Re:Networking FreeDOS
by IntelMiner on Monday May 16, 2022 @10:09AM
(#31397452)
What's the compatibility with Freedos on the whole like? I assume DOS as a whole with its sheer "simplicity" means that reimplementing it isn't on the whole incredibly difficult
In general, stuff just works.
The most problematic I'm aware of is Microsoft Windows, particularly 3.11 for Workgroups. These days it works, but it still needs a patched kernel AIUI.
There are APIs in the kernel / memory manager that back then were not public (documented) and are only used by Microsoft themselves.
Where there's availability of packet drivers (crynwr), it is trivial.
No packet drivers makes it a lot harder, but still workable, with NDIS drivers. The linked story documents how to do it, and I've done it once before. The end result is the same packet driver interface, but backed by NDIS + a driver that acts as a proxy of sorts.
Ms-kermit is a good way to move data around with just the serial port. Once there is a working packet driver in the system, Etherdfs. It uses broadcast ethernet frames, thus does not require a TCP/IP setup.
This should all also work on ms-dos, but running that implementation is less useful today, as freedos 1.3 bumped up the compatibility considerably.