Releases/1.2

The FreeDOS 1.2 distribution was released 25 December 2016.

History

Users could download FreeDOS 1.2 in one of four formats:

FD12CD.iso - CDROM “standard” installer
FD12LGCY.iso - CDROM “legacy” installer
FD12FULL.img - USB “Full” installer
FD12LITE.img - USB “Lite” installer

The FLOPPY.img floppy image allowed users to start the install on systems that did not support a bootable CDROM drive.

The USB installers also included a VMDK virtual disk image that could be booted in a PC emulator or virtual machine.

On 18 February 2018, Jim also released QEMU virtual disk images of FreeDOS 1.2 Base and FreeDOS 1.2 Full that could be booted in QEMU.

Changes

The FreeDOS 1.2 release is an updated, more modern FreeDOS. You'll see that we changed many of the packages. Some packages were replaced, deprecated by newer and better packages. We also added other packages. And we expanded what we should include in the FreeDOS distribution. Where FreeDOS 1.0 and 1.1 where fairly straightforward distributions with only "core" packages and software sets, the FreeDOS 1.2 distribution includes a rich set of additional packages. We even include games.

But the biggest change you are likely to notice in FreeDOS 1.2 is the updated installer. FreeDOS 1.2 uses an entirely new FreeDOS install program, which is simple and easy to use. While many DOS users today are experienced DOS programmers and DOS power users, we often see many new users to FreeDOS, and we wanted to make the install process pleasant for them. The default mode for the installer is very straightforward, and you only have to answer a few questions to install FreeDOS on your system. There's also an "Advanced" mode where power users can tweak the install and customize the experience.

Press kit

FreeDOS 1.2 was the first distribution to be accompanied by a press kit. The press kit included material that journalists could use to write articles about FreeDOS. "If you are writing an article about FreeDOS, feel free to use this information to help you. If you prefer an interview, you can reach me at jh...@freedos.org." Adopting a Q&A "interview" style, the press kit provided information about FreeDOS from Jim Hall:

How did FreeDOS get started?
Why FreeDOS in 2016/2017? Who uses FreeDOS?
What's new in FreeDOS 1.2?
Do you use FreeDOS?

The press kit also includes a number of images and screenshots that journalists could use:

FreeDOS official logo and mascot
Screenshots from FreeDOS 1.2
Screenshots from installing FreeDOS 1.2

Release candidates

Release notes

This Wayback snapshot shows a news item dated 2016-12-25 3:26pm to announce the FreeDOS 1.2 distribution.

# The FreeDOS Installer (FDI)

The [FreeDOS](http://freedos.org) Installer is a customizable and flexible
batch based installation kit based on the
[V8Power Tools](http://up.lod.bz/V8Power) batch file enhancement utilities.

If you do not want to use one of the
[pre-built install images](http://up.lod.bz/FDI)
and want to build a custom operating system release, please see
the [FDI wiki](https://github.com/shidel/FDI/wiki)
on [Github](https://github.com).

* * *
### Installation Requirements

FDI has a fairly modest set of requirements.

* EGA or better graphics.
* 80386 or better CPU.
* 640k RAM (under 4Mb is untested)

_(Although V8Power Tools and FDI only requires an 8086, some other utilities
that are currently required by FDI do not support CPUs lower than a 386.)_

### FreeDOS installation methods

There are basically four methods using FDI to install
[FreeDOS](http://freedos.org).

* The FULL USB or LITE USB stick
  * All supported virtual machines
  * Many modern computers
* Bootable CD-ROM
  * Most virtual machines (including VirtualBox)
  * Most 486 or better computers
* Alternate Legacy CD-ROM
  * Virtual Machines (excluding VirtualBox)
  * Most computers that support CD booting.
* Bootable Floppy + CD-ROM (or USB Stick).
  * All supported virtual machines
  * Nearly any computer with a CD-ROM.
* Separate Hard Disk
  * Any computer or machine that supports [FreeDOS](http://freedos.org) and
  meets the minimum requirements.

To use the "Separate Hard Disk" method, you must copy all files and directories
from one of the USB sticks to the root directory of the spare hard disk drive.
If performing this from DOS, you can use xcopy with the /e switch. This is not
the drive where you will be installing [FreeDOS](http://freedos.org). It should
be a spare and completely separate drive.

A special note for [DOSBox](http://dosbox.com) users. FDI can install to
[DOSBox](http://dosbox.com) using the "Separate Hard Disk" method. This assumes
you have already setup a drive *C:* and know how to mount the _Spare Drive_
into [DOSBox](http://dosbox.com). It will perform the install and prepare an
*AUTOEXEC.BAT* file on drive *C:* to use the [FreeDOS](http://freedos.org)
binaries and the FreeCOM shell. This does not cause the
[FreeDOS](http://freedos.org) kernel to be used. So, technically this not a
[FreeDOS](http://freedos.org) install. It really is just enhancing
[DOSBox](http://dosbox.com) with the [FreeDOS](http://freedos.org) binaries.