• Thin client PC to run MS-DOS

    From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to All on Fri Nov 21 09:32:57 2025
    Was thinkingg about buying another thin client PC to run DOS on, started thinking and remembered that outwest.synchro.net runs on a HP 5740e thin client that can run DOS.
    now I'm planning to move the Otwest BBS over to my Dell wyse 5060 thin client so I can use the hp 5740e as my DOS machine.
    Or I could move the BBS to my Dell optiplex 790, <- my plex server.

    ... Vegetarians eats vegetables. Beware of humanitarians!

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    þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0
  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to All on Sun Nov 23 16:47:23 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to All on Fri Nov 21 2025 09:32 am

    Was thinkingg about buying another thin client PC to run DOS on, started thinking and remembered that outwest.synchro.net runs on a HP 5740e thin client that can run DOS.

    Got it done, now my hp 5740e will be my next project, I will put the 4GB ssd back in it and remove the 2.5 500 GB HD that I mounted on the outside of the case, (thin client has no room on the inside),
    I will need to istall DOS and partition ssd.
    Will do that during thanksgiving holiday.

    ... Toto, I don't think we're in DOS anymore...

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  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Denn on Sun Nov 23 16:24:30 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to All on Sun Nov 23 2025 04:47 pm

    Got it done, now my hp 5740e will be my next project, I will put the 4GB ssd back in it and remove the 2.5 500 GB HD that I mounted on the outside of the case, (thin client has no room on the inside), I will need to istall DOS and partition ssd. Will do that during thanksgiving holiday.

    I'm wondering if DOS will be able to successfully boot from an SSD on that machine.. I seem to recall hearing about issues with old operating systems booting from certain newer types of drives. I've seen people using period-correct hardware for old operating systems, and sometimes if they want a fast boot drive, I've seen adapters that will let you use a CompactFlash card with an IDE interface - so you'd basically be using a flash drive but make it look like an old IDE drive.

    Also, I remember DOS having a partition size limit too; you might not to make use of all of the 4GB with one partition with DOS. I think DOS might have a partition size limit of 2.1GB or something?

    Nightfox

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  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to Nightfox on Sun Nov 23 18:34:32 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Nightfox to Denn on Sun Nov 23 2025 04:24 pm

    Got it done, now my hp 5740e will be my next project, I will put the
    4GB ssd back in it and remove the 2.5 500 GB HD that I mounted on

    I'm wondering if DOS will be able to successfully boot from an SSD on that machine.. I seem to recall hearing about issues with old operating systems booting from certain newer types of drives. I've seen people using period-correct hardware for old operating systems, and sometimes if they want a fast boot drive, I've seen adapters that will let you use a CompactFlash card with an IDE interface - so you'd basically be using a flash drive but make it look like an old IDE drive.

    From what I've read the Intel Atom N280 x86 can run DOS natively, I have read the only incompatability is with the sound, but there's a couple of solutions to fix that.



    ... Beware of geeks bearing GIFs =>

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  • From Denn@VERT to Nightfox on Sun Nov 23 22:19:31 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Nightfox to Denn on Sun Nov 23 2025 04:24 pm

    Got it done, now my hp 5740e will be my next project, I will put the
    I'm wondering if DOS will be able to successfully boot from an SSD on tha

    Also, I remember DOS having a partition size limit too; you might not to

    Nightfox
    Nightfox

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  • From Lordwoodoo@VERT/CONCHAOS to Denn on Mon Nov 24 11:19:38 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to Nightfox on Sun Nov 23 2025 10:19 pm

    Also, I remember DOS having a partition size limit too; you might not to

    MSDOS 6.22 is limited to 2 gb hard drive partition. Better to create this partition first, if you plan to have multiple partitions on your Hard Drive.
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    þ Synchronet þ -=[ ConstructiveChaos BBS | conchaos.synchro.net ]=-
  • From Nightfox@VERT/DIGDIST to Denn on Mon Nov 24 09:59:11 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to Nightfox on Sun Nov 23 2025 06:34 pm

    From what I've read the Intel Atom N280 x86 can run DOS natively, I have read the only incompatability is with the sound, but there's a couple of solutions to fix that.

    That's good.. My main thought was more of the storage, as I think I'd heard DOS can have trouble booting from some modern storage devices, such as SSDs (particularly if it's an m.2 SSD), and perhaps SATA (though I'm not sure about that).

    As far as the CPU, I think any modern Intel and AMD CPU could probably still run DOS natively, as x86 CPUs have a lot of backward-compatibility built in.

    Nightfox

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    þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com
  • From Lordwoodoo@VERT/CONCHAOS to Nightfox on Mon Nov 24 15:04:22 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Nightfox to Denn on Mon Nov 24 2025 09:59 am

    As far as the CPU, I think any modern Intel and AMD CPU could probably still run DOS natively, as x86 CPUs have a lot of backward-compatibility built in.

    Yes, and I think It is probably also linked to the BIOS. I installed MSDOS 6.22 on old, and new machines without any problem. Previous MSDOS releases are specific for some, I guess.
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  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to Lordwoodoo on Mon Nov 24 13:03:36 2025
    MSDOS 6.22 is limited to 2 gb hard drive partition. Better to create this partition first, if you plan to have multiple partitions on your Hard Drive.

    Yes I realize that :) not sure if I'm going to install MS-DOS 6.22 or windows 95.

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  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to Nightfox on Mon Nov 24 13:12:18 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to Nightfox on Sun Nov 23 2025 06:34 pm

    That's good.. My main thought was more of the storage, as I think I'd heard DOS can have trouble booting from some modern storage devices, such as SSDs (particularly if it's an m.2 SSD), and perhaps SATA (though I'm not sure about that).

    As far as the CPU, I think any modern Intel and AMD CPU could probably still run DOS natively, as x86 CPUs have a lot of backward-compatibility built in.

    Nightfox

    The Drive is a 4GB ss flash.
    Found the flash and installed it today, booted up in windows 7 embeded, actually has my original synchronet 3.16 on it.
    I'll have to copy that to a thumb drive.
    Still deciding if I want DOS 6.22 or Windows 95.
    I took off the sata 2.5 and put that in my ext USB drive enclosure.

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    ï¿­ Synchronet ï¿­ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0
  • From Lordwoodoo@VERT/CONCHAOS to Denn on Mon Nov 24 21:52:02 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to Lordwoodoo on Mon Nov 24 2025 01:03 pm

    Yes I realize that :) not sure if I'm going to install MS-DOS 6.22 or windows 95.

    Well, I would suggest to install both, and even Windows 3.1 on the MSDOS partition is a cool thing. I will explain why later. It is always good to have a pure MSDOS. In that case, you need to part the hard drive in 2 partitions. One for MSDOS, 2 gb max, and the second to install Windows 95. See the max capacity limit for Windows 95, and if the hard drive have more space after that, you will have more space to create one more partition for data for exemple: games or software, etc.. for Windows 95. A very important thing is: you need to create 2 primary partitions to be able to boot both!! Before doing the installs. FDISK or Partition Manager will do the trick using a floppy drive or a CDRom device.

    Installing Win 3.1 on the MSDOS partition does not affect the previous MSDOS installed, and its cool if you want to boot Win 3.1 and use MSDOS in windowed mode over it. You can take notes with notepad, for exemple playing Zork.. have multiple MSDOS windows opened, etc.. Really cool!

    I made a machine like that and its my fav for retro things. I installed Windows XP instead of Windows 95.

    Note: Windows 95 will read the MSDOS partition but MSDOS will not read the Windows 95 one. Depending of what format used: fat16 or fat32 and MSDOS size limit. See online for more details about it.

    Well, do your own experiments!! :)
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  • From Denn@VERT/OUTWEST to Lordwoodoo on Tue Nov 25 13:19:27 2025
    Re: Thin client PC to run MS-DOS
    By: Denn to Lordwoodoo on Mon Nov 24 2025 01:03 pm

    Well, I would suggest to install both, and even Windows 3.1 on the MSDOS partition is a cool thing. I will explain why later. It is always good to have a pure MSDOS. In that case, you need to part the hard drive in 2 partitions. One for MSDOS, 2 gb max, and the second to install Windows 95. See the max capacity limit for Windows 95, and if the hard drive have more space after that, you will have more space to create one more partition for data for exemple: games or software, etc.. for Windows 95. A very important thing is: you need to create 2 primary partitions to be able to boot both!! Before doing the installs. FDISK or Partition Manager will do the trick using a floppy drive or a CDRom device.

    Installing Win 3.1 on the MSDOS partition does not affect the previous MSDOS installed, and its cool if you want to boot Win 3.1 and use MSDOS in windowed mode over it. You can take notes with notepad, for exemple playing Zork.. have multiple MSDOS windows opened, etc.. Really cool!


    I'm leaning towards just installing DOS 6.22.
    I Remember when Windows 3.0 came out, i bought it and then I upgraded to 3.1, never really liked those 2 versions, they were basically DOS shells, in dos I used a program called xtree.

    I remember my 1st DOS machine, it had a whopping 20 mb hard drive. Then I bough my 386 sx that had 40 mb hard drive.

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