awesome-awesomeness/html/dos.md2.html

<h1 id="awesome-dos-awesome">Awesome DOS <a
href="https://awesome.re"><img src="https://awesome.re/badge.svg"
alt="Awesome" /></a></h1>
<p>Family of operating systems for x86-based personal computers
including IBM PC DOS and MS-DOS that were popular during the 1980s and
early 1990s.</p>
<p><a
href="https://github.com/balintkissdev/awesome-dos"><img src="logo.svg" align="right" width="100"></a></p>
<p>A curated list of references for development of DOS applications and
learning about the system itself. This includes list of compilers,
tutorials, videos, links to free and paid books and source code to DOS
operating systems and DOS games. The goal of this list is to collect
information and act as a starting point for someone who wants to start
out retro-programming for the DOS platform.</p>
<h2 id="contents">Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#development-tools">Development tools</a></li>
<li><a href="#tutorials-and-programming-resources">Tutorials and
programming resources</a></li>
<li><a href="#books">Books</a></li>
<li><a href="#videos">Videos</a></li>
<li><a href="#source-code">Source code</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#open-source-dos-operating-systems">Open source DOS
operating systems</a></li>
<li><a href="#open-source-dos-libraries">Open source DOS
libraries</a></li>
<li><a href="#open-source-dos-games">Open source DOS games</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#drivers-and-emulators">Drivers and emulators</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="development-tools">Development tools</h2>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/bcc.html">bcc
- Bruce’s Compiler</a> - Bruce’s C compiler is a simple C compiler that
produces 8086 assembler for tiny/small memory models.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/">DJGPP</a> - DJ Delorie’s
complete 32-bit C/C++ development environment for Intel 80386. Used for
Quake.</li>
<li><a href="https://gitlab.com/tkchia/build-ia16/-/releases">GCC IA-16
toolchain</a> - A 16-bit counterpart to DJGPP, a GCC-based toolchain for
developing 16-bit (8086 to 80286, a.k.a. IA-16) DOS applications,
currently maintained by TK Chia.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bttr-software.de/products/insight/">Insight</a>
- Very small debugger for real-mode DOS programs with Borland’s Turbo
like UI. Features an i80486 disassembler, and i8086 assembler.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220627162043/http://www.openwatcom.org/">Open
Watcom</a> - Formerly commercial C/C++ development environment for 16-
and 32-bit DOS and Windows. The current official version is 1.9. A
GitHub fork is also available. Used for Doom I-II, Warcraft I-II, Duke
Nukem 3D, Full Throttle, Dark Forces and Retro City Rampage.
<ul>
<li>The <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220630162351/http://www.openwatcom.org/doc.php">documentation</a>
is very valuable in order to understand working with both version 1.9
and the V2 fork.</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Open_Watcom">Arch Wiki
page</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/open-watcom/open-watcom-v2">Open Watcom
V2</a> - GitHub fork which is actively maintained and is ported to
64-bit Windows and Linux.</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.doshaven.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tc201.zip">Turbo
C 2.01</a> - C IDE and compiler from Borland first released in
1987.</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.doshaven.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/tcpp101.zip">Turbo
C++ 1.01</a> - C++ IDE and compiler from Borland released in 1991.</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/tcc_20210425">Turbo C++ 3.0</a>
- C++ IDE and compiler from Borland released in 1992.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://turboc.pages.dev/">Online version.</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/div2_iso">DIV Games Studio
2</a> - IDE to develop DOS games in 2d, mode 7 and 3d. Released in 1998.
<ul>
<li><a href="http://js.mikedx.co.uk/DIV1.html">Online version.</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://t3x.org/t3x/#t3x7">T3X</a> - A small, portable,
procedural, block-structured, recursive, almost typeless, and to some
degree object-oriented programming language by Nils M. Holm.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/alexfru/SmallerC.git">SmallerC</a> -
Portable self-hosting C compiler capable of producing executables for a
number of platforms, including real and protected mode DOS programs, by
Alexei A. Frounze.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/humbertocsjr/Small-C.git">Small-C
Toolkit</a> - A self-hosting Small-C Compiler Toolkit for DOS(8086)
with: K&amp;R C Compiler, Make, Linker, Assembler. First released in
1982 by Jim E. Hendrix.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="memory-managers">Memory managers</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/sudleyplace/386MAX">386MAX</a> - Memory
manager for DOS PCs with 386 or higher CPUs, <a
href="https://winworldpc.com/product/386max/6x">released by Qualitas
company in 1992</a>. Source code was released in June 2022 on GitHub
with GPL-3.0 license.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="scripting-languages-and-interpreters-for-dos">Scripting
languages and interpreters for DOS</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/SuperIlu/DOjS">DOjS</a> - JavaScript
programming environment for MS-DOS, FreeDOS or any DOS-based Windows
(like 95, 98, ME).</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/lua5.3.5">Lua for DOS</a> -
Online demo of Lua 5.3.5, compiled for MS-DOS on the Intel 80486
processor.</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/pohmelie/micropython-freedos">Micropython for
FreeDOS</a> - FreeDOS ad-hoc module for <a
href="https://github.com/micropython/micropython">micropython</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://perldoc.perl.org/perldos">perldos</a> - Perl for
DOS.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.caddit.net/pythond/">PythonD</a> - Python for
DOS, including multi-threading, networking and OpenGL.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="tutorials-and-programming-resources">Tutorials and programming
resources</h2>
<h3 id="history">History</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://b13rg.github.io/Life-of-MS-DOS/">The Life of MS-DOS
by Brendan Byers</a> - History of the DOS family including CP/M,
Q-DOS/86-DOS, MS-DOS and PC-DOS. Article also includes a diagram of the
timeline and family tree of DOS operating systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="compiling">Compiling</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://alexfru.narod.ru/os/c16/c16.html">80x86 16-bit
Compiling How-to by Alexei A. Frounze</a> - 16-bit compilation tutorial
for Borland/Turbo C/C++ and Open Watcom. Goes into depth of memory
addressing and memory models.</li>
<li><a
href="http://tuttlem.github.io/2015/10/04/32bit-dos-development-with-open-watcom.html">32bit
DOS development with Open Watcom</a> - 32-bit compilation tutorial for
Open Watcom.</li>
<li><a href="https://nullprogram.com/blog/2014/12/09/">How to build DOS
COM files with GCC by Chris Wellons</a> - Build process of Chris
Wellons’s DOS Defender game using DJGPP. Goal was to create a 32-bit
80386 COM executable.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="general">General</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240812211701/http://www.brackeen.com/vga/">David
Brackeen - 256-Color VGA Programming in C</a> - Tutorial series to learn
how to create graphics on DOS, written in 1996.</li>
<li><a
href="https://blog.sourcerer.io/640k-really-is-enough-for-anyone-314f393ca5b8">640k
Really is Enough for Anyone by Robert W. Oliver II</a> - Short article
about getting Turbo C running on FreeDOS and moving a pixel around.
<!--lint disable no-repeat-punctuation--></li>
<li><a
href="https://scalibq.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/just-keeping-it-real-old-skool-style/">Just
keeping it real… old skool style - Scali’s OpenBlog</a> - Blog post
about Scali’s journey of doing CGA, EGA and VGA programming.
<!--lint enable no-repeat-punctuation--></li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112023702/http://www3.telus.net/alexander_russell/course/introduction.htm">Alex
Russell’s Dos Game Programming in C for Beginners</a> - DOS game
programming tutorial series including a primer on C, graphics,
animation, input handling and collision detection. This series contains
a tutorial for making <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200203195410/http://www3.telus.net/alexander_russell/course/chapter_4.htm">buffered
input handling</a>. Last chapter contains full source code of a Break
Out game on DOS.</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20201031021650/http://atrevida.comprenica.com/">The
Artevida Game Programming Tutorials</a> - Kevin Matz’s almost
book-length treatment of DOS system programming and VGA programming
fundamentals using C/C++ and 80x86 assembly. Unfortunately it is
incomplete and was abandoned since 2001.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201111164240/http://bespin.org/~qz/pc-gpe/">PC
Game Programmer’s Encyclopedia</a> - Collection of guides covering
assembly, sound (Sound Blaster, Gravis UltraSound, PC Speaker,
GameBlaster, Adlib), input, memory (EMS, XMS, DMA Transfers), PIT, VGA,
SVGA, algorithms and file formats.</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20190123060222/http://www.flipcode.com/archives/The_Art_of_Demomaking-Issue_02_Introduction_To_Computer_Graphics.shtml">The
Art of Demomaking by flipcode</a> - Series from 1999 that introduces to
graphics programming under DOS. The home site contains other late
90s/early 2000s game programming articles as well.</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20200626182822/http://www.fysnet.net/">Programming
MS-DOS with Power - DOS Programming, Undocumented DOS, and DOS
Secrets</a> - System programming tutorials like disk handling,
interrupts, inputs, sound, graphics.</li>
<li><a
href="http://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/4555/Programmer%27s%20Heaven%20%28InfoMagic%29%28March%201997%29.BIN%2Fmain.htm">Programmer’s
Heaven (InfoMagic)(March 1997) CD-ROM</a> - Source code and files for
the following topics: MS-DOS, networking, C, C++, Pascal, Visual Basic,
Delphi, 3D, PC speaker, Soundblaster, Gravis Ultrasound, MIDI and many
more.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="dos-api">DOS API</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://digitalmars.com/rtl/bios.html">bios.h header
documentation by Digital Mars</a> - API documentation for routines
accessing BIOS operations directly (disk operations, BIOS keyboard,
printer, time, memory, serial, interrupts).</li>
<li>dos.h header documentation by Digital Mars <a
href="https://digitalmars.com/rtl/dos.html">Part 1</a> <a
href="https://digitalmars.com/rtl/dos2.html">Part 2</a> - API
documentation of functions for interfacing with the DOS operating system
itself.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="interrupts">Interrupts</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201111162212/http://www.ctyme.com/rbrown.htm">Ralph
Brown’s Interrupt List - HTML version</a> - List of every documented and
undocumented interrupt call known, accessible through search, categories
and interrupt numbers.
<ul>
<li>Original in downloadable .zip files from <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201108093425/http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ralf/files.html">Ralph
Brown’s website</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="memory">Memory</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20200728-00/?p=104012">A
look back at memory models in 16-bit MS-DOS</a> - Raymond Chen’s
explanation of segmented memory, including near- and far pointers.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="video">Video</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200214123701/http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/videomodes.txt">Values
for standard video mode</a> - List of all known video modes including
BIOS interrupt numbers, text/pixel resolution, number of colors and
video memory addresses.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="cga">CGA</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020351/https://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/cga.html">Color
Graphics Adapter: Notes</a> - Document describing the hardware, memory
map, register I/O and hardware clones of the IBM’s original CGA.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="vga">VGA</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wiki.osdev.org/VGA_Hardware">VGA Hardware - OSDev
wiki</a> - Hardware guide for VGA cards that is also relevant for modern
graphics cards including NVidia and ATI.</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20201112040702/http://www.wagemakers.be/english/doc/vga">Graphical
programming in Assembly (DOS)</a> - A VGA programming tutorial that also
shows the list of video modes (text, CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA) in a table at
the beginning.</li>
<li><a href="http://joco.homeserver.hu/vgalessons/">VGA programming
lessons</a> - VGA programming tutorial series in Pascal and
Assembly.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="svga">SVGA</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200724153658/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/supervga-programming/">DOS
Super VGA / VESA programming notes - by Myles</a> - VESA article with
history at the beginning and short mention of the VESA VBE standard, but
unfortunately the example codes aren’t even available through Wayback
Machine.</li>
<li><a href="https://wiki.osdev.org/Getting_VBE_Mode_Info">VESA Video
Modes - OSDev wiki</a> - Tutorial about querying VESA modes.</li>
<li><a
href="http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/doc/ug/graphics/vesa.html.en">DJGPP
VESA guide</a> - Tutorial about querying VESA modes.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200128180543/http://www.monstersoft.com/tutorial1/">High-res
high-speed VESA tutorial</a> - Series of tutorials that include drawing
pixels in VESA mode (protected or real).</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200121065447/http://www.codenet.ru/progr/video/vesa20ex.php">C
code sample for drawing in VESA 2.0 mode</a> - Just code listing for
drawing an ellipse in VESA mode.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="sound">Sound</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://discmaster.textfiles.com/browse/63/Programming%20Sound%20Cards.iso">Programming
Sound Cards CD</a> - A 1995 CD-ROM containing source code for Adlib,
Gravis, Pro-Audio, Roland and Sound Blaster sound cards. The description
for the folders on the CD-ROM is listed <a
href="https://archive.org/details/programming-sound-cards/Programming%20Sound%20Cards_back.jpg">on
the back of the CD-ROM case.</a></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="pc-speaker">PC Speaker</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150302161648/http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~inf3150/grupper/1/pcspeaker.html">Making
some noise with the PC speaker! - by Mark Feldman</a> - Very short
tutorial on using the PIT for generating PC speaker frequency.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201129091353/https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html">Frequencies
of Musical Notes</a> - Freqency table usable to parameterize the PC
speaker.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171115162742/http://guideme.itgo.com/atozofc/ch23.pdf">Sound
Programming with PC Speaker - Chapter 23 of A to Z of C</a> - PC speaker
programming chapter of the “A to Z of C” book with source code.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="adlibopl2">AdLib/OPL2</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM3812">Yamaha YM3812
(OPL2) sound chip Wikipedia article</a> - Best starting point to learn
about the OPL2 sound chip besides 8-bit guy’s YouTube video.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200427145810/http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/images/4/48/AdLib_-_Programming_Guide.pdf">The
Ad Lib Music Synthesizer Card Programming Guide - by Tero Töttö</a> -
Reference of OPL2 operations and registers.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="sound-blasteropl3">Sound Blaster/OPL3</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200509082459/http://www.fit.vutbr.cz/~arnost/opl/opl3.html">Programmer’s
Guide to the Yamaha YMF 262/OPL3 FM Music Synthesizer</a> -
Reverse-engineered reference on OPL3.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201130110457/http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~brodskye/sb16doc/sb16doc.html">Sound
Blaster 16 Programming Document 3.5 by Ethan Brodsky</a> - Programming
the Sound Blaster 16 DSP CT1341 chip for recording and playback of
digitized audio.
<ul>
<li>version 3.4 on <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180507161514/http://archive.gamedev.net/archive/reference/articles/article444.html">GameDev.net
archive</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191020222313/http://www.intel-assembler.it/portale/5/soundblaster-programming-information/sb-reference-for-programming-sound.asp">Soundblaster
Programming Information v0.90</a> - List of Sound Blaster models and
registers.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="other">Other</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112012244/https://www.alternatewars.com/Games/DOSBox/DOSBox.htm">Table
of DOSBox cyclecounts according to processor types</a> - A table for
setting the appropriate DOSBox cycle count according to CPU types (IBM
XT 88, 286, 386, 486, Pentium I, Pentium II). Comes handy when you are
developing a DOS game and want to simulate the environment where you
intend to execute it.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="books">Books</h2>
<h3 id="free">Free</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221226120420/https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbwolf3d.pdf">Game
Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D - by Fabien Sanglard</a> - Fabien
Sanglard’s walkthrough on the game engine architecture of id Software’s
Wolfenstein 3D on the IBM PC’s hardware. Contains forewords by John
Carcmack, Tom Hall and John Romero.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221225164613/https://fabiensanglard.net/b/gebbdoom.pdf">Game
Engine Black Book: Doom - by Fabien Sanglard</a> - Fabien Sanglard’s
walkthrough on the game engine architecture of id Software’s original
Doom on Intel 486 system and game console ports. Contains forewords by
John Carcmack, Dave Taylor and John Romero.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201109033646/http://guideme.itgo.com/atozofc/">A
to Z of C - a book on C/DOS programming by K. Joseph Wesley and R.
Rajesh Jeba Anbiah</a> - Non-profit book on programming in C on DOS. DOS
system programming starts from Part II.</li>
<li><a
href="https://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/graphics-programming-black-book/184404919">Michael
Abrash’s Graphics Programming Black Book Special Edition</a> -
Collection of Michael Abrash’s Dr. Dobb’s Journal graphics programming
articles and his work on the graphics subsystem of Quake (<a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201112020812/http://www.phatcode.net/res/224/files/html/index.html">mirror</a>).</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="paid">Paid</h3>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Game-Programming-Gurus-Andre-Lamothe/dp/0672305070/">Tricks
of the Game-Programming Gurus - by Andre Lamothe, John Ratcliff and
Denise Tyler</a> - Comprehensive DOS game development book about
starting out. Topics include keyboard, mouse- and joystick input
handling, creating 2D and 3D VGA graphics, raycaster rendering, sound
and music, game algorithms, Interrupt Service Routines (ISR), timers,
artificial intelligence, networked multiplayer through serial port and
null-modem cable, tooling, parallax scrolling and optimization
techniques.
<ul>
<li>Ebook available from online libraries to borrow (required due to
licensing): <a
href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1124792M/Tricks_of_the_game-programming_gurus">Open
Library link</a>, <a
href="https://archive.org/details/tricksofgameprog0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up">Internet
Archive link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a
href="https://www.amazon.com/More-Tricks-Game-Programming-Gurus-Cd-Rom/dp/0672306972">More
Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus - by Greg Anderson</a> - Companion
book to <em>Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus</em>, continuing where
the original left off. Topics include SVGA, Binary Space Partition
(BSP), UI, voxel graphics, memory management in real and protected mode,
advanced sound programming, debugging and optimization techniques.
<ul>
<li>Ebook available from online libraries to borrow (required due to
licensing): <a
href="https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19501825W/More_tricks_of_the_game-programming_gurus">Open
Library link</a>, <a
href="https://archive.org/details/moretricksofgame0000unse/page/n7/mode/2up">Internet
Archive link</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="videos">Videos</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E5Hog5OnIM">Why DOS Was
(and Is) a Thing - FreeDOS</a> - Historical talk starting from Unix,
going through CPM, DOS 1.x, DOS 2.x, DOS 3.x, DOS 4.x, DOS 6.x, Windows
3.1, Windows 95 and ending with FreeDOS.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niKblgZupOc">CGA Graphics -
Not as bad as you thought! - by 8-bit Guy</a> - History and technical
details about IBM’s CGA system. Also describes 4-color RGBI and 16-color
Composite modes.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_3d1x2VPxk">How Oldschool
Sound/Music worked - by 8-bit Guy</a> - Video about PC speaker, FM
synthesizers in NES and Commodore 64, Yamaha OPL chip in AdLib and Sound
Blaster sound cards, PCM samples and MOD music.</li>
<li><a
href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGJnX2KGgaw2L7Uv5NThlL48G9y4rJx1X">Let’s
Code - MS DOS - by root42</a> - DOS programming tutorial series
including VGA, SoundBlaster and VGA Mode X.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a324ykKV-7Y">LGR -
Evolution of PC Audio - As Told by Secret of Monkey Island</a> -
Comparison of playing the intro theme of Secret of Monkey Island through
PC speaker, IBM PCjr/Tandy, AdLib, Game Blaster, Roland LAPC-1/MT-32,
Gravis Ultrasound, Roland SCC-1 MIDI, SB16 Waveblaster/AWE32 and CD
quality digital audio.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSKeWH4TY9Y">Porting Retro
City Rampage to MS-DOS: From PS4 to 1.44MB Floppy</a> - GDC talk. Brian
Provinciano’s presentation on porting Retro City Rampage from
PlayStation 4 to DOS. Topics include optimization, using interrupts,
timing, PC speaker sound, joystick, memory management and fixed-point
math.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j947U4xl5I">DOS
Executables Explained - Nostalgia Nerd</a> - Video about DOS executable
formats including <code>.COM</code>, <code>.BAT</code> and
<code>.EXE</code>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGIyCD2_qA8">Why does DOS
use 8.3 Filenames? - Nostalgia Nerd</a> - Video about the 8.3 limitation
of filenames under DOS, FAT partitioning scheme, NTFS, VFAT, FatGo, and
<code>LFN.EXE</code>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAyQLV5bbb0">What is DOS
Protected Mode? / DOS Extenders- Nostalgia Nerd</a> - Video about how PC
memory looks like, conventional memory, extender memory and reasons for
the need of DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) and extenders like
DOS/4GW.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR6F0EdyulA">MS-DOS has
been Open-Sourced! We Build and Run it! - Dave’s Garage</a> - Former
Microsoft employee David Plummer tells stories about development of
MS-DOS and compiles MS-DOS 4.00 source code which has been open-sourced
by Microsoft.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="source-code">Source code</h2>
<h3 id="open-source-dos-operating-systems">Open source DOS operating
systems</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS">MS-DOS</a> - GitHub
repository of the original source code for MS-DOS v1.25, v2.0 and v4.0,
open-sourced by Microsoft.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.freedos.org/">FreeDOS</a> - FreeDOS is an open
source DOS-compatible operating system that you can use to play classic
DOS games, run legacy business software, or develop embedded systems.
Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="open-source-dos-libraries">Open source DOS libraries</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/liballeg/allegro5/tree/v4-2-3-1">Allegro
4.2</a> - Game development library for DOS, Windows and Linux. 4.2
version supports DOS platform.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://download.tuxfamily.org/allegro/allegro-manual/4.2.1/allegro-manual-4.2.1.en.pdf">Allegro
4.2.1 PDF documentation.</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/rxi/lovedos">LoveDOS</a> - A framework
for making 2D DOS games in Lua. API based on a subset of the LÖVE
API.</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/marcomarrero/DOS-VGA-Game">DOS-VGA-Game</a> -
Marco A. Marrero’s DOS VGA/hardware library implemented in assembly and
Turbo Pascal.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/jratcliff63367/digpak">DIGPAK sound
drivers source code</a> - Original source code for the DIGPAK sound
drivers uploaded to GitHub by John W. Ratcliff.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="open-source-dos-games">Open source DOS games</h3>
<h4 id="homebrew-games-with-source-code">Homebrew games with source
code</h4>
<p>List of all homebrew DOS games: http://www.doshaven.eu</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/skeeto/dosdefender-ld31">DOS
Defender</a> - Christopher Wellons’s x86 real mode DOS Asteroids clone
created as an entry for Lundum Dare #31.</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/TheFakeMontyOnTheRun/dungeons-of-noudar">Dungeons
of Noudar</a> - First-person 2.5D dungeon-crawler on protected mode.
Written in C++, includes software rendering, fixed point math, test
coverage and sound (PC speaker, Adlib, OPL2LPT).</li>
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/empong/">Emeritus Pong</a>
- Pong clone for DOS, Windows and Linux. Uses PC speaker for sound on
DOS.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/icebreaker/floppybird">Floppy Bird</a> -
Flappy Bird clone written in 16 bit assembly. Not a DOS program, but a
PC-Booter application instead (although it’s also possible to build a
COM executable for DOS).</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.archive.org/web/20191225101138/http://cgi.di.uoa.gr/~geotz/dos/">George
M. Tzoumas’s collection of MS-DOS games and utilities</a> - Turbo Pascal
with few games in C and C++. Games include Nibbles, Connect Four, Ms
Pacman clone and two arcade/platform games. One of them (ra2) was
written using Allegro. Utilities are all written in Turbo Pascal, these
include game system routines, file and disk utilities and
terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSR).</li>
<li><a href="https://www.usebox.net/jjm/gold-mine-run/">Gold Mine
Run!</a> - Platformer written in C using DJGPP.</li>
<li><a href="https://porta2note.itch.io/gridfighter-3d">Gridfighter
3D</a> - ’80s style arcade shooter written in Quickbasic. Also the very
first known DOS game that supports Oculus Rift VR headset.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/porta2note/gridfighter3d">GitHub
repository</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/hangman-dos/">Hangman</a>
- Hangman clone written in Basic. Runs on at least 80286 processors and
uses EGA graphics.</li>
<li><a href="https://archive.org/details/MAGSMAZE">Magenta’s Maze</a> -
3D maze game using CGA graphics with algebra as theme.
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.doshaven.eu/downloads/537">Source code download
link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/mario/index.html">Mario</a> -
Super Mario Bros clone written in Turbo Pascal.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack">NetHack</a> -
Descendant of the original <a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetHack">NetHack</a> rougelike game
first released in 1987 available on multiple platforms.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/berk76/piskworks">Piskworks</a> - Gomoku
clone written in C. Works on DOS, ZX Spectrum, ZX81, ZX80, APPLE1, AS400
and Windows.</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/jani-nykanen/plutonium-caverns">Plutonium
Caverns</a> - Overhead puzzle game written in C. Web version uses <a
href="https://github.com/dreamlayers/em-dosbox">DOSBox ported to
Emscripten</a> to embed DOSBox into HTML5. However, the original
executable is also downloadable and buildable with Open Watcom.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/berk76/tetris">Ptakovina</a> - Tetris
clone written in C. Runs on DOS, Unix/Linux, ZX Spectrum and
Windows.</li>
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/sudoku86/">sudoku86</a> -
Sudoku clone written in C. Runs on 8086/8088 CPU, uses CGA, MCGA or VGA
graphics and uses a mouse.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.doshaven.eu/game/tetris/">Tetris</a> - Tetris
clone written in assembly.
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.doshaven.eu/downloads/373">Source code download
link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/sblendorio/hanoi-dos">Towers of
Hanoi</a> - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi">Tower
of Hanoi</a> puzzle game written in Turbo Pascal. Originally released in
1996.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/spacerace/x86-pong">x86 pong</a> -
Text-mode Pong clone written in C. Runs as PC-Booter game and under
DOS.</li>
<li><a href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/zmiy/">zmiy</a> -
Text-mode Snake clone written in C. Runs on 8086 DOS.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="freeware-games-with-source-code">Freeware games with source
code</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190222022411/https://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Cyberdogs.html">Cyberdogs</a>
- Top-down 2D shooter playing as a mercenary to earn money. Written in
Turbo Pascal. Supports two player mode.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180120123425/https://www.classicdosgames.com/files/source/dogs_src.zip">Source
code download link</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Dogs">C-Dogs</a> - Sequel
to the original Cyberdogs. Ronny Wester, the original creator no longer
maintains the website for the original C-Dogs, but multiple ports
exists, including <a
href="https://congusbongus.itch.io/cdogs-sdl">cdogs-sdl</a>.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<h4 id="commercial-games-with-published-source-code">Commercial games
with published source code</h4>
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190801083909/https://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Abuse.html">Abuse</a>
- Sci-fi side-scrolling platform game. Regarded as an innovative cult
classic by most people. Supports SVGA mode up to 1280x1024 resolution.
Written in C, the architecture includes a Lisp-scripting engine.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160402141350/http://www.classicdosgames.com/files/source/abuse_pd.tgz">Source
code download link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200721064209/https://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky.html">Beneath
a Steel Sky</a> - Point-and-click adventure game set in a dystopian
future. Written in assembly.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200721083621/https://www.classicdosgames.com/files/source/sky-source.zip">Source
code download link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/CatacombGames/Catacomb">Catacomb</a> -
2D top-down shooter developed by Softdisk (later becoming id Software).
Supports EGA and CGA graphics. Written in Turbo Pascal and
assembly.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/CatacombGames/Catacomb3D">Catacomb
3D</a> - First-person shooter in fantasy setting developed by Softdisk
(later becoming id Software). Features pseudo-3D graphics with
raycasting technique. Supports EGA graphics. Written in C and assembly.
Compiled with Borland C++ 3.1.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/keendreams/keen">Commander Keen in Keen
Dreams</a> - Side-scrolling platform game developed by id Software. Keen
Dreams is the Commander Keen game created between Keen 3 and Keen 4
(often considered “Keen 3.5”), but was not widely released. Written in C
and assembly.</li>
<li><a
href="https://github.com/videogamepreservation/descent">Descent</a> -
First sci-fi FPS/space shooter to feature entirely true 3D graphics.
Written in C and assembly.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/videogamepreservation/descent2">Descent
II</a> - Sequel to Descent. Written in C and assembly.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/id-Software/DOOM">Doom</a> - Sci-fi FPS
developed by id Software where you fight demons from hell on Mars. The
DOS-specific code for Doom could not be published because of a
dependency to the licensed DMX sound library, hence why it’s cleaned up
and only the Linux source is there. However, the Heretic and Hexen
projects contain the original DOS code in a way where DMX-related code
is removed.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190304015745/https://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Duke_Nukem_3D.html">Duke
Nukem 3D</a> - FPS developed by Apogee featuring the iconic character
Duke Nukem. Written in C. Compiled with Watcom C/C++ 10.0.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160403223736/http://www.classicdosgames.com/files/source/duke3dsource.zip">Source
code download link</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/OpenSourcedGames/Heretic">Heretic</a> -
Dark fantasy FPS running on id Software’s Doom engine.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/OpenSourcedGames/Hexen">Hexen: Beyond
Heretic</a> - Indirect sequel to Heretic.
<ul>
<li>Original <a
href="https://sourceforge.net/projects/heretic/files/">SourceForge
link</a> for Heretic/Hexen.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/FlatRockSoft/Hovertank3D">Hovertank
3D</a> - FPS developed by id Software. Features pseudo-3D graphics with
raycasting technique, before Catacomb 3D and Wolfeinstein 3D. Written in
C and assembly.</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/id-Software/Quake">Quake</a> - FPS
developed by id Software set in a fully 3D world. Written in C. Compiled
with DJGPP for DOS.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://fabiensanglard.net/quakeSource/index.php">Quake
Engine Code Review series</a> - Code analysis by Fabien Sanglard.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/videogamepreservation/rott">Rise of the
Triad: Dark War</a> - FPS developed by Apogee. It was developed as a
follow-up to Wolfenstein 3D, but was altered and became a standalone
game instead. Uses a heavily modified Wolfenstein 3D engine. Written in
C.</li>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200131222432/http://davidlclark.com/page/sopwith">Sopwith</a>
- Side-scrolling shoot ’em up created by David L. Clark in 1984. The
game involves piloting a Sopwith biplane, attempting to bomb enemy
buildings while avoiding fire from enemy planes and various other
obstacles.
<ul>
<li><a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201211175311/https://www.maizure.org/projects/decoded-sopwith/">MaiZure’s
Projects - Decoded: Sopwith</a> - Code analysis by MaiZure.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/id-Software/wolf3d">Wolfenstein 3D</a> -
FPS developed by id Software set in the Nazi German prison Castle
Wolfenstein. Features pseudo-3D graphics with raycasting technique.
Written in C and assembly.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="drivers-and-emulators">Drivers and emulators</h2>
<h3 id="sound-card-emulators">Sound card emulators</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/crazii/SBEMU">SBEMU</a> - A TSR that
emulates Sound Blaster and OPL3 in pure DOS using modern PCI-based
(onboard and add-in card) sound cards. Supports both real mode and
protected mode games!</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/Baron-von-Riedesel/VSBHDA">VSB</a> - A
fork of SBEMU (see above), which also aims to offer Sound Blaster
emulation for modern PC hardware, in both real mode and protected mode
games.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://github.com/balintkissdev/awesome-dos">dos.md
Github</a></p>