alt.hn

2/17/2026 at 6:18:34 AM

SvarDOS – an open-source DOS distribution

 http://svardos.org/

by d_silin

2/17/2026 at 6:43:23 AM

So apparently this isn't "just" a FreeDOS distro? That's interesting; I sorta didn't realize there were multiple living DOS implementations.

> SvarDOS uses a fork of the Enhanced DR-DOS kernel, whose development is kept on the EDR github repository.

by yjftsjthsd-h

2/17/2026 at 4:35:21 PM

DR DOS was Digital Research's MS-DOS clone. For a while it had more features and ran better than MS-DOS. In the mid-90s, Caldera bought the rights to DR DOS so they could bundle it with their OpenLinux Linux distribution. They briefly released its source code (renamed to "OpenDOS"), but not as an open source license. The license only allowed free use for educational and evaluation purposes. You were required to buy a license from Caldera after 90 days for commercial entities or after a "reasonable period" for non-commercial entities. They then closed the source code again after a few months. The Enhanced DR-DOS project is based off this code release. They seem to have replaced the license in the repo with an email log that releases the code to CP/M as open source, but doesn't mention DR DOS at all. This is a bit sketchy but DR DOS has no commercial value so I doubt anyone will mind.

The biggest impact Caldera's purchase of DR DOS had was that they were able to sue Microsoft for not making Windows 95 compatible with other DOS's besides Microsoft's. Caldera were able to demonstrate Windows 95 booting on DR-DOS with the assistance of a small TSR, which helped the lawsuit (see https://msfn.org/board/topic/109018-windows-98-in-dr-dos/ ). This functionality was never released publicly. Microsoft ended up settling out of court and paying Caldera $280 million.

by ndiddy

2/18/2026 at 9:13:23 AM

> a small TSR

ya rang?

by int27h-tsr

2/17/2026 at 9:15:42 AM

The idea is to make it more compatible with DOS 6.x

So I believe things like Long filenames are not emphasised.

by stuaxo

2/17/2026 at 7:37:37 AM

btw, if you want to keep up with the freedos community (unfortunately) the facebook group is the best place to do it https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedosproject/

by kristopolous

2/17/2026 at 9:37:38 AM

I refuse to create a facebook account. There are alternatives[0].

0. http://www.svardos.org/?p=forum

by snvzz

2/17/2026 at 6:50:41 PM

Great for svardos users, not ideal for the rest of the FreeDOS community, however.

[edit]Additionally, it looks like people's IP address is included with their posts. YUCK!

by rnd0

2/18/2026 at 1:20:35 AM

> [edit]Additionally, it looks like people's IP address is included with their posts. YUCK!

As an aside... I wonder how many people use VPNs among the HN crowd. I've been on a VPN so long, I feel really exposed when I'm forced to access anything without one.

by O1111OOO

2/17/2026 at 7:59:10 AM

Is this link really http? Safari on latest iOS refuses to open it.

(All modern browsers will do the same although on desktop you could bypass security restrictions.)

On the upside not being able to open the link led me to find out 86box emulator.

by lastdong

2/17/2026 at 9:46:59 AM

That's interesting, Firefox and Safari on iOS 18 do open it - didn't know that they changed the default behaviour in 26 apparently.

But yes it's HTTP-only, I think it's by choice.

by wobfan

2/17/2026 at 10:35:11 AM

Old school :)

Maybe the comments form in the forum could use https. Nothing else that I can see really needs it.

by nottorp

2/17/2026 at 10:21:27 AM

It’s working now, must have been something to do with ISP/Firewall/?. Thanks

by lastdong

2/18/2026 at 5:14:52 AM

In addition to the httpd on port 80, there is also a gopher server

   echo /ogup/list|nc -vvn 51.210.178.223 70
Copies of DR-DOS:

   echo /abandonware/os/DR-DOS|nc -vvn 51.210.178.223 70

by 1vuio0pswjnm7

2/17/2026 at 11:39:39 AM

bladeenc... now that brings some memories!

svardos comes with a nice package assortment indeed

by thesnide

2/19/2026 at 11:19:48 AM

[dead]

by hurios