# FreeDOS 12 Hacker News commenters recommended FreeDOS and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free DOS-compatible operating system for running old software, retro programming and legacy machines. Critics note it is weak on newer hardware, especially BIOS boot support and sound cards. ## Why people recommend it - Cheap and easy to set up (2 comments): "Linux drivers and certification is a whole lot of extra work and complexity compared to FreeDOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47894428)) "FreeDOS turns out to be the cheapest and easiest." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47893316)) - Boots and runs DOS software (2 comments): "You can just boot freedos to run them, it will execute in real mode which has the same cpu instructions as 40 years ago." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280535)) "everywhere that you can boot up FreeDOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477689)) - Free and in regular use (2 comments): "Salvage old free as in freedom distros" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47804522)) "I use it every day lately" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966671)) ## What people warn about - Poor BIOS boot support on new machines (1 comments): "FreeDOS is no good at all for booting anymore, since BIOS support is increasingly rare." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793447)) - Awkward file transfer on modern machines (1 comments): "Used a USB floppy drive and moved files using floppies, which seemed appropriate for a DOS laptop, but was not very convenient." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45929035)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows.md): 1287 recommend - [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos.md): 1041 recommend - [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux.md): 745 recommend - [Haiku](https://hackerapproved.com/p/haiku-os.md): 115 recommend - [NetBSD](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netbsd.md): 100 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "FreeDOS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/freedos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).