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Somewhat related, HP did (does?) have a FreeDOS option, although it was a FreeDOS VM running under Debian: The weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option (2022) (tmm
by sillywalk 1y ago
Somewhat related, HP did (does?) have a FreeDOS option, although it was a FreeDOS VM running under Debian:
The weird Hewlett Packard FreeDOS option (2022) (tmm.cx)
107 points by wibbily 55 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 33 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43232057 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43232057
https://blog.tmm.cx/2022/05/15/the-very-weird-hewlett-packard-freedos-option/ https://blog.tmm.cx/2022/05/15/the-very-weird-hewlett-packar...
- creatonez 1y agoIt used to be FreeDOS running on baremetal, but the combination of the lack of NVMe drivers for DOS and BIOS functionality becoming broken over time made it impossible. I find it so wacky that they didn't just replace the option with a random Linux. Or if it needs to be crippled (so that normal users don't try to use it in that state), coulda just been FreeBSD or something. Anything that boots on modern UEFI, starts at a command line interface, and has no hope of ever supporting Wifi would have accomplished the same goal of technically shipping a computer with an OS but scaring the user away from stubbing their toe on it.