Releases/Beta9/RC1

The FreeDOS Beta 9 RC1 "Methusalem" distribution was released 19 July 2003. This was the last distribution to use a codename.

Codename

We aren't exactly sure about the origin of this codename. From Jim: "I wasn't the release manager for this version, so I'm not sure why we picked this name. I suspect this is because the Bible says Methusalem lived the longest at 969 years old, and the new release manager might have been making a joke at how long DOS had been around."

History

This Wayback snapshot says "2003-07-19" as the release date for "FreeDOS Beta 9 Prerelease 1 ("Methusalem")." Released by Bernd Blaauw.

Release notes

This was the first distribution to save the release notes as an HTML file. Below is a text-only extract of the release notes:

Download FreeDOS software:

  2003-07-19

  The FreeDOS Beta 9 &nbspDistribution is now available on ibiblio and
  Fdos.org. This release is available as an ISO image and as a diskette
  distribution.
  please see the readme file for more info.

  Hello list,

  I am proud to announce the availability of FreeDOS Beta 9 Prerelease 1
  ("Methusalem").
  It is available as both diskette ( 3 * 1.44MB ) and (bootable) cdrom
  distribution (10MB).
  Many programs have been updated since the 2002-APR-07 release of Beta 8
  ("Nikita"), and many features have been added, like generating the
  post-installation configuration files config.sys and autoexec.bat, as
  well as providing a general cdrom-driver, written by Jeremy Davis.
  This is a prerelease because it provides only the Base diskset and the
  corresponding sources for it.
  The FULL Beta 9 distribution will be ready in a few months, but there's
  no reason to delay anything until then.

  Let this be the base for the push towards a version 1.0, which will
  hopefully be ready by 29 April 2004, when the FreeDOS project celebrates
  it's 10th anniversery since Jim Hall founded it back in '94

  Beta 9 can be obtained from Ibiblio.

  With kind regards,

  Bernd Blaauw

  Updates to BASE include:

    * Kernel 2030Kernel, please update to 2030a once available [was
      2027test]
    * FreeCom 0.82patchlevel2 optional use of XMSswap variant [was
      0.83beta44]
    * Format 0.91, with limited Fat32 support [was 0.90]
    * Fdisk 1.30 [was 1.01]
    * Sys 2.6 [was 2.5]
    * Attrib 2.10 some bugs fixed, description changed [was 2.00]
    * Choice 4.4 (smaller, updated translations) [was 3.6c]
    * DOS IDE/ATAPI cdromdriver 0.2.10
    * CuteMouse 1.9.1beta

  Other disksets have not been included due to lack of time and diskspace
   (and especially download time)

  Updates for the ISO only include:

    * ISOLINUX/MEMDISK 2.05 [was 2.00]

  Updates for the bootdisk and installation include:

    * Improved cdrom driver loading, including AtapiCDD
    * Creation of config.sys and autoexec.bat after installation
    * Menu's indicate what needs to be done
    * Memtest86 option available for RAM testing.

  Please see History.txt in the ISOLINUX directory of the cdrom for the
  complete set of changes.

  You can easily integrate this cdrom distribution to your custom cdrom by
  adding the software and running MAKEISO.BAT in the ISOLINUX\BUILDCD
  directory.

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Mirrors of the Beta9:

  * none yet

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Were you looking for the source code?

  You may want to visit the FreeDOS developer page at SourceForge to get
  the source for the kernel, FreeCOM, and Install program. For more source
  code to FreeDOS, refer to the maintainers list.

  Files archive:

  Primary download at ibiblio (formerly Sunsite):

    * Files at ibiblio.org(www)
    * Files at ibiblio.org(ftp)

  Mirrors of the FreeDOS files archive:

    * gd.tuwien.ac.at(www)
    * gd.tuwien.ac.at(ftp)
    * planetmirror.com(www)
    * planetmirror.com(ftp)
    * powerlink.no(www)
    * rediris.es(www)
    * rediris.es(ftp)
    * wermlandsdata.com(www) (Sweden)
    * If you would like to mirror the FreeDOS files archive, please email
      the webmaster!