Play classic games
Play DOS games on FreeDOS! We include lots of fun games in the distribution. Or play your favorite classic games, like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Commander Keen, Jill of the Jungle, Duke Nukem, and many others!
Welcome to FreeDOS
FreeDOS is an open source DOS-compatible operating system that you can use to play classic DOS games, run legacy business software, or write new DOS programs. Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.
Run applications
Run your favorite DOS programs with FreeDOS. Just install your DOS application under FreeDOS like you would any other DOS application and you'll be good to go.
For developers
We include lots of open source compilers, assemblers, debuggers, and editors so you can create your own DOS programs. We also share our source code under an open source license, so you can modify FreeDOS itself.
What’s New
FDNPKG16 v0.99.8254c released
FDNPKG16 is a network-aware package manager for FreeDOS. Thanks to Victoria for releasing another update with fixes and new features: * case-less file name comparisons when checking packages for conflicting files on hard disk * you can now press a or 3 to abort the installation of a package with files on disk * updated translations. You can get it from the FDNPKG16 v0.99.8254c release in Victoria's Git instance.
Lynx 2.9.3 (needs DOS exe)
Lynx is a web browser that works in text mode. Lynx version 2.9.3 was released on May 31, and includes several key fixes and updates; see the list of changes for details. However, this version does not have a DOS exe (although the sources contain a DOS makefile). If you'd like to contribute, consider compiling (and sharing) a DOS exe for others to use. You can get the new release from the Lynx website.
X-VESA video testing program
X-VESA is a DOS diagnostic program for in-depth analysis and verification of VESA interfaces on real hardware, written entirely in x86 assembly language. Thanks to Marco for sharing this program. See X-VESA on GitHub for more information, including a full list of features and source code. X-VESA is available under the GNU GPL v3.
VSBHDA v1.9
If you want to play DOS games on modern hardware, another option to emulate SoundBlaster is VSBHDA, the Virtual Sound Blaster for HDA sound cards. Thanks to Japheth for releasing an updated VSBHDA with several fixes, including: fixed regression in v1.8: sound may have been distorted in Open Cubic Player, and contains preliminary hdpmi v3.24. Download the latest release from VSBHDA on GitHub or more directly from version 1.9.
SBEMU updates
Classic DOS games talk directly to sound hardware, such as a SoundBlaster. Modern systems don't have SoundBlaster cards, but you can use SBEMU to emulate one on DOS, so your DOS games will work on new hardware. DOS developer Crazii is doing some new work in VDPMI with dynamic switching of PVI that helps against some stuttering. VDPMI and SBEMU both have several fixes. Check out the latest updated via the Vogons message board for more news.
BASCOMP: BASIC compiler for DOS
Mathias Eberle wrote: "I created a single-pass self-compiling BASIC compiler for DOS, targetting 8086/8088 and size optimized COM files as output. The compiler itself generates NASM-compatible code. But since NASM usually generates 386+ code, I have also included a special assembler written in BASIC, so that the toolchain is complete. The language is pretty compatible (subset) to GWBASIC and QBasic/QuickBASIC." You can find it at BASCOMP on GitHub. Note that "development was assisted by a coding AI" so we are unlikely to include this in FreeDOS. Mathias has shared BASCOMP under the CC0 "public domain" license.