Hi, @aazard, thank you very much for your post. I have been very much
involved in a similar project myself for about a year and a few months now. I
hope I do not extend myself so much on this topic that I passionately pursue.
Speaking of 286 and below CPUs OS availability on the Un*x side you have:
Linux ELKS (8088 is supported), Microsoft Xenix (earlier series), QNX v4.25
(don´t go higher), and Mark Williams Coherent 3.x (4.x requires a 386).
On the DOS(-ish) side:
There are many varieties of DOSes but you could always take a look at their
grand-daddy, Digital Research CP/M, which ruled the 70's on the user space. It
started life on 8-bit computers but was also available for PCs when they
arrived. It has lots of software available for it and plenty of platforms.
Then you have MS-DOS and PC-DOS which are siblings and do share many traits,
but have different refinements applied. They were indeed the popular choice
back in the 80's and beginning of the 90's.
DR-DOS was quite remarkable technically, and still has a follow up, which is
slowly, but steadily progressing in its open source project. It must not be
dismissed. it has a lot of small cool features no other DOS has.
There is also FreeDOS, which many enjoy, and has spun a lot of side
projects and development over the years. It is all about free software and GPL
stuff, not really my thing, I am more about being practical.
That said, you have SvarDOS which is much more open than FreeDOS, because it
accepts software that it is free but not open source, which means a much
broader path where to maneuver. It is active, and has a few developers that
also contribute to FreeDOS. According to yor first post I suggest you take a
deep look at it. It might be the most adequate DOS base for your project.
Then, there is also a more obscure, wider range of embedded DOSes most of
which you won't probably ever heard of, and are great in their own way.
My project, is geared towards retro/emulation/embedded segment. It is a
minimalistic DOS called MiNiDOS, for which I already released an early preview
(MiNiDOS 0.01 on early February this year). It has an uncomfortably relaxed
view on licensing, as I am pragmatic, and pick up whatever I think is best for
my own goals. I don't discriminate, as this is the natural progression of my own
attempt at getting a generic DOS boot, and installable disk, that could work for
all my systems (which are many, and vastly different from each other). A lot
of work has already gone into its next version, including many specially
developed programs for it (thanks to various contributors), including an
installer. We are at beta #105 now, with 180 files fitting a single 1.44MB
floppy. I hope it may be released anytime now, before #DOSCEMBER comes is the goal!
Back to your project, from, what you mentioned, I suggest that besides
adopting SvarDOS you seek out some already developed GUI framework. Given the
hardware constraints, I would revisit GEM, GEOS (early versions only), and
seriously evaluate TurboVision, as it has a lot of potential for development.
BTW, there is a great review on the Internet Archive about GUIs for DOS, which
only misses a handful of packages, but seems to be quite adequate for your goals.
Be sure to check that one out.
Dave Dunfield, who has posted above, has a released a lot of great small little
programs for DOS. He is an impressively talented developer and his work covers
plenty of DOS areas. I have even witnessed some of his software on an embedded
DOS SBC (Dave: I don't personally know you, but I am really happy you are
doing fine!).
Good luck with your project and keep it rolling!
