine about that. Having to put cryptic lines of text in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to get some game runnin

Speaking of DOS and configuration. Everyone used to whine about that. Having to put cryptic lines of text in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to get some game running. But I look back now and I see my old configuration files that I used on my last DOS computer, or the files I use to configure FreeDOS, and it is really not bad at all compared to any modern OS. In two short text files, maybe typically a few dozen lines in total (and the OS installer is likely to give you good defaults) it sets up all preferences, from command-line keyboard layout to TCP/IP to what settings DJGPP need to compile C++. There is no control panel or other annoying settings GUI to hunt for settings, just two files.

johnisgood 2y ago
Yes, pretty much, something you can carry with you, or have it backed up. One can be considered lucky if the GUI allows the export & import of settings.
bitwize 2y ago
Meanwhile, if you had a Mac, everything Just Worked. There was no need to load an "extended memory driver" to use all the RAM in your system; it was all there from the start. If you wanted to change things, you could click on a few settings with sensible names without having to run arcane syntax. If a special driver or system extension was needed, just drag it to System Folder:Extensions. The DOS PC was really clunky, inferior, and a struggle to use compared to any of the alternatives.
- mr_toad 2y ago
  Poor students couldn’t afford Macs in those days. We built PCs by hand to save a few bucks.
skhr0680 2y ago
I feel like the difficulty was in that you couldn’t just Google magic spells to make things work, you either knew how to do things or you didn’t. DOS didn’t even have manpages IIRC
- DrNosferatu 2y ago
  You had the manual, and had magazines: At the time, I was really annoyed I couldn’t convert my DOS knowledge into Unix (Linux) shell commands - when need came.

johnisgood 2y ago

Yes, pretty much, something you can carry with you, or have it backed up. One can be considered lucky if the GUI allows the export & import of settings.

bitwize 2y ago

Meanwhile, if you had a Mac, everything Just Worked. There was no need to load an "extended memory driver" to use all the RAM in your system; it was all there from the start. If you wanted to change things, you could click on a few settings with sensible names without having to run arcane syntax. If a special driver or system extension was needed, just drag it to System Folder:Extensions. The DOS PC was really clunky, inferior, and a struggle to use compared to any of the alternatives.

mr_toad 2y ago
Poor students couldn’t afford Macs in those days. We built PCs by hand to save a few bucks.

skhr0680 2y ago

I feel like the difficulty was in that you couldn’t just Google magic spells to make things work, you either knew how to do things or you didn’t. DOS didn’t even have manpages IIRC

DrNosferatu 2y ago
You had the manual, and had magazines: At the time, I was really annoyed I couldn’t convert my DOS knowledge into Unix (Linux) shell commands - when need came.