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I miss DOS

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  • DOS
  • Windows
Last response: in Windows 95/98/ME
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February 8, 2001 11:22:30 PM

Seven years ago, I never would have imagined saying that I miss DOS. I don't remember what DOS version I had in college but I remember it used Basica 1.0. I have used Windows 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, and now Me. As the OS advanced, it got prettier with more features, but never any easier to use. If anything, it has become more complex to use. With all the folders, menus, shortcuts, and taskbars, I don't fault my parents for not being able to understand it.

In the good old DOS days, <i>when Dinosaurs roamed the earth</i>, you could run a program on a 16MHz system with under 1MB of RAM. You could store the whole program on a 16MB Hard Disk and if you wanted to delete the program, all you had to do was delete the directory.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my 3D games and auto-spellchecking and all the other cool features that you can get with a GHz processor, 128MB RAM, and a 15GB HD. But why can't the programers put all the files in one directory? What happened to all the programming languages that allow any Nerd to write his own programs to perform some simple but custom tasks and don't cost $1000. What happened to being able to tweak your OS to make it look and act the way you want it too? What about the paper instructions and reference manuals you still pay for and need but now have to go pay for again at the bookstore?

One more gripe. Why have we allowed software manufacturers license the products we buy rather than sell them to us. I have never understood the morality of software licensing. After all, you don't buy a license to listen to music or read a book or watch a video. In what way is software all that different.

All right, I will get off the soap box now. Anyone want to take a turn?

<i>Its not fun AFTER you have fragged everyone.</i> :cool: James

More about : miss dos

February 9, 2001 4:11:29 AM

This is somewhat of a DOS experience but not quite. I remember typing in strings and strings of commands with my Commodore 128 to make cool little maze games. I used to get a magazine called (Compute, i think?). Every issue had a program for you to type in and make a game or a picture or something. The strings where like this:

10 IF A$="g" GOTO 30
30 CLRSCRN
and so on.

I used to feel so warm and toasty inside thinking I made such a complicated program or something.

P.S. really miss those "floppy" floppy disks
February 9, 2001 1:59:22 PM

My gripe with windows is this. My hard drive is partitioned so when windows starts to act up I just format the C drive and reinstall form the copy of windows on my D drive. I keep most of my games and programs on the D drive so I won’t have to reinstall them. WRONG, I guess they write tons of [-peep-] to the registry and won’t work if it’s gone. That sucks guess I will have to reinstall them all anywise. Also I just reinstalled 98se and now when I leave my computer on all night the “start” button gets all scrambled up, everything works fine but it’s ugly to look at. What the hell causes this? DOS never had these problems.
Cya
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February 9, 2001 3:25:19 PM

I occassionally have the same messed-up Start button. It started to happen after I installed a GF2MX card. It never happened before I installed the new video card.

By any chance do you have a GF2MX?

"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"
February 10, 2001 4:10:22 AM

Yea I do!
The weird thing is that it never happened until just this last time I formatted.
What drivers are u running? I downloaded the detonator drivers, if u read the readme file it says “version 4.12.01.0631, 09/20/2000” let me know if u have the same. Also I am going to look and see if newer drivers exist. If not I think I will try reinstalling my Geforce2 anywise. I will let u know if I fix this.
Thx & Cya
February 10, 2001 5:07:07 AM

I have the exact same detonator driver version. I also occasionally get strange artifacts near my mouse pointer. Weird.

Good Luck.

"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"
February 10, 2001 2:01:39 PM

Nvidia has released new drivers v6.50 which you can get from <A HREF="http://www.nvidia.com" target="_new">http://www.nvidia.com&lt;/A>. You can also find v6.72 which I use and is a beta at <A HREF="http://www.reactorcritical.com" target="_new">http://www.reactorcritical.com&lt;/A>.

Driver problems also didn't exist in the DOS era (at least not in the same way) because there were no independent video card drivers. Video cards were designed to work with games and games were designed to work with video cards. Now we have microshaft's winbloat in between to screw things up. Because winbloat is so complex, it is harder to create stable drivers for it rather than for individual games which the game programmers made for their specific game anyway. And it is not like winbloat is all that stable to begin with.

<i>Its not fun AFTER you have fragged everyone.</i> :cool: James
February 10, 2001 2:05:40 PM

I agree, writing your own little program gives you a nice warm fuzzy.

I don't miss floppy disks. Way too slow and too small a capacity. I much prefer my LS-120 and 12x/40x DVD drive. Of course, capacity was not an issue when your programs and data were less than 1MB.

<i>Its not fun AFTER you have fragged everyone.</i> :cool: James
February 10, 2001 5:11:32 PM

Well I downloaded and installed the newest detonatordrivers but it didn’t fix my funked up start button.
Any other suggestions?
Anonymous
February 10, 2001 11:31:11 PM

You know, we wouldn't even need to have 1.4GHz processors if it wern't for programmers just plugging in everyone ELSE's code. I remember the days when 1 programmer worked on 1 modular section... and it worked perfectly. It's when Windows became predomiate that I stopped programming cause I HATE to use someone else code! Ah, someone said DOS and those memories came flooding back. Just had to get it out.
March 25, 2013 5:16:11 PM

People of this original post,

I am writing to you from a time in the future. You must take warning. There is immediate danger lurking in the months that lie ahead. Be prepared for an eminent terrorist attack on our country on September 11. Be forewarned of companies that appear to be too good to be true. Now is your time to take your money out of those thieves pockets at Enron, Adelphia and others. Beware of the hurricanes that will pound the Gulf Coast in 2005 and the Jersey Shore in 2012; tornadoes through the midwest in 2011; and the California forest fires. A black democrat will run this country for 8 years after Bush's term expires. There will continue to be uprisings in the Middle East. North African countries will overthrow governmental powers and liberate themselves. Buy stock in Google and Apple stock. The Yankees will lose the upcoming World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Boston Red Sox will break the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 and become the first team in sports history to come back from a 0-3 deficit in the ALCS to beat the Yankees, and advancing to and winning the World Series. Put your money on the Giants beating the 18-0 Patriots. There is no 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. The stock market will plunge beginning late 2008 and the economy will drag through 2013. Pre-order a bunch of Nintendo Wii's and sell them for three times the price on eBay since orders are extremely limited. Tiger Woods is cheating on his wife and Lance Armstrong is doping. Also doping is Barry Bonds who will break the home run record. Well, that's about enough. I think I've prepared you well for your journey through time. And, stay away from New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001. It will be a little -- chaotic.

Your friend,

The Time Traveler
!