I read this thread before and forgot to keep up with it, since I didn't have enough time to try out the FreeDos. I already have burned the bootable ISO version of the FreeDos but yet to install.

I think I'll try installing it too in the 486SP3 system that I'm tinkering with currently. And then with my 440BX based PIII system.

The features of FreeDos's utilities and enhancements of the usual ms-dos' 3rd party utilities and tools alternatives/counterparts do look very promising in terms of memory usage and compatibility in newer systems.

I've been using qhimem, qcdrom.sys shsucdx33c.exe and cutemouse for quite sometime now. Very low conventional memory footprints and no problems with dos games so far.

I've been sticking with MS-DOS 6.22 just for the sake of nostalgia. That was what I was using those days, and seeing the classic dos bootup messages bring back those memories everytime! (I have a separate config.sys bootblock dedicated to loading classic ms-dos utilities - mscdex.exe, himem.sys, emm386.exe, smartdrv.exe, mouse.com; just for the sake of nostalgia. 😀)

Don't rely too much on using shsucdx it can cause problems with some games like Gunship 2000 for example, the game will only install/run with mscdex by some unknown reason.
It can also be stubborn to load into HMA

FreeDOS has some nice features over MSDOS 6.22, but it's not as stable or compatible. Of course now saying that, you'll probably ask "in what way is it unstable?". Ehh, I don't remember. After I had some crashes and reboots, I stopped using it and went back to MSDOS 6.22. No problems now.

yeah, I tried it in the meanwhile, and I reverted back to winDOS98se 😀
maybe I will try Malik's suggestions like qhimem

ps: I see there is a newer shsucdx version, shcdx33c.zip located here: http://freedos.pri.ee/files/dos/shsucdx/

What is shsucdx? Anyway, I have a FreeDOS CD somewhere. I'll might test it on my uncle's old pentium rig.

Svenne wrote:

What is shsucdx? Anyway, I have a FreeDOS CD somewhere. I'll might test it on my uncle's old pentium rig.

SHSUCDX = MSCDEX replacement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSCDEX

qhimem has been superseded by xmgr from the same author. shsucdx was forked and updated. there is also uide, a driver that works as ide/sata/udma/cd/dvd and cache driver all-in one. lastly, rdisk, a simple xms ramdisk provider.

http://johnson.tmfc.net/dos/

I think there is a problem of read error of the floppy disks, when smartdrv is installed under qhimem.sys environment (or shsucdx, not sure). The actual read will be fine but when dir is typed, you can only see gibberish characters. You can still load the executable, say, like install.exe for example, if you know the contents of the disk. Unloading smartdrv will remove this error. Other than that, so far everything is running smoothly with the above files that I've been using.

Another great utility for supported motherboards is the umbpci.sys - Provides UMB without placing the system in real-mode(LIM-EMS emulation mode).

I haven't tested this with the compatibility or execution of games yet. I'll add this into my roster.

Great, instead of tinkering with the motherboards, I think I'll start messing with Freedos on different mobos for a while. 😁

from the site tikbalang gave:

SHCDX32B -- "SHSUCDX V3.02B" by Jack R. Ellis, 29-May-2005.
Derived from V3.02 SHSUCDX by Jason Hood, as follows:
A All 80386 logic is deleted (not necessary with today's quick CPUs!)

does that mean that if someone has a 386 machine, should use an earlier version?

keropi wrote:

from the site tikbalang gave: […]
Show full quote

from the site tikbalang gave:

SHCDX32B -- "SHSUCDX V3.02B" by Jack R. Ellis, 29-May-2005.
Derived from V3.02 SHSUCDX by Jason Hood, as follows:
A All 80386 logic is deleted (not necessary with today's quick CPUs!)

does that mean that if someone has a 386 machine, should use an earlier version?

not at all. in fact, shsucdx by jre becomes even more cpu compatible now.

nice then!