Operating system 1

FreeDOS 1.4

The retro side — DOS and Pascal on bare metal.

40 GB IDE/PATA drive · FAT32 · MBR · Installed

Role

Native DOS for programming (Free Pascal), authentic tinkering, and launching old DOS software on real hardware.

Chosen over MS-DOS 6.22 because it handles FAT32 and large disks, runs well on modern hardware, is free and open-source, and is actively maintained — while staying MS-DOS compatible.

Setup notes

Location: single primary FAT32 partition over the whole ~38 GB disk, marked active. MBR, not GPT.
Booting: tap F8 at POST, pick the IDE drive. Booted alone, this disk is C:.
Pascal: Free Pascal is installed — IDE is fp, command-line is fpc file.pas. See Pascal.
Keyboard: needs USB Legacy Support = Enabled in BIOS for a USB keyboard; the PS/2 keyboard is ideal once it arrives.
Mouse: load CTMOUSE for the serial Logitech mouse (INT 33h).
Sound: onboard audio does nothing in DOS — use the PC speaker or a Yamaha PCI card. See Sound.

The drive-letter trap

Remember

Booted from the USB stick, the USB is C: and the hard disk is D:. Running format C: in that state wipes the USB. Confirm by size (the 40 GB drive shows ~38000 MB) and prefer the guided installer.

Gaming reality

Games launch, but the 2.9 GHz CPU runs many old titles far too fast, and sound is the weak point on this nForce board. For actually playing DOS games with correct speed and full audio, DOSBox-X (on XP or Linux) is smoother. Bare-metal FreeDOS is best for programming and authenticity.