FreeDOS

Long-term owners

You can just boot freedos to run them, it will execute in real mode which has the same cpu instructions as 40 years ago.

Mar 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• WindowsRecommended for running the software and games people depend on, day-to-day stability and solid underlying engineering, but critics widely object to Windows 11's ads, telemetry, forced accounts and UI regressions.1287recommend
• macOSRecommended for consistent keyboard shortcuts, strong security, tight Apple ecosystem integration and getting work done without fiddling, though critics cite recent bugs, CPU spikes, clunky window management and UI regressions.1041recommend
• LinuxA free, open-source OS praised for total control, stability and wide hardware and software support, especially on servers; desktop use can still take extra effort and debugging.745recommend
• HaikuA free BeOS-inspired desktop OS praised for being extremely fast and responsive with a clean, consistent UI, though many say it's not yet practical as a daily driver.115recommend
• NetBSDRecommended for running on almost any hardware, including old machines, with a clean, well-documented design, though support for modern hardware and drivers is weak.100recommend

Every quote

The 15 most detailed of 17 comments. Each links to the original.

1. Used a USB floppy drive and moved files using floppies, which seemed appropriate for a DOS laptop, but was not very convenient.

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Writerdeck.org”

2. You can just boot freedos to run them, it will execute in real mode which has the same cpu instructions as 40 years ago.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Never Bet Against x86”

3. Linux drivers and certification is a whole lot of extra work and complexity compared to FreeDOS

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “SDL Now Supports DOS”

4. FreeDOS is no good at all for booting anymore, since BIOS support is increasingly rare.

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Writing FreeDOS Programs in C”

5. FreeDOS turns out to be the cheapest and easiest.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “SDL Now Supports DOS”

6. everywhere that you can boot up FreeDOS

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Show HN: OpenTIE and OpenXWA, Modern Ports of Tie Fighter and X-Wing Alliance”

7. Salvage old free as in freedom distros

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “US Bill Mandates On-Device Age Verification”

8. I use it every day lately

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed”

9. I imagine FreeDOS might be a better one if you wanted to do hobby OSDev

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Writing FreeDOS Programs in C”

10. technically a modern, actively-supported DOS

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “SDL Now Supports DOS”

11. FreeDOS is also not bad though

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “OpenCiv1 – open-source rewrite of Civ1”

12. FreeDOS exists, no need for AI

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Ask HN: Who's still keeping a DOS machine up because the business depends on it?”

13. Snake and Tetris were fun!

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “MicroLLM Lab – Try 7 tiny LLM's in the browser”

14. Another big problem for FreeDOS is the lack of sound card support.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Writing FreeDOS Programs in C”

15. the installer failed writing to disk

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Writing FreeDOS Programs in C”