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DOS 6.x / DOS 7.x / Win98SE Command Prompt Differences

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First post, by w0lf42

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I have questions about the differences between running games in DOS 6.x, DOS 7.x, and in a Command Prompt window in Windows 98SE. Overall, does it matter?

Windows 98SE provides
Adequate USB Support - lets me use modern USB devices (e.g. Razer Tartarus Pro, Thrustmaster T.16000M, and Logitech Gamepad F310). These devices are nice modern convenience for me. Perhaps there is a way to make these devices work in DOS 6.x and/or DOS 7.1. But, I just plug them in and point the installation to my Win98 CD and that's it.

Large Hard Drive Support - Simplifies my game/program management with me not having to have lots of partitions.

Easier Memory Management - I've got 512MB which is plenty for all of my DOS games.

External Midi Processing Support - I can still use my Roland SoundCanvas SC-88VL

Better Batch File Support - For some games (e.g. MechWarrior 2 3dfx), I have a fairly complicated batch file which includes the WAIT command to terminate programs when the game is done.

Better Utilities For Older Games - For instance, I use CPUGrabEX to slow down my system for games like MechWarrior 2 (for jump jet recharge) and Descent I/II (to make the mouse move at a usable speed). I use AutoHotKey to enhance my gaming experience for some games. JoyToKey is another program that I've used to allow better joystick control/management.

I'm not trying to start anything about what is better. I just want to know if I abandon DOS 6.x or DOS 7.x, what am I missing?

Thanks

Reply 1 of 3, by Jorpho

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There is negligible difference between DOS 6.x and DOS 7.x and aside from certain Creative Labs installers (which can be easily circumvented) I don't think there is anything that absolutely will not run in DOS 7.x.

But there are definitely some poorly-programmed games that will probably not work in a command prompt window while Windows is running, or at least will not work as well. The developers of Windows 95 did a lot of work to accommodate shoddy programing (see http://www.os2museum.com/wp/how-to-make-sure- … -on-windows-95/ ), but they couldn't get everything.

But if you're not interested in running any of those games, then sure, why worry about what you might be missing? Restarting into MS-DOS mode is always there if you need it, unless you're thinking of switching to Windows ME for some reason.

Reply 2 of 3, by darry

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Jorpho wrote on 2021-03-28, 23:57:

There is negligible difference between DOS 6.x and DOS 7.x and aside from certain Creative Labs installers (which can be easily circumvented) I don't think there is anything that absolutely will not run in DOS 7.x.

But there are definitely some poorly-programmed games that will probably not work in a command prompt window while Windows is running, or at least will not work as well. The developers of Windows 95 did a lot of work to accommodate shoddy programing (see http://www.os2museum.com/wp/how-to-make-sure- … -on-windows-95/ ), but they couldn't get everything.

But if you're not interested in running any of those games, then sure, why worry about what you might be missing?

I agree . DOS 7.1 is just another version of DOS . If OP is worried about DOS 7.1 versus DOS 6.x , he might as well start worrying about version 5.0 , 4.01 and maybe even 3.3 . By intent and design, DOS was made to be as backwards compatible as possible, at least once the installed base became big enough .

When Microsoft released Windows 95, the last thing they would have wanted was to impede DOS backwards compatibility in any way .

Windows 95 was meant to be everything for everyone, including
- users running old DOS applications (games or productivity software)
- users running Windows 3.1 applications
- users looking forward to the future of Windows applications (WIN32, DirectX, etc).
- users who had hardly ever used a computer and wanted in on the digital revolution
Of course, there is overlap between those groups of users .
At least this is how I remember the marketing from the time .

More on topic, see also DOS 6.22 and Windows 98 SE Multi Install

Reply 3 of 3, by dr_st

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One thing you get in a DOS prompt inside Win9x, which you don't get from a pure DOS 7.x prompt is long filename support. However, there are utilities that can enable it in pure DOS as well.

Not that long filenames are needed or desired for any DOS games/applications. They probably cannot handle it even if the command interpreter can.

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