Introducing Dobson Utilities v6.0 – A New Suite for DOS & Windows 3.1x \ VOGONS

Introducing Dobson Utilities v6.0 – A New Suite for DOS & Windows 3.1x

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First post, by OzzFan

Posted on 2025-09-13, 02:05

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Introducing Dobson Utilities v6.0 – A New Suite for DOS & Windows 3.1x

Hello everyone,

After many late nights and a fair bit of trial and error, I’m excited to share something I’ve been quietly working on for the past year or so: Dobson Utilities v6.0. This is a small package of programs written entirely in C++, marking my first foray into developing for both DOS and Windows 3.1x.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s included:
🪟 For Windows 3.1x
- A Task List replacement styled after NT’s Task Manager
- A Time Synchronization utility (requires TCP/IP stack installed)
💾 For DOS
- A color-coded directory viewer that uses VGA colors to highlight directories and key file types. (Note: I haven’t tested it on EGA, CGA, or monochrome setups yet—feedback welcome!)
- A file locator utility
- A time stamp utility to change the date and time on files

📥 Download & Info
You can grab the utilities using any retro browser like IE 3.x or Netscape Navigator 2.x by visiting:
👉 http://www.shelteringoak.com/duDobson Utilities Home Page

📺 Video Walkthrough
I’ve also made a YouTube video showcasing each utility running on my actual 486 system—no emulation involved. If you’re curious, check it out on my channel:
👉 Charlie’s Digital Adventures: https://www.youtube.com/@ozzfan1000
(direct link: https://youtu.be/zta-yU57XgY

Thanks for taking a look—and hopefully, for watching too!

— Ozzfan

Reply 1 of 9, by smtkr

Posted on 2025-09-13, 02:33

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I like it. Thank you.

Reply 2 of 9, by OzzFan

Posted on 2025-09-13, 03:13

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Thanks! I appreciate it.

Reply 3 of 9, by keropi

Posted on 2025-09-13, 04:23

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Oh will certainly try the DOS utils , thanks for sharing!

🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ MK1869, PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 4 of 9, by OzzFan

Posted on 2025-09-13, 04:31

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I hope they're useful. Thanks for looking!

Reply 5 of 9, by OzzFan

Posted on 2025-09-16, 15:34

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I was so excited to release these utilities that I didn't even review the YouTube video I posted. If I had, I would have realized how terrible it is. ☹️Sorry about that. At least you get the gist of the tools and what they're about. I'd try to reshoot the video but I just don't think I have the time right now.

Reply 6 of 9, by OzzFan

Posted on 2025-09-20, 07:14

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I re-recorded a new video where the bottom of the screen isn't cut off.

https://youtu.be/pYTZbh1UBAU

Reply 7 of 9, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-09-20, 11:13

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I like the idea of colors based on types - do you have a config file where you
can set which types/colors to show?

My XDIR tool (command line) can sort by types, and can work over an entire tree
- which is how I usually find files of a certain type, I also have various file
find/direcrory manipulation tools ... but I see hilight with colors in a visual
tool to be "nice", even if just to see what kinds of "stuff" is in a direcrtory.

Btw1: Various PC emiulators like PCEM, 86BOX etc. can do a pretty good job of
emulating video types, which makes it easy to test under MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA etc.

Btw2: I've published many DOS to do these types of things, and recently
released all my source code (40+ years worth) - you can find these on my
site. These are almost all written in my own Micro-C, typically very small
.COM files. Might be a helpful place to get ideas.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Reply 8 of 9, by megatron-uk

Posted on 2025-09-20, 13:50

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DaveDDS wrote on 2025-09-20, 11:13:

I like the idea of colors based on types - do you have a config file where you
can set which types/colors to show?

4Dos has a customisable file type colour setting - defined by file suffix.

Also the stand-alone dir replacement 'wdir' can do colour listings, though I don't know if it is configurable.

It doesn't sound as if coloured directory output would be such a big thing, but once you've used it you don't want to go back!

Terminals on UNIX which supported colour control codes and the advent of 'ls' with colour output was just as big a game changer for anyone working at the shell.

My collection database and technical wiki:
https://www.target-earth.net

Reply 9 of 9, by DaveDDS

Posted on 2025-09-20, 14:42

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Never really got info 4dos (always been a big believer in the KISS rule - never even saw a compelling reason to go beyond DOS5)

My "formative" years in computing were 1970s, mainly on mainframes and minicomputers where the primary interface was a monochrome serial terminal...
Most of my command line tools are simple monocolor text. I do use color in vistal (ie: text windowed) DOS tools. But almost never in command line stuff.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

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