what drivers are pre-installed in dos laptops

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vintom

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Dec 9, 2013
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Hi

Do all laptops with DOS come with pre-installed drivers ????.

Will i be able to check graphics and audio etc in new DOS laptop before purchasing it ?????

Thanks
Vineet
 
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rhapdog
If they will allow you to, take a Live Linux CD with you to the store, and see if they will let you put it in the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive and load it. From there, you can see more what the laptop can do.

My first DOS laptop came with 512K RAM and 2 3.5" Floppy disk drives. CD Drives didn't exist back then. A 10MB HDD would have cost several hundred dollars. Monochrome display. 24 pounds of portable weight with the battery, which lasted about an hour. It was just too heavy to take to college classes at the time. DOS doesn't have as much system requirements, so they can make the hardware cheaper as well, which I suppose is another reason for making them that way.
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rhapdog

rhapdog

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I wasn't aware you could still buy a laptop that has DOS pre-installed. At least not since the early 1990s.

DOS does not pre-install audio and graphics drivers. Those have to be programmed in to be compatible with your hardware by each game/application that you use.

There are usually drivers available for CD-ROM drives, etc., so you can access data on a CD-ROM. You have to configure DOS to load those.

Seriously, does anyone still run DOS as anything other than nostalgia anymore?
 
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jaguarskx

jaguarskx

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There are no DOS drivers for graphics and audio. FreeDOS and other similar DOS operating systems are installed on laptops (seems to be common practice in India) to keep the price of the laptop down. However, to fully use the laptop you would naturally need to buy an OS and install it.

Of course there is Linux which is a free alternative to Windows. I think Linux should be installed instead of FreeDOS, but I suppose installing FreeDOS is much faster.
 
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rhapdog

rhapdog

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If they will allow you to, take a Live Linux CD with you to the store, and see if they will let you put it in the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive and load it. From there, you can see more what the laptop can do.

My first DOS laptop came with 512K RAM and 2 3.5" Floppy disk drives. CD Drives didn't exist back then. A 10MB HDD would have cost several hundred dollars. Monochrome display. 24 pounds of portable weight with the battery, which lasted about an hour. It was just too heavy to take to college classes at the time. DOS doesn't have as much system requirements, so they can make the hardware cheaper as well, which I suppose is another reason for making them that way.
 
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vintom

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Dec 9, 2013
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Hi

These days new laptops are not coming along with driver cds/ disks. Thats why i was confirming what all i will have to arrange before buying DOS laptop.

Thanks
Vineet
 
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jaguarskx

jaguarskx

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Apr 19, 2006
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It is relatively simple. Go to the manufacturer's website and look for drivers that are specific for your laptop. Download the versions that applies to the operating system you want to install. This is generally limited to between Windows 8 32-bit and Windows 8 64-bit drivers.

You may find some Windows 7 drivers for some laptops, but I think most manufacturers simply provides Windows 8 drivers for current laptops.
 
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