MiNiDOS wrote on 2024-02-02, 17:48:

MiNiDOS 2024 Release 0.01 ========================= […]
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MiNiDOS 2024 Release 0.01
=========================

MiNiDOS is an MS-DOS distribution with the following three aims:

1) Maintains backwards compatibility so that you can run all former DOS
software without issues. Components have been carefully chosen to
follow this route.

2) Keeps its business in an incredibly small and portable shape. Tiny
programs are much more convenient for deployment on vintage storage
media which is more often than not, restricted by space limitations.
So for this particular purpose a 1.44 MB (IBM DOS formatted high density
floppy disk size) has been selected as a boundary.

3) Attempts to be the ultimate MS-DOS 6.22 Swiss Army knife. A great
deal of effort has been put in order to pack the relevant stuff
to carry out the most common user operations, modernizing whenever
the possibility arises, without of course compromising the above two
stated objectives of this MiNiDOS distribution.

MiNiDOS Main Features
---------------------

1 Multiple boot menu options for improved backwards compatibility
2 Command-line auto completion
3 Command-line scroll-back buffer
4 Full clipboard support in DOS
5 Long file name support
6 FAT 12, FAT 16, FAT 32, exFAT, NTFS and HPFS file systems
7 Drivers for FireWire, USB, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, PCMCIA and CardBus devices
8 Universal sound card driver that offers an all-in-one solution
9 Generic mouse driver with wheel support
10 RAM support beyond 64 MB (up to 4 GB)
11 Big resizable RAM drives up to 2 GB in size
12 Conventional RAM available to run most demanding MS-DOS memory games
13 Powerful diagnostic, repair and maintenance capabilities
14 Minimalistic text editor for regular use
15 Graphic User Interface for compressing files in RAR format
16 RAR, ZIP, ARJ and LZH archive decompression has been integrated
17 Executable file compression on the disk's contents
18 Disk image creation and file extraction
19 Intuitive file manager that follows the popular two panel paradigm
20 Serial and parallel port communication programs
21 VirtualBox shared folders are mountable on-demand
22 Easy to use hard drive preparation and system installation tools
23 Power management including CPU slowdown and several associated commands
24 Numerous utilities which add more power and flexibility to your system
25 Many commonly used external MS-DOS commands
26 A robust and stable system
27 Unparalleled compatibility
28 Available for general consumption, for everyday use
29 There is much more to MiNiDOS than meets the eye

MiNiDOS 0.01 2024 is available for download at archive.org

1st of April?
But good one!

No joke, seriously.
Please take a look at it if DOS is your thing, and comment on it.

Removed the link on where to acquire software. I don't have time right now to look through the files so better safe than sorry.

Possible license issues aside, it's an impressive collection of features for the size. Did you use any tricks to save on space?

HandOfFate wrote on 2024-02-02, 21:25:

Possible license issues aside, it's an impressive collection of features for the size. Did you use any tricks to save on space?

Thanks.

I used mostly PKLITE as it is 8088 compatible, and UPX on 386+ files .
Some files are not suitable to compression due to their nature. So I always had to balance features vs available space, which was one of the biggest challenges.

I will also check it out, the features list is impressive

I came a bit late when the link for the attachment was deleted already, but managed to find it somewhere else, so I could look at it.
Wow, a lot of work is behind this. Some of the utilities I did not know until now.
I already created my own resurrection floppy based on it, by only replacing some things I do not need by some thing I use (zip file transfer for example)

Really interesting project!

Do you have a website where we could read about the effort that went into this?

Thanks!
- Alex

Thank goodness for old dos russian sites, yes. Getting around hoops here to find this useful and great DOS bootdisk!

Yes, I have also made my own boot floppy.

ajacocks wrote on 2024-02-21, 14:49:

Really interesting project! […]
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Really interesting project!

Do you have a website where we could read about the effort that went into this?

Thanks!
- Alex

Hi Alex,

I don't have a website for this project. The idea was that discussion could take place on forums, which encourages participation and helps to increase the available knowledge base in a public form with a wider audience. I was thinking of doing a Youtube video explaining all features and reasoning behind some design choices in detail, but time is an evil tyrant, and ultimately I was hoping it would eventually get picked up by one of the many retro Youtubers so they can both profit from the audience they may have and simultaneously provide a service in the shape of knowledge as exchange.

Anyway, as mentioned in some of the above posts you may find MiNiDOS in both the old dos Russian and internet archive sites.

There is also a lengthy text document included in the archive which gives plenty of information on MiNiDOS. I am attaching it to this post, in case you have skipped it.

Regarding the origins of MiNiDOS:

I have been a DOS user during its prime time back in the 90's. I currently have several different PCs and various different emulation systems. So I started building a single boot disk for all these machines I had, and started this journey about a year ago. Since these systems are quite diverse from the hardware point of view, I needed a generic/universal updated setup that could be as compatible as possible with almost all vintage DOS software. So I slowly started building it from the most basic concepts towards the most essential add-ons.

About 5 months ago, I already had a decently working build (so I declared the alpha state finished). Then I started to immediately and continuously tweak it, in order to push its limits. By this time, I started a revision control system and a changelog to keep steady track of development which eases the work flow. I built 54 beta versions and 1 release candidate (which is the one you have available right now).

I thought and hoped that since I spent so much effort making this project, it would be counterproductive not to share it with others that may be looking for something like this. It felt selfish for me to keep it to myself. Also others may most likely find improvements and by pointing them out may help me to eventually polish it further.

If you feel there is something else I can assist you with regarding MiNiDOS, I am happy to help whenever I can.

Very cool, thanks for the explanation!

It definitely is a very useful and interesting project, and I really appreciate you sharing it with us.

If you would like, I can do a video on my tiny YouTube channel and show it off. Is there anything in particular that you would like me to highlight? I can also tell friends of mine, that have larger channels, and see if they are interested in talking about MiNiDOS.

You might want to post your information on the Vintage Computer Federation forum, as well. I’m the admin there, and we definitely appreciate content like this. We’re not as DOS-focused as Vogons, but there are lots of vintage PC fans there, as well.

And, by the way, the readme that you supply is _really_ good. And I will definitely invoke your spirit, as directed. 😉

- Alex

Thank you Alex for your genuine interest, friendly and helpful response.

I would be more than happy if you could share the existence of MiNiDOS and not only do a Youtube video yourself but propose others to do the same. Just feel free to approach the video, as you would like. I have the firm belief that different voices and views on any subject are always valuable.

I will be shortly registering on the Vintage Computer Federation forum as you suggested.

Ok, it supports FAT32 partitions through some DOS driver, but can this custom version be used on HDD bootable FAT32 partition i.e. as main OS?

Answer is in the FAQ which comes in the archive and is also attached a couple of posts above.

I only read "main features" from the text file and also in the very same text file I saw that "command.com" is taken from you-know-which-DOS v.6.22 and so it doesn't support FAT32 natively. I was wondering if this custom DOS can somehow access FAT32 active boot partition to boot itself properly before any 3rd parity FAT32 driver was loaded. Thank you for not giving me any simple no/yes to my very simple question.

P.S. RTFM... Ok, I'll pass.

analog_programmer wrote on 2024-03-06, 21:54:

I only read "main features" from the text file and also in the very same text file I saw that "command.com" is taken from you-know-which-DOS v.6.22 and so it doesn't support FAT32 natively. I was wondering if this custom DOS can somehow access FAT32 active boot partition to boot itself properly before any 3d parity FAT32 driver was loaded. Thank you for not giving me any simple no/yes to my very simple question.

My simple intention is to encourage you to read the documentation as it was made for that purpose, especially the FAQ section which directly answers your question.
Perhaps it is my fault for not understanding that people don't want to read documentation any more and expect instant gratification.

I have to say that I'm using the disk quite a lot on VMs, mainly for "VBSF" (VirtualBox Shared Folders) but some of the other tools came in handy too.

I have to say that I do use the VBSF a lot for MiNiDOS development. It makes things extraordinarily smoother.

BTW, I am already working on an update with a few fixes, but more importantly, lots of updates, improvements and additions.