Microsoft dusts off ancient MS-DOS 4.0 code for release on GitHub
(2024/04/26)
- Reference: 1714161614
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/04/26/ms_dos_4_open_source/
- Source link:
In partnership with IBM, Microsoft has released the source code for MS-DOS 4.0, more than 35 years since the operating system made a muted appearance ahead of Windows 3.x.
MS-DOS 4.0 is a relic from when IBM and Microsoft were in the throes of their joint OS/2 adventure. It was notable for its support of FAT16 hard disk partitions greater than 32 MB and the addition of the MS-DOS Shell. It was also one of the final outings for the SELECT setup program.
The code turned up while a researcher named Connor Hyde (aka Starfrost) was documenting the relationship between DOS 4, MT-DOS (Multitasking DOS), and OS/2. Hyde corresponded with Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie, who found the dusty code in his collection of floppy disks.
[1]
Ozzie's disks, which appear to date back to 1984, contain unreleased beta Multitasking DOS binaries and also include the ibmbio.com source.
[2]
[3]
Hyde contacted the Microsoft Open Source Programs Office (OSPO) to see if perhaps the DOS 4 source might be released. Scott Hanselman, Microsoft VP for the Developer Community, with the help of archivist Jeff Sponaugle, had the disks imaged and the printed documents scanned.
The OSPO team was unable to find the full source code for MT-DOS, but they did find the source for MS-DOS, and uploaded the code to [4]GitHub under the MIT license.
[5]Wing Commander III changed how the copy hotkey works in Windows 95
[6]A cheeky intern nearly turned MS-DOS into NSFW-DOS
[7]How a single buck bought bragging rights in the battle to port Windows 95 to NT
[8]Trying out Microsoft's pre-release OS/2 2.0
As well as the source for MS-DOS 4, Ozzie's files are also present, alongside the scanned PDFs of Multitasking DOS documentation. While this hack lives in a glass house where typos are concerned, finding Microsoft's vision for the future called "Multi-Taking MS-DOS"
Though Hanselman's efforts are to be commended in making this piece of history available, it would be good if there were some sort of countdown for having the code of other obsolete software released. Hanselman has said that MS-DOS 3.3, 5, and 6 are next on the list, although some of the utilities in the latter would need to be stripped out.
[10]
[11]According to Microsoft , the code can be run on an original IBM XT, a new Pentium, or within the open source PCem and 86box emulators. Although we don't have any old IBM kit to hand, we did manage to fire up the code using 86Box and got all nostalgic before wishing we'd actually installed MS-DOS 5 or 3.3 instead.
[12]
After much sweat and tears...
Just like the old days. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[4] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/19/wing_commander_windows_95/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/08/ms_dos_easter_egg/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/28/plummer_windows_95_nt/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/11/trying_ms_prerelease_os2_2/
[9] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0-ozzie/Multitasking%20DOS%20BETA%20-%20Release%20Notes.pdf
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/opensource/2024/04/25/open-sourcing-ms-dos-4-0/
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/04/26/ms_dos_4.png
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
MS-DOS 4.0 is a relic from when IBM and Microsoft were in the throes of their joint OS/2 adventure. It was notable for its support of FAT16 hard disk partitions greater than 32 MB and the addition of the MS-DOS Shell. It was also one of the final outings for the SELECT setup program.
The code turned up while a researcher named Connor Hyde (aka Starfrost) was documenting the relationship between DOS 4, MT-DOS (Multitasking DOS), and OS/2. Hyde corresponded with Microsoft Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie, who found the dusty code in his collection of floppy disks.
[1]
Ozzie's disks, which appear to date back to 1984, contain unreleased beta Multitasking DOS binaries and also include the ibmbio.com source.
[2]
[3]
Hyde contacted the Microsoft Open Source Programs Office (OSPO) to see if perhaps the DOS 4 source might be released. Scott Hanselman, Microsoft VP for the Developer Community, with the help of archivist Jeff Sponaugle, had the disks imaged and the printed documents scanned.
The OSPO team was unable to find the full source code for MT-DOS, but they did find the source for MS-DOS, and uploaded the code to [4]GitHub under the MIT license.
[5]Wing Commander III changed how the copy hotkey works in Windows 95
[6]A cheeky intern nearly turned MS-DOS into NSFW-DOS
[7]How a single buck bought bragging rights in the battle to port Windows 95 to NT
[8]Trying out Microsoft's pre-release OS/2 2.0
As well as the source for MS-DOS 4, Ozzie's files are also present, alongside the scanned PDFs of Multitasking DOS documentation. While this hack lives in a glass house where typos are concerned, finding Microsoft's vision for the future called "Multi-Taking MS-DOS"
sic
in the [9]scanned release notes [PDF] brought a wry smile.Though Hanselman's efforts are to be commended in making this piece of history available, it would be good if there were some sort of countdown for having the code of other obsolete software released. Hanselman has said that MS-DOS 3.3, 5, and 6 are next on the list, although some of the utilities in the latter would need to be stripped out.
[10]
[11]According to Microsoft , the code can be run on an original IBM XT, a new Pentium, or within the open source PCem and 86box emulators. Although we don't have any old IBM kit to hand, we did manage to fire up the code using 86Box and got all nostalgic before wishing we'd actually installed MS-DOS 5 or 3.3 instead.
[12]
After much sweat and tears...
Just like the old days. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/19/wing_commander_windows_95/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/08/ms_dos_easter_egg/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/28/plummer_windows_95_nt/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/11/trying_ms_prerelease_os2_2/
[9] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0-ozzie/Multitasking%20DOS%20BETA%20-%20Release%20Notes.pdf
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ziwj-duYnZ58lon0tciB6gAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/opensource/2024/04/25/open-sourcing-ms-dos-4-0/
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/04/26/ms_dos_4.png
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Early Windows source code versions
Mage
Which family?
Win 1.x 2.x 286 386 and 3.0 (all pretty pointless, the 3.1 was first usable).
Or real Windows:a NT 3.1, NT 3.5 and NT 3.51?
Re: Early Windows source code versions
katrinab
Both families, and all of the versions including the “useless” ones. They are a part of history that needs to be preserved.
Micros~1
Throatwarbler Mangrove
Re: Micros~1
karlkarl
Agreed!
Re: Micros~1
aerogems
As John Oliver rightly put it on his show last week
The scientific method isn't
1. Hypothesis
2. Horsewhip anyone who doesn't agree with you
3. Conclusion
You're thinking of religion.
Dos Versions that were significant or useful
Mage
2.11 (first usable one with sub directories? I forget.
3.3
6.22 The last standalone and as good as DR Dos, but more compatible for WFWG 3.11
aerogems
Not that they will, but it'd be cool if MS started releasing the source code to a lot of their older stuff. Like say everything up to Windows Me, and put it under a GPL compatible license. Something along the lines of if you swipe some bit of code for use elsewhere, that's fine, but you have to contribute those changes back under the original license, and naturally MS gets a perpetual royalty free license to use any contributed changes.
Nice to hear
It's worth documenting the environment that led to MS-DOS being created, originally just a local "new operating system" based on the public discussions about CP/M which we were all discussing as 8080 code but didn't know about the original PLM Gary Kildall code, all we were doing then was reading the binary version and translating it into assembly code. We were all wrong, it was never written in assembler code, it was PLM ... but I still have my old printed Z80 version code (LOL) - reviewing the original code was very helpful.
Sharing the original code from years ago is a good environment ... reading it and using it will be highly educational!!!! It would be nice to see the early Windows source code versions too.