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Hardware for DOS
This page is about hardware which, in my opinion, is the best to work with in DOS. As we know, all hardwares aren't compatible with DOS (mostly if we speak about sound cards), that's why I decided to group here some computer pieces which are in 100% compatible with DOS, and few drivers.
Note: The most of hardware presented here isn't available in shops anymore, the only way to have one, is often to buy it second-hand.
How can I know what hardware am I running?
One tool to detect hardware is HWINFO by Martin Malík, REALiX Corp. Project page: http://www.hwinfo.com. Shareware, 12$ for personal use. Provides much info about almost all detectable hardware. It runs in real mode, requires HIMEM/XMS, and is a low memory hog - your config and autostart files should contain HIMEM, and besides it as little as possible.
Index: Motherboards, processors, video cards, sound cards, network cards, others.
The mainboard is the most important computer's element, that's why we should be careful when selecting it. Basically, any motherboard is compatible with DOS, but we won't get the same capabilities with different one. If we would like to use sound, then we will need at least one ISA slot (in fact, there are some PCI sound card working in DOS - eg. SB Live, but the compatibility of these cards with DOS programs is horrible, so I will not take them under attention). The socket type (that is, the processor's connector) isn't important, usually the latest mainboards with an ISA slot was based on s370 or Socket A. If we would like to use our future computer for gaming, it's worth to have an AGP slot - that way we will be able to install a 3DFx Voodoo 3 card, 3DFX is the only 3D graphic accelerator supported by popular DOS games (like Carmageddon, or GTA). When choosing the mainboard it's important to check if the board have two PS/2 connectors (keyboard/mouse)... recent mainboards haven't those connectors anymore, and needs USB keyboard/mouse, and there was always much troubles with these under DOS. If we're planning to add a printer to the computer, we'll need also a CENTRONICS port (also known as "LPT").
My favorite mainboards for DOS:
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Chaintech 6VIA3
Chipset: VIA VT82C693A + 596B
Audio: CMI8738
2x SDRAM DIMMs (max. 512 MB)
1x EPP/ECP parallel port
2x serial I/O
2x PS/2 keyb/mouse
ATX power supply conector
2x USB connectors
Expansion slots: 1 x AGP, 3 x PCI, 1 x ISA
MicroATX form factor
CPU support: S370 up to PIII 1GHz (133MHz FSB)
Download: Manual for the CT-6VIA3 mainboard |
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Fujitsu-Siemens D1107
Chipset: 440BX
3x SDRAM DIMMs (max. 768 MB)
1x EPP/ECP parallel port
1x serial I/O
2x PS/2 keyb/mouse
ATX power supply conector
2x USB connectors
1xRJ45 (optional)
Expansion slots: 1 x AGP, 5 x PCI, 2 x ISA
ATX form factor
CPU support: SLOT1 up to PIII 800 MHz (100MHz FSB)
Download:
Manual for the D1107 mainboard
Phoenix BIOS v4.06 R1.16 update diskette
Microcode update for Intel CPUs v2.00 R1.11 diskette (needed if you get "CPU patch not installed" error at boot) |
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ECS P6BAT-A+
Chipset: Elite BX
Audio: CMI8738 PCI 3D
3x SDRAM DIMMs
1x EPP/ECP parallel port
2x serial I/O
2x PS/2 keyb/mouse
ATX power supply conector
2x USB connectors
ATX form factor
CPU support: SLOT 1 up to Cel 533; S370 up to PIII 850MHz (100MHz FSB)
Download: Manual for the ECS P6BAT-A+ mainboard |
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Abit BM6
Chipset: Intel 440BX 100Mhz AGPSet
On-board I/O: 2 UltraDMA/33 IDE (4 devices), 1 floppy, 2 serial, 1 parallel, 2 USB, PS/2 keyb/mouse
3x SDRAM DIMMs (max. 768 MB)
ATX power supply conector
ATX form factor
FSB: 66/100/133MHz |
DOS seems to work well on single-core and dual-core P4 CPU's. Any additional cores or CPU's however are ignored in DOS, since neither DOS kernel nor any DOS extender make use of them. There have been little tests with 64-bit CPU's, some of them seem to have intact 16-bit RM still present, this however is not guaranteed to be kept in future. Better avoid buying 64-bit! Of course, the processor should be compatible with the 386 platform, to be able to use the protected mode (all processors manufactured after 1985 have that capability). As we know, the main characteristic of a processor is its frequency. For the majority of uses in DOS, a 200 - 300 MHz processor is largely sufficient. If we would like to have a really quick system, it obviously willn't hurt to take a faster one. The second processor's parameter is the electrical power, in Watts. Lesser power the device is needing, lesser warm will be generated. The most energy-saving (at speeds up to 1 GHz) are Cyrix (VIA) processors, and devices from the Intel company - especially those from the "Mobile" line.
Few processors:
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VIA C3 933 MHz (Ezra)
Socket 370
Speed: 933 MHz (FSB: 133 MHz / multiplicator: 7x)
Cache memory: L1 64 + 64Kb / L2 64Kb
Core voltage: 1.35V
Instructions: MMX, 3D Now!
Average power consumption: 5.9W
This is my favorite processor. Its speed is sufficient under DOS, and it have very low power needs. It generates very little warm, so it can be used without an additional fan, making that way a very quiet computer. |
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Intel Pentium 3 450 MHz (Katmai)
Slot 1
Speed: 450 MHz (FSB: 100 MHz / multiplicator: 4.5x)
Cache memory: L1 16+16Kb / L2 512kb
Core voltage: 2.0V
Instructions: MMX, SSE
Average power consumption: 17W |
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AMD Duron 800 MHz (Spitfire)
Socket A
Speed: 800 MHz (FSB: 100 MHz / multiplicator: 8x)
Cache memory: L1 128Kb / L2 64kb
Core voltage: 1.6V
Instructions: MMX, 3D Now!
Average power consumption: 31.8W |
DOS doesn't requires a fast graphic card, even if we are going to use the system for games. The most important is that the card supports the VESA standard. There are few other things we should look at, for example a TV-out port will be handy if we would like to connect the PC to a TV display. It would be nice, if the card supported the VBE 3.0 standard, that way we would be able to set up the card's refresh rate manually (in DOS) using an appropriate program, like VBEHZ. The card's slot type has no importance, but it's good to keep in mind that most of old ISA cards aren't VESA compatible! The card should have at least 4 MB of RAM, as the amount of memory will determine allowed resolutions. Here are some examples: resolution of 640x480x8bit (256 colors) requires 300 kB of RAM, 1024x768x16bit - 2 MB, 1280x1024x16bit - 4 MB... the calculation is easy: Xresolution * Yresolution * BitDepth / 8.
Personally, I am using (or have used in the past) the following video cards in DOS:
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SiS 305
Slot: AGP
VESA support: VBE 3.0
Memory: 32MB |
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3DFx Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Slot: AGP 2x
VESA support: VBE 3.0
Memory: 16MB
Max. resolution: 2046x1536x24bit
Supported refresh rates: 60 - 160Hz
Output S-Video (TV-out)
It's a really great video card, which supports natively the Glide acceleration API and renders a high-quality output. The con point is that the card has high power needs and is getting very hot at normal work.
Download: Glide 2.x library (you will need to put it somewhere into your %PATH% to let games use 3Dfx acceleration) |
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PowerColor SiS 6326
Slot: AGP
VESA support: VBE 2.0
Memory: 8MB |
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Paradise PVGA1A-JK
8-Bit VGA Card
Slot: ISA
VESA support: no
Memory: 1MB
Max. resolution: 640x480x8bpp (256 colors) or 800x600x4bpp (16 colors)
Production date: ca. 1990 |
When searching a sound card for DOS, we should avoid cards other than ISA like fire. There are many PCI cards which are described as "compatible with DOS", but will not work with much software for DOS, due to their "SB emulation" drivers, which are often buggy and unstable. I heard that the "SB Live!" (PCI) card with latest drivers is working pretty nicely in DOS. There are also some (old) sound circuits integrated into the mainboard (for example from the C-MEDIA company) which are compatible - the quality is often poor, but sound "as is" is fully usable. My favorite sound card is obviously the Creative SoundBlaster AWE 64 Gold. :-)
Some sound cards:
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Sound Blaster AWE 64 ISA Gold PnP (CT4390)
Slot: ISA
4 MB RAM
SPDIF output
The Sound Blaster AWE64 is significantly smaller than its predecessor, the Sound Blaster AWE32. It offers a similar feature set, but also has a few notable improvements.
The major improvement comes from better on-board circuitry that increases the signal-to-noise ratio and overall signal quality compared to the the frequently quite noisy AWE32 and Sound Blaster 16 boards. This improvement is most notable with the AWE64 Gold, because of its superior RCA connector outputs. The improvement also comes from increased integration of components on AWE64 compared to its predecessors. Increased integration means the board can be simpler and trace routing to components is reduced, decreasing the amount of noise-inducing signal travel. This also made it possible to reduce the size of AWE64's board noticeably, compared to AWE32.
AWE64, in the end, was basically a revision of the AWE32. Quality of components and output was improved and cost of manufacturing was lessened. Functionality of the hardware was nearly identical. The boards were based around the AWE32's E-mu 8000 sample-based synthesis chipset, E-mu effects processor, and a Creative audio DSP and codec for digital sound playback.
The AWE64 came in three versions initially: A "Value" version (with 512KB of RAM), a standard version (with 1 MB of RAM), and a "Gold" version (with 4 MB of RAM and a separate SPDIF output). |
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Sound Blaster 16 WaveEffects (CT4170)
Slot: ISA |
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Sound Blaster 16 Value PNP (CT2950)
Slot: ISA
Production date: 1995 |
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Sound Blaster 16 Vibra PNP (CT2890)
Slot: ISA |
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Sound Blaster Pro 2 (CT1600)
Slot: ISA
Production date: 1992 |
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Gravis UltraSound rev. 2.4
Slot: ISA
1MB RAM
Production date: 1992 |
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OPTi 924 (82C924)
Slot: ISA
SB Pro compatible
Download: Drivers for DOS/Win3.1x |
Any network card will be good to work in DOS, as far as there is a DOS "packet driver" for it. The "Crynwr" company has released many DOS packet drivers. Personally, I like the most hardware from 3Com - their cards are high quality and pretty bullet-proof, you will easily get some old models on the cheap.
Few network cards:
There are many various devices which can be usefull when working with DOS.
There are some of them:
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Printer
Sometime it's good to have a printer under DOS... At least for quick printing of some configuration file, or to read any documentation on paper. The most important condition to use a printer in DOS, is that the printer has to own a CENTRONICS port (LPT). Beside that, it can't be a so-called "win-printer", ie. a device which needs to be driven by some specific software. If we would like to print anyhting else than bare text, it would be good to have a PostScript supporting printer (virtually all laser printers supports it. The cheapest in exploitation will be probably dot matrix printers, at the condition that we will be able to find the corresponding ink ribbons. The bad things about dot matrix printers are that they are usually noisy, can only print low resolution graphics with limited color performance (if at all), limited quality and comparatively low speed. On the picture we see my first printer - an Epson LX-800 (9-pin dot matrix, without any PostScript support).
If you ask me what is the best choice for a DOS printer today, I would recommend some older laser printer. These are fast, robust, prints text and graphics with a very good quality and usually have a full support for PostScript. |
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Floppy Disk Drive 5.25" 1.2MB
A 5.25" floppy drive may be usefull if we need to read some old 5.25" diskettes. Even if the real useability of such a drive is very limited, it evidently gives to our beloved computer an oldschool "retro" style. :-) |
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KVM Switch
If you're using two (or more) computers - for example one for DOS, and a second one for boring things like internet, gaming, etc... it's a very good idea to install a KVM switch (on the picture a "Belkin OmniCube" KVM switch). Such device allows to connect two (or more, depends of the model) computers to one display/keyboard/mouse set, which permits to economise much place on our desk. It's better to avoid cheap mechanical switches, as these are mostly degrading the video signal, and tends to have poor quality commutators. Electronic switches (a bit more expensive) are much better, and lasts for a very long time. |
