# I'll Try not to Brag But...

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 13-Aug-2009 3:10:07

First, thanks to all of you who've been putting up with my ranting, questioning, curiosity and general craziness. You've all been wonderful, offering help when you can. But second, to those who turned their nose up at my ideas etc, na na na na na na.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ak621/DOS/DOS-Fal.html
There you have it! Any objection you could make about dos, aside from personal preference, has been asked, answered, cut down and put in it's place. 37 fallacies in all. Nough said before my head gets too big or my face falls off from smiling. Seriously, anyone who might be looking for a good os might consider the several modern versions now available. For the rest, at least you'll have more knowledge.

## Post 2 by skpoet711 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Thursday, 13-Aug-2009 21:31:36

• 15/ "There's Too Much Typing in DOS." There can be, but I am amazed that these same complainers are quite willing to text message someone's phone
instead of leaving a voice message, or type an eight-screen e-mail to a co-worker seated only a few metres away.
hahahahahahhahahahahahaha
How true that is.

## Post 3 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 13-Aug-2009 21:43:12

Agreed. I've often wondered the same thing, though I've never seen anyone text someone who was right there. Then again, I don't text so.

## Post 4 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 13-Aug-2009 22:30:13

Here's one of the best. "As above, all that is needed is the proper card, such as a WaveLAN or ORiNOCO card, and suitable software in order for DOS to be able to connect to any wireless network. This has been available for over a decade and a half." Yes! Oh man, even I thought that couldn't be done! This is so fucking awesome. Now I gotta get a card and find a browser that plays nice with screenreaders. Now, about ocr software and mp3 players.

## Post 5 by The Roman Battle Mask (Making great use of my Employer's time.) on Friday, 14-Aug-2009 18:52:22

That's a wonderful site, but DOS is still a nitch operating system only sutable for users with specific requirements such as imbedded systems, or hobbiests. Things I can't do in dos include run Java programs, use many modern programming languages such as c#, Java, Groovy, new versions of python, etc. Dos also doesn't have any virtualization software, I can run Linux under Windows or Windows under Linux with out another computer, but if I install Dos I have to dule boot to run another operating system. I'm sure there are other issues but this should be enough to get you started.

## Post 6 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Friday, 14-Aug-2009 19:14:27

Yay for Python!

## Post 7 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 14-Aug-2009 21:37:08

Given your requirements, it doesn't sound like the os for you and I certainly appreciate that. But the general public mostly isn't programmers or people needing to use virtual machines. While I know several people who are and who do, I know an equal amount who barely know what a programming language is and who've never heard of a virtual machine. I'm not saying these users don't know about computers. Some even do heavy tasks with them. It's just that they're not in those fields. I'll have to check on the languages you mentioned someday just for the hell of it. There may be modern compilers out there for them for all we know.

## Post 8 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 0:44:31

*applause* Congratulations .. you won the bar bet. Yeah dos is still alive and well .. but look at you scrunging around to make it work with newer things like mp3's and the like. So unless this is a hobby for you and its something you want to do or use just to prove it can be done, much like putting linux on an ipod, well then the point remains that there are easier and more accessible ways to do all those things and more in more modern operating systems. And no one said it couldn't be done, all we said is why waste your time writing an OS from scratch when maybe a few minor mods to something else could do what you want it to if it couldn't already.

## Post 9 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 0:48:06

Yeah, think about Linux on Ps3, too. I mean, just install a VM on there, and load the files on there like taht, and you'll be good to go. In fact, search virtual machine on wikipedia, and you'll be amazed at what they can do, and why people/it people love to use them.

## Post 10 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 11:01:14

I've said before that I'm probably not gonna write an os from scratch now that I know this one exists. Part of it is proving but most of it is wanting to switch my os, assuming that everything works as it should and that I've found proper substitutes. You always have to work at something when you start with it. Even if I was to switch to Linux I'd still need to research what programs do what. Same when I did the switch to Leopard. What I'll probably do, once I have everything figured out, is to write up a list or zip up a file of the dos equivalents to the Windows/Leopard programs and then submit it to the Enhanced DR-Dos page so that other newbies, particularly blind ones, wouldn't need to go through all this.

## Post 11 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 11:25:21

So the point of using this over a modern os that lets you do alot more is?

## Post 12 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 11:50:36

For the average user they're pretty much equal. As for why I like it, speed, no overhead or bloatware, no viruses, no spyware, no malware, small programs, command line interface that's easy to understand i.e. no annoying graphics if you don't want them, customisability, difficult to crash most of the time, free/ open source software and still being developed. There are probably more but that's what I thought of for now.

## Post 13 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 15:56:18

You get all that same stuff with Linux. All the stuff you listed above. Plus, I've heard, wonderful tech support. Well, not sure about the program sizes with Linux, but that doesn't matter though, and Linux doesn't crash from what I've heard, well, maybe every once in a while, but that's typical with every single operating system.

## Post 14 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 15-Aug-2009 17:42:33

As amatter of fact, Linux has some better diognostic tools beter then windows.

## Post 15 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Sunday, 16-Aug-2009 16:38:33

Well to each their own, but the reality of the matter is that it doesn't take that nuch knowledge to and common sense to learn how to avoid bloat ware, spyware, and virus's on windows and even less on mac and linux, for the time being. and well its hard to keep program sizes down when they are becoming the complex beast they are and wanting to be run on multiple os enviroments. But then again living in the past always seemed to suit you and doesn't look like thats about to change anytime soon, so best of luck on your journey.

## Post 16 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Sunday, 16-Aug-2009 19:33:27

Wow, I still don't understand the glea with which you posted this. I am sure I can find a similar list for pot not being dangerous, Elvis is stil alive etc. And if you turn out to be right I am happy, we'll have another choice in the accessibility arena and if people have more choice that's great.
But given your posts to the boards, having problems unzipping files, compiling systems, not finding accessible dos browsers, I can't say I perceive you to hve had an accessible experience, butif you can document it and put it on a web page if you feel you've reached a point where you have full and rich computer expeience with Dos I'd be happy to set up a web page for you with instructions and advice and such, more choice is better.
For myself I use dos to run tasks and scripts, Ihave no desire to upgrade it and I find Windows stable, save and user friendly and if you put half the time into Windows you've put into dos you'd have such a system too, not to mention that at the end of the day you'll end up with another semi graphical interface for dos, and the most popular one is Windows.
I'd say I would feel impressed and like I could get a full computer experience if you could find an accessible dos browser, media player that plays mp3, wav, audible files, flac and ogg and m4a files, emai program that allows you to attach, sort into folders, set up a calendar (or you can find a separate calendar program that's fine), a good Word Processor and Table Calculator like Excel, able to run many things at once such as play music and browse while editing a Word document, play movies and video, instant message, at least msn messenger, ideally others too and, well, that's what I have come up with.
If you can do all that, point to programs that ahve been updated in the last 12 months and seem to be alive and you have full access, speech and braille, to the dos system, then I'll be impressed, snack on my doubts and put yourinfo on a web page if you so wish.
Cheers and good luck
-B

## Post 17 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Sunday, 16-Aug-2009 21:15:18

Thanks to the two of you for your help and encouragement. I'm actually just starting out with this new version and will hopefully be installing it this coming week. So all of these questions are proliminary. I know that most of the things you've mentioned are definitely possible, perhaps with the exception of MSN, though Netsend should be a temporary work-around and possibly some of the media types, though I could be wrong there. I can't guarrintee that all the programs will have been updated in the last 12 months, as some of them may have been written in the past, but there's a very good amount of new stuff coming out so there may be more modern versions of these. I'll certainly keep you all up-to-date on what happens when I get the ball rolling and will definitely take you up on that offer of a webpage once I have gathered enough information.

## Post 18 by chikorita (move over school!) on Thursday, 27-Aug-2009 15:41:45

What are you using? I thought Microsoft killed dos years ago.
Also, do you have software speech, how did you install etc?

## Post 19 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 27-Aug-2009 20:44:57

Right now, I'm using my Mac. I haven't installed the dos yet. Microsoft stopped support for DOS at 6.22 but the last stand-alone version that they produced was 7.1 with Windows 98. The one I'll be using isn't from them. It's open source based off of DR-DOS but with many enhancements and with no affiliation with the company that makes DR-DOS. Appropriately, it's called Enhanced DR-DOS. The goal of the developers is to make this a truly modern system while retaining compatibility with older software. The main page is here.
http://drdosprojects.de/
I'll be using one of several screenreaders (VocalEyes, JAWS for DOS or ASAP demo). Still not sure which is the best. There are at least three software synths available as well. One is MBROLA, a multiplatform synth that works with JAWS and a program called Interface with no other special hardware needed. Another is SbTalker, which I hear requires an SB soundcard, and the third I don't know the name of but it's currently being developed. Unfortunately, unless I can get MBROLA to work, I'll be working with an Echo PC, which, as many may remember, doesn't have the best speech. But it's something. I found, to my amazement, that there are still many blind people using all varieties of DOS, from MS, to DR, to FreeDOS, another modern version. I'm also in the process of choosing the best web browser and, wordprocessor and ocr software. I've already chosen a media player to try.