looking for a DOS based laptop

[N0WUE]

I thought it was some good stuff.

If you went to a store and asked the younger salesmen of today, If they had a computer that would run DOS, You would most likely get a very blank look.


I would just buy a older laptop that has rs232 serial ports and a LPT port built in. They are very cheap, But if it has the original battery, then it probably needs replaced.

would be no different if you asked if it would run solaris.

seems like too many threads turn into a contest of who knows more obscure trivial knowledge... and drag threads like this on forever, which from the OP just looks like a WTB post in the computer forum.

[KF5FEI]

I think even a late-model Pentium 1 machine might be too fast. I recall trying to run old DOS games that ran fine on old 8088 and '286 machines on the 486 and faster boxes, and they were so fast you could not play. However, using DOS, you could write a TSR program that would eat up CPU time and slow stuff down. I think someone used to offer some shareware that did that.

[KA9JLM]

I think even a late-model Pentium 1 machine might be too fast. I recall trying to run old DOS games that ran fine on old 8088 and '286 machines on the 486 and faster boxes, and they were so fast you could not play. However, using DOS, you could write a TSR program that would eat up CPU time and slow stuff down. I think someone used to offer some shareware that did that.

There was a program called Waitasec years ago that people used to slow down games.

I am sure there are better programs now a days.

The IO port timing should not be a problem. If it is then many times turning off FIFO buffering can help.

[WA9SVD]

All you need to do is boot from a system Dos CD or Floppy then Format C:\ /system.

The program should have all timing delays needed.

All the laptop would need is a "Real" serial port, and no port remapping.

Simple is nice.

You would have to create a "system" CD for DOS; DOS never came on CD. Lots of laptops (and now desktops) don't even HAVE a floppy drive.

[KA9JLM]

You would have to create a "system" CD for DOS; DOS never came on CD. Lots of laptops (and now desktops) don't even HAVE a floppy drive.

That is a bummer.

I have a few systems that have floppy drives including 5.25 inch, just for converting media.

They are good for making Boot-able System CDs.

Windows 98 is still good for some uses. so is NT and 2000.

XP is when they decided that the IO ports needed to be blocked for security reasons, and all computers needed to be on the internet.

I never got a virus from my com port. why did they block the local machine ports, What were they thinking ?

It sure made much of the older software stop working, everyone needed new drivers.

Now we get to enjoy the same BS for Win7 and 8.

[WA9SVD]

That is a bummer.

I have a few systems that have floppy drives including 5.25 inch, just for converting media.

They are good for making Boot-able System CDs.

Windows 98 is still good for some uses. so is NT and 2000.

XP is when they decided that the IO ports needed to be blocked for security reasons, and all computers needed to be on the internet.

I never got a virus from my com port. why did they block the local machine ports, What were they thinking ?

It sure made much of the older software stop working, everyone needed new drivers.

Now we get to enjoy the same BS for Win7 and 8.

It's possible to create a system CD for DOS. (And you should see how fast Win 3.11 loads from CD on a modern 2GHz+ machine... <grin>) While laptops will be a problem, a System CD COULD work to boot DOS on a modern desktop machine, the problem is you would need a partition of 2 GB or less formatted FAT 16 on the primary drive to do anything useful once DOS was booted.

(BtW, my two main XP machines STILL have 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives, "just in case" I have to access some old data or programs. It comes in handy to have the 5.25" drives about once a year.)