[4DOS.INFO]

4DOS versions

This is a list of  my nearly complete collection of old 4DOS versions. I have listed all 4DOS versions I got or know of.  I am still searching for the very first 2.00. If you find any others I don't know about, I'd be grateful to receive them. Note that these are all legitimate shareware versions and you need the appropriate brand program to register them.

Versions 3 - 5 had a utility disk included with 3rd party free- or shareware tools. Version 6 came with a version of the text editor BOXER, AFAIR. 4DOS has REXX support and, IIRC, came with or recommended Regina Rexx at one time.

Most of these files are mainly of interest for research purposes. For actual use I've made available the final, most bug free release of each major version. For any of the others contact me.

For JP Software's notes on the development of  4DOS see my compilation of the 4DOS Version History.

Latest versions, public betas, etc. at the  JPSOFT FTP Site

Easy installation in a Windows 9n, ME, NT, 2K or XP environment: see my 4DOS Installation FAQ

Further trivia:

Peter Norton's NDOS versions were slightly adapted 4DOS clones licensed to Symantec from JP Software. They correspond roughly to 4DOS versions 4 / 5 (and can easily be replaced by these). There were commercial versions only, so I cannot provide a link here.

Lately I stumbled over Command2 for MSX-DOS. It must have been released early 2000. and has a very close resemblance to 4DOS , with lots of identical commands, aliases and even the use of the BTM file extension and batch to memory technique. From my online research I conclude that it was written by Fokke Post, copyright (c) 1997 by C.P.U. It is freeware since 2003. Information and downloads can be found here. MSX-DOS was an enhanced CP/M-compatible OS. From the dating it seems clear who was the copycat.

Latest Revision, downloadable

Still looking for this files!

Topics

    Version 2      Version 3      Version 4   

  Version 5      Version 5.5      Version 6      Version 7 

  Freeware Version 7.5      Open Source Version     

             Version                     Date                                Size       Remarks

 Version 2 

For the following information I am grateful to Luchezar Georgiev:

Rex Conn started writing 4DOS in 1986. The first versions were posted 1988 to users of the Compuserve consultants forum. The first commercial versions (4DOS 2.0) was released 1989 through JP Software:

• 4DOS 2.0         1989-02-15 - 02:00   136 KB  Rev. 2.0, the very first public 4DOS release.    
• 4DOS 2.0a        1989-02-23 - 02:00    60 KB  Update files from Rev. 2.0 only.
• 4DOS 2.0b        1989-02-28 - 02:00   229 KB  Rev. 2.0b, bundled with TSRCOM, a utility to load and release TSR programs.
• 4DOS 2.20        1989-07-05 - 02:20   184 KB  Rev. 2.20
• 4DOS 2.21        1989-09-06 - 02:21   217 KB  Rev. 2.21            
• 4HELP 1.0        1989-09-28 - 15:21    86 KB  4HELP v1.0 - by R. N. Wentworth. It seems this external version was later integrated in v.3.00

Version 3

• 4DOS 3.00        1990-03-07 - 03:00   321 KB  Rev. 3.00
• 4DOS 3.01        1990-05-22 - 03:01   327 KB  Rev. 3.01
• 4DOS 3.02a       1990-10-04 - 03:02   336 KB  Rev. 3.02a
• 4DOS 3.03        1991-04-12 - 03:03   359 KB  Rev. 3.03
• 4DOSUTIL 3       1991-03-07 - 03:00   283 KB  4DOS-utility disk v3 with 4make, tsrcom, 4edit, 4zip, swapsh and swapdos.
• 4DOS Make 3.01   1990-05-22 - 03:01    36 KB  Update Patch for the 4make utility: 3.0 to 3.1
• 4DOS Reference 
• Manual V.3.0 V.1 1990-03-14 - 21:57     9 KB  4DOS Reference von Mike Arst Version 1
• 4DOS Reference 
  Manual V.3.0 V.2 1990-03-17 - 14:04    10 KB  4DOS Reference von Mike Arst  Version 2 

Version 4

• 4DOS 4.00        1991-11-01 - 04:00   490 KB  Rev. 4.00
• 4DOS 4.00b       1991-11-18 - 04:00   633 KB  Rev. 4.00b
• 4DOS 4.01b       1992-06-08 - 04:01   485 KB  Rev. 4.01b
• 4DOS 4.01d       1992-09-30 - 04:01   485 KB  Rev. 4.01d
• 4DOS 4.02a       1993-03-30 - 04:02   244 KB  Rev. 4.02a
• 4DOS 4.02b       1993-06-07 - 04:02   509 KB  Rev. 4.02b
• 4DOSUTIL 4       1991-11-18 - 04:00   700 KB   4DOS-utility disk v4 with 4make, tsrcom, boot142, 4edit, 4zip, dizk4d, fdu and swapdos.
• 4DOS Reference 
  Manual V. 4.0  
  deutsch          1993-06-26 - 23:12   204 KB   Deutsches 4DOS Handbuch im Ascii-Textformat

Version 5

• 4DOS 5.00a       1993-11-23 - 05:00   487 KB  Rev. 5.00a
• 4DOS 5.00b       1993-11-30 - 05:00   487 KB  Rev. 5.00b
• 4DOS 5.00c       1993-12-16 - 05:00   488 KB  Rev. 5.00c
• 4DOS 5.00d       1994-02-08 - 05:00   489 KB  Rev. 5.00d
• 4DOS 5.00e       1994-04-04 - 05:00   489 KB  Rev. 5.00e
• 4DOS 5.00f       1994-05-31 - 05:00   489 KB  Rev. 5.00f
• 4DOSUTIL 5       1993-11-23 - 05:00   706 KB  4DOS-utility disk v5 with tsrcom 1 + 2, bootsys, 4make, 4files and 4edit
• 4DOS Reference 
  Manual V. 5.0  
  deutsch          1993-??-??           207 KB  Deutsches Handbuch V.5.00 zu 4DOS

Version 5.5

• 4DOS 5.50a       1994-10-12 - 05:50   497 KB  Rev. 5.50a
• 4DOS 5.50b       1994-10-19 - 05:50   497 KB  Rev. 5.50b
• 4DOS 5.50c       1994-12-20 - 05:50   498 KB  Rev. 5.50c
• 4DOS 5.51        1995-08-22 - 05:51   520 KB  Rev. 5.51
• 4DOS 5.51a       1995-08-28 - 05:51   520 KB  Rev. 5.51a
• 4DOS 5.51b       1995-10-17 - 05:51   512 KB  Rev. 5.51b
• 4DOS 5.51c ger   1995-09-12 - 11:40   388 KB  Rev. 5.51c Deutsche Version 5.51c von 4DOS. Dies ist eine zusammengesetzte Version: 4DOS.COM und HELPCFG.EXE are V5.51c, 4HELP.EXE and 4DOS.HLP are V.5.50. No other files. You'll have to get Keystack etc. from the English version.
• 4DOS 5.52        1996-04-17 - 05:51   520 KB  Rev. 5.52
• REF50            2003-07-16 - 00:00 1.500 KB  PDF help document for 4DOS, 4NT, TC 2003
• 4DOS Reference 
  Manual V. 5.5    1994-10-12 - 05:50   246 KB  4DOS, 4OS2, 4DOS/NT Reference Manual, copyright 1993 (4DOS 5.5)
• 4DOS Reference 
  Addendum V. 5.5  1994-10-12 - 05:50    21 KB  4DOS, 4OS2, 4DOS/NT Reference Addendum, copyright 1993 (4DOS 5.5)

Version 6

• 4DOS 5.95a       1997-05-27 - 05:59   604 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 6.00a       1997-07-24 - 06:00   746 KB  Rev. 6.00a
• 4DOS 6.00b       1997-07-30 - 06:00   747 KB  Rev. 6.00b
• 4DOS 6.01pr      1998-01-09 - 06:01   738 KB  Rev. 6.01pr
• 4DOS 6.01a       1998-02-02 - 06:01   750 KB  Rev. 6.01a
• 4DOS 6.02a       1999-03-29 - 06:02   763 KB  Rev. 6.02a
• 4DOS 6.02b b130  1999-04-12 - 06:02   763 KB  4 day's lifetime, rare
• 4DOS 6.02b b131  1999-04-16 - 06:02   763 KB  Rev. 6.02b
• DOS Reference  
  Manual V. 6.0    1998-02-23 - 15:00   290 KB  Ascii text version

Version 7

• 4DOS 7.00 b34    2001-01-01 - 07:00   652 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.00 b39    2001-02-08 - 07:00   657 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.00 b42    2001-03-30 - 07:00   659 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.00 b43    2001-04-30 - 07:00   661 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.00 b46    2001-05-31 - 07:00   667 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.00a       2001-06-18 - 07:00   937 KB  Rev. 7.00a  
• 4DOS 7.01 b53    2001-11-14 - 07:01   983 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.01 b54    2001-12-14 - 07:01   683 KB  expired beta
• 4DOS 7.01a       2001-12-14 - 07:01   960 KB  latest revision
• 4DOS_7/4NT_5/TC
  Reference Manual 2003-07-16 - 00:00 1.500 KB  4DOS, 4NT, Take Command Reference Manual, copyright 2003

Freeware version 7.5

• 4DOS 7.50        2004-08-26 - 03:28  1.253 KB  Rev. 7.50, full windows installer.
  To extract under plain DOS use any DOS unzip utility or get the separate files at JPSOFT 's ftp site.
  Rex made several minor corrections to this build without giving it a new build number. This is the current and probably final freeware version that Rex Conn gave to the public when dropping sales warranted no further commercial development of 4DOS.
  Expect minor bugfixes at best in the future. There's still a chance this might become open source one day.
• 4DOS.HLP         by Charles Dye is is a variant (and more recent) release of the help file for 4DOS v7.50. To use it, rename your original 4DOS.HLP file as 4DOSHLP.BAK and then move this one into your 4DOS directory. 4DOS and the bulk of the help text are copyright JP Software; changes and new material in this file are by Charles Dye.

Open Source version

4DOS has been released as open source freeware for use with Freedos (see the announcement here and here. Also of interest: the Wikipedia entry). I hope this will give this worthy project a big boost.

The license stipulates that 'The Software, or any portion of it, may not be compiled for use on any operating system OTHER than FreeDOS without written permission from Rex Conn'.

On the other hand, when asked "But what about MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR DOS etcetera?" in the support forum, Rex answered: "I don't have any problems with people using it on those OS's (although I'd be surprised if there was a lot of MS-DOS or PC-DOS action left). That license was written by the FreeDOS people -- it was probably worded that way because it's impossible to list every possible variation of the DOS OS's." Questions, anyone?

The main developer's site now seems to be Luchezar Georgiev's site here or here. There is already a new version with a few bugfixes available.

• 4DOS 7.50.1      Open Source files for 4DOS 7.50.

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