{"slug": "dos", "name": "DOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 5, "warners": 1, "score": 1.519, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-10", "latest": "2026-09-26", "why": "I say a single-tasking system is a complete, true bliss in our days.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I say a single-tasking system is a complete, true bliss in our days.", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/lproven/usb-dos", "official_url": "https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["DOS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 772030848, "item_id": 48251928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48251928", "by": "UncleSlacky", "date": "2026-05-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why not just use DOS?", "excerpt": "Why not just use DOS? e.g.: https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos At least the laptops that can still run DOS natively tend to have fairly good keyboards...", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's time to talk about my writerdeck"}, {"id": 754671056, "item_id": 47166941, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47166941", "by": "markus_zhang", "date": "2026-02-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I still think DOS and early Windows (up to XP) presents the best for that P in PC.", "excerpt": "I completely agree. I was astonished to learn from my friends that they saw not one, not two, but a percentage of young people who went through colleges but still don't know how to do simple things like printing from a desktop or using a word processor. My understanding is that they are so used to mobiles and pads, that their parents actually did not buy a computer for them (sometimes it is ignorance and sometimes it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Misuses of the University"}, {"id": 751466736, "item_id": 46966671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966671", "by": "marttt", "date": "2026-02-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I say a single-tasking system is a complete, true bliss in our days.", "excerpt": "DOS is very much alive these days, though [0]. Text-mode internet is there (should you want online in the first place), and, thanks to some amazing devs, soundcard support has made a huge leap [1]. I use it every day lately (for text-related work and hobbyst-level assembly learning -- my intent is to write a small application to do paid work which involves chopping audio files). And -- I say a single-tasking system i", "context": "uses DOS machine daily", "use_case": "focused text work and assembly learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 739659984, "item_id": 46228749, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46228749", "by": "sedatk", "date": "2025-12-10", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it sucked on the graphics and sound", "excerpt": "I agree with your point, but I must correct you on DOS: it had device drivers too. :) That's how we used to access mouse input, CD drives, network, extended memory, etc. Yes, it sucked on the graphics and sound; every app basically had to reimplement its own graphics and audio layer from scratch, but the rest was quite abstracted away.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Booting Linux in QEMU and Writing PID 1 in Go to Illustrate Kernel as Program"}]}], "who": [{"by": "marttt", "context": "uses DOS machine daily", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966671", "date": "2026-02-10"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["industrial cnc machine admin", "wi-fi networking on dos", "focused text work and assembly learning"], "compared": [{"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [{"id": 791146752, "item_id": 49446672, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49446672", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-08-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can put DOS on a USB key and boot basically any 21st century x86 box straight into DOS.", "excerpt": "Honestly, this is quibbling about implementation details, IMHO. You can put DOS on a USB key and boot basically any 21st century x86 box straight into DOS. I have a hobby project that does just that: https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos And yes, that includes UEFI boxes: https://github.com/CSMWrap/CSMWrap (No, I have not tried this myself yet. I own very few UEFI-only machines. I personally have no use for it.)", "context": "", "use_case": "Booting DOS from USB", "switched_from": "", "story": "Amiga-Inspired AROS Goes Bare Metal on Raspberry Pi"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49848955", "title": "Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49409210", "title": "Amiga-Inspired AROS Goes Bare Metal on Raspberry Pi", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48907063", "title": "Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48250144", "title": "It's time to talk about my writerdeck", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47153924", "title": "The Misuses of the University", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46960675", "title": "I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"warn": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 797632816, "item_id": 49852051, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49852051", "by": "Natsu", "date": "2026-09-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There was an SBC with DOS on a chip that connected to Novell Netware.", "excerpt": "I used to be doing that, but this was a bit over a decade ago at this point. There was an SBC with DOS on a chip that connected to Novell Netware. I set a few variables in autoexec.bat, let it connect to the network drive, then had it run a script from there to admin them / do backups (by which I mean xcopy the C: drive). These were for some industrial CNC machines with a poorly version-controlled app (send us the si", "context": "", "use_case": "industrial CNC machine admin", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?"}, {"id": 783303360, "item_id": 48956460, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956460", "by": "marttt", "date": "2026-07-18", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "wifi on DOS is doable, but very limited in speed", "excerpt": "Yeah, wifi on DOS is doable, but very limited in speed and not exactly straightforward to set up (so much that I haven't seriously considered trying myself). Here's an overview and a writeup: https://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/network/wifi.htm https://www.os2museum.com/wp/wireless-networking-in-dos/", "context": "", "use_case": "Wi-Fi networking on DOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Reviving a 15-year-old netbook with Arch Linux"}, {"id": 772030848, "item_id": 48251928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48251928", "by": "UncleSlacky", "date": "2026-05-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Why not just use DOS?", "excerpt": "Why not just use DOS? e.g.: https://github.com/lproven/usb-dos At least the laptops that can still run DOS natively tend to have fairly good keyboards...", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "It's time to talk about my writerdeck"}, {"id": 754671056, "item_id": 47166941, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47166941", "by": "markus_zhang", "date": "2026-02-26", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I still think DOS and early Windows (up to XP) presents the best for that P in PC.", "excerpt": "I completely agree. I was astonished to learn from my friends that they saw not one, not two, but a percentage of young people who went through colleges but still don't know how to do simple things like printing from a desktop or using a word processor. My understanding is that they are so used to mobiles and pads, that their parents actually did not buy a computer for them (sometimes it is ignorance and sometimes it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Misuses of the University"}, {"id": 751466736, "item_id": 46966671, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966671", "by": "marttt", "date": "2026-02-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I say a single-tasking system is a complete, true bliss in our days.", "excerpt": "DOS is very much alive these days, though [0]. Text-mode internet is there (should you want online in the first place), and, thanks to some amazing devs, soundcard support has made a huge leap [1]. I use it every day lately (for text-related work and hobbyst-level assembly learning -- my intent is to write a small application to do paid work which involves chopping audio files). And -- I say a single-tasking system i", "context": "uses DOS machine daily", "use_case": "focused text work and assembly learning", "switched_from": "", "story": "I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed"}, {"id": 739659984, "item_id": 46228749, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46228749", "by": "sedatk", "date": "2025-12-10", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it sucked on the graphics and sound", "excerpt": "I agree with your point, but I must correct you on DOS: it had device drivers too. :) That's how we used to access mouse input, CD drives, network, extended memory, etc. Yes, it sucked on the graphics and sound; every app basically had to reimplement its own graphics and audio layer from scratch, but the rest was quite abstracted away.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Booting Linux in QEMU and Writing PID 1 in Go to Illustrate Kernel as Program"}]}