ntalaec wrote on 2025-12-09, 10:04:

Impressive! I was looking for a commander with minimal space requirements to use in a boot floppy disk. Could SP.HLP be integrated in SP.COM? In FAT12 filesystem (used by floppy disks) cluster size it's 4KB so a lot of space is wasted.

In my opinion, for use in a very disk space constrained setup, it's better *not* to integrate help in the executable.
That's a simple program, easy to learn - and once you thoroughfully learned it, you can delete the help file...

I have been using doszip long time already at dos and i have been using dos dz at Windows 9x as well. 😀

Doszip Commander - dz is a classic File Manager for DOS and Windows, inspired by Norton Commander
Featuring a two - panel interface and built-in ZIP/UnZIP capabilities, supporting Long File Names (LFN)

https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/files/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/files/DOS/

Latest DOS version is v2.68 and latest for Windows is v3.90/v3.91
https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/files … 68.zip/download
https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/files … 32.zip/download
https://sourceforge.net/projects/doszip/files … 64.zip/download

Grzyb wrote on 2025-12-09, 10:38:

ntalaec wrote on 2025-12-09, 10:04:

Impressive! I was looking for a commander with minimal space requirements to use in a boot floppy disk. Could SP.HLP be integrated in SP.COM? In FAT12 filesystem (used by floppy disks) cluster size it's 4KB so a lot of space is wasted.

In my opinion, for use in a very disk space constrained setup, it's better *not* to integrate help in the executable.
That's a simple program, easy to learn - and once you thoroughfully learned it, you can delete the help file...

I have to fully agree with Grzyb's opinion. Just learn how to use it and ditch the help file if it is too much for your storage space. In any case, it follows all the traditional operations in the most standard way. I also use it on several of my own boot floppies.

Grzyb wrote on 2025-12-09, 08:48:

What do you mean by "native DOS"? Real-mode, rather than using a protected-mode DOS extender?

1.51 is the last version from RIT Labs - real-mode DOS only.
Later on, there were various forks: Dos Navigator Open Source Project, Necromancer's Dos Navigator, and others - for various targets: real-mode DOS, DOS extender, OS/2, Win32, etc...

Thanks, that was the answer to my question.
I meant real-mode DOS then.

Volkov Commander runs on a 8088 while DOS Navigator requires a V20 - at the same time, when I have done copies of a large amount of directories DOS Navigator will create all of the folders on the destination before it starts copying, while Volkov Commander immediately starts copying. Most of the time I use Volkov Commander, but DOS Navigator can preview ZIP files without extracting.

DEAT wrote on 2025-12-15, 22:45:

DOS Navigator requires a V20

Which version do you mean?

Anyway, getting it to run on an 8088 may be as easy as recompile.
Though I would still prefer VC for such a slow CPU.

Grzyb wrote on 2025-12-16, 10:27:

Which version do you mean?

v1.5.1 - I don't use any of the forks.

I rarely use commanders, but when I do, I usually use Doszip. And sometimes Dos Controller (DC) as it's tiny (great for boot floppies). On Windows 9.x, I tend to use an old version of Far Commander.

Sparrow Commander does look interesting. The help file is actually tiny (988 bytes), so being included is not really problem. Just, the binary posted here is lacking the source code. The old version is available from the author's web site: https://www.vgasoft.com/?lang=rus&act=sparrow. The version modified in 2000 is available from olddos.ru. The 2025 modification comes without the sources.

bocke wrote on 2025-12-17, 07:38:

Sparrow Commander does look interesting. The help file is actually tiny (988 bytes), so being included is not really problem. Just, the binary posted here is lacking the source code. The old version is available from the author's web site: https://www.vgasoft.com/?lang=rus&act=sparrow. The version modified in 2000 is available from olddos.ru. The 2025 modification comes without the sources.

Please look again:
The modification has the sources. It is hosted at the same Russian site you mentioned, even on the same page that has all the previous versions.
You can also find it at my own public binary repository at https://github.com/igully/DOS/tree/main

igully wrote on 2025-12-23, 02:55:

Please look again:
The modification has the sources. It is hosted at the same Russian site you mentioned, even on the same page that has all the previous versions.
You can also find it at my own public binary repository at https://github.com/igully/DOS/tree/main

Oh, ok. Thankx.

bocke wrote on 2025-12-24, 02:00:

igully wrote on 2025-12-23, 02:55:

Please look again:
The modification has the sources. It is hosted at the same Russian site you mentioned, even on the same page that has all the previous versions.
You can also find it at my own public binary repository at https://github.com/igully/DOS/tree/main

Oh, ok. Thankx.

No problem.
Any doubt just ask.
Merry Christmas!