DOjS is a JavaScript programming environment for systems running MS-DOS | Hacker News Reader

DOjS is a JavaScript programming environment for systems running MS-DOS

github.com

96 pointsgraderjs39 comments

The number of systems still running DOS is small, but shockingly stable.

I worked at a book store on my university campus in 2011 and the entire inventory management system was on a DOS system, I believe running on a VM (but possibly not...).

Maybe it was on a FreeDOS VM, I cant remember the name but I could of sworn there was a software that also simulated DOS and ran as a regular windows program.

Edit: DOSbox apparently

I bet there is a lot of DOS driving menu/kiosk displays, POS systems, and machine control things that just simply never needed to be upgraded.

LoveDOS was a similar project with Lua: https://github.com/rxi/lovedos. It is now archived.

> DOS based Windows (like 95, 98, ME)

Those Windows versions were a proper OS as well, MS-DOS run inside a virtual DOS box or rebooting into it.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20071224-00/?p=24...

Does Windows 10 still come with DOS compatibility?

Windows NT has absolutely nothing to do with MS-DOS.[1]

This was a rather sore point back in the days of Windows NT 3.1 and NT 4.0, when a lot of software was still written for DOS and simply couldn't execute on NT.

All 32-bit versions of Windows NT up through Windows 10 have NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine), which as the name suggests is a virtual machine which virtualized DOS.[2]

However, this "compatibility" afforded by NTVDM still failed in most practical situations because most DOS programs were written with the assumption of direct hardware access being available. NTVDM's purpose was instead to facilitate running 16-bit software originally written for the likes of Windows 3.1 and early days of Windows 9x.

All 64-bit versions of Windows NT do not incorporate NTVDM due to hardware limitations and consequently cannot execute any 16-bit programs, including software for DOS.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine#Windows_NT...

If you want a boost for DOS' compatibility under Windows XP, borrow the NTVDM DLL from ReactOS to perfectly play, for instance, Monkey Island.

At that point just use any of the DOSBox variants. DOSBox Pure made for libretro is the best imo (as far as gaming is your concern) https://github.com/schellingb/dosbox-pure

Or just use ScummVM if Monkey Island (and alike) is your only goal https://www.scummvm.org/

I still like the idea of having it tightly integrated with the OS. Just double-click the EXE and it works.

Yep, I'd like soemthing like that for all emulatable systems.

Windows from such a systems could be seamless, and where possible access to the local fileystem + cut / copy /paste too.

Amusingly enough back in the day this is what it was with 16-bit, OS/2 and UNIX binaries

Monkey Island was just an example. OFC I know ScummVM (now it supports even some Macromedia Director based software). But lots of legacy software for DOS/Win 3.1 (these infamous "Multimedia CD's) could be preserved thanks to that.

Someone has recomliled NTVDM for 64 bit, based on the leaker Windows sources.

This works because NTVDM has emulatipn, based on SoftPC built into it - NTVDM was available on non PC NT versions.

From my reading of that piece, Win9x had its own kernel that was a descendent of DOS; it was not just an application running atop DOS like Win 3x. Consequently it lacked proper memory isolation and security features compared to NT but it did at least bring preemptive multitasking.

Still longing for the source leak or dump like Apple did with LisaOS so we can have the theory confirmed, then have a play with it ourselves.

Retroactive programming; where whether we could always trumps whether we should. And who will question the unholy offspring? It is equal parts glorious and terrifying.

> DOjS is pronounces like doge, but ending with an "s".

Doge is pronounced Dough + Je(french). I have no idea how you then make an s sound after that without it sounding quite odd!

I read that more as "Doze", like the ol' derogatory "Windoze"

Probably the same way you’d pluralize doge.

Technically speaking this is kind of cool...but why spend all this time and energy on writing dev tools for an OS that's decades out of date?

Hah I love this. It's a quaint blend of modern and old

DJGPP and Allegro really gave DOS powers it didn't have

Good times but I certainly enjoy the convenience of modern OSs

Now Win 3.11 can be run on a GIT built FreeDOS. If anyone wrote some Win 3.11 replacement for DOS by reusing some Wine code, (and Calmira Desktop on top) it would be great for legacy 386 machines.

It's not like we have _that_ many 386 machines. Like 80% of the mobos around got some traces damaged because of battery leaks. Capacitors in ancient AT power supplies explode out of blue, etc, etc.

Perhaps someday soon with FPGAs we will have any CPU we want, whenever we want. Could have fun there.

It's not just about CPUs, but also about peripherals and multiple quirks. I wonder who might have enough resources to re-implement a dos-era machine with modern components without any potential commercial applications.

Simpler projects (e.g. Commanderx16) weren't successful so far.

These machines exist, they're common in industrial applications and also used by retro gamers. They're basically a i586-based PC in modern SoC form. Of course if you want to run literally anything that's more modern and not specific to old x86, current hardware is way better.

That's curious. Could you give me a hint what industrial machines are suitable for retrogaming?

Search YouTube for “mini dos pc”

WeeCee is one interesting project. There are also some (older) client terminals.

ao486 FPGA.

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