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The original sources of MS-DOS 1.25, 2.0, and 4.0 for reference purposes

79 mentions on Hacker News by 68 people: 5 stories, 74 comments · first 2018-09-28 · latest 2026-09-20

Mentions per year 79 mentions · busiest year 2024 (22)
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  1. …closed source, but usually that's long after the income stream has exhausted itself (see, e.g., https://github.com/microsoft/ms-dos ).
    comment by otterley · 2026-09-20 · in Nobody pays for FOSS, we can force them to
  2. It does. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/2d04cacc5322951f187...
    comment by jasomill · 2026-09-13 · in Why is the x86 undefined instruction called ud2? Why 2?
  3. Unexpectedly, MS-DOS 2.0 included a /dev directory. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v2.0/source/CO...
    comment by add2 · 2026-08-18 · in The Road to MS-DOS 2.0
  4. https://github.com/microsoft/ms-dos
    comment by fragmede · 2026-07-15 · in Microsoft has released software updates to plug at least 570 security holes
  5. …more advanced libraries as well, but for a simple TUI just a few functions can go a long way. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/TOOLS...
    comment by 1313ed01 · 2026-02-14 · in Building a TUI is easy now
  6. …, a 20 minute bit about the Unix wars. The source code to the original Microsoft DOS is at https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS . The Anarchist Cookbook is on Kindle, https://www.2600.com/Magazine/digital-back-issues goes back to 2010.…
    comment by fragmede · 2025-11-08 · in 52 Year old data tape could contain Unix history
  7. …will never have to re-install or reconfigure anything when moving between different host systems): https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/src/TOOLS (Not only Microsoft's C compiler in that directory, but also MASM, MAKE, and a…
    comment by 1313ed01 · 2025-11-02 · in Writing FreeDOS Programs in C
  8. …version with multitasking built straight into the kernel. It has been open sourced a while ago: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by mindcrash · 2025-10-20 · in Ask HN: DOS Based "Multitaskers"
  9. …almost a full 1988 toolchain (masm, C, make, etc) in their MIT licensed MSDOS repo last year: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/src/TOOLS There is no source code, but at least the license makes it free to use and…
    comment by 3036e4 · 2025-08-18 · in MS-DOS development resources
  10. …published the source to numerous old products (including MS-DOS[1]), and they own GitHub... [1]: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by jen20 · 2025-04-04 · in Microsoft’s original source code
  11. …repo. Trying some hello world level examples there was nothing obviously annoying about it so far. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/src/TOOLS
    comment by 2mlWQbCK · 2025-03-04 · in Ask HN: What less-popular systems programming language are you using?
  12. …5.1, Make, and several other tools, plus libraries and include-files. All of it in less than 3 MB. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/src/TOOLS
    comment by 2mlWQbCK · 2025-02-24 · in The DOS 3.3 sys.com bug hunt
  13. …for example: https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging/blob/main/s... [2] MS-DOS 4.0: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/src/CMD/C...
    comment by justin_ · 2024-12-26 · in I thought I found a bug
  14. …possibly useful for people stuck with crappy Chromebooks, ARM-based tablets/phones, or Linux. [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by musicale · 2024-10-07 · in Nintendo isn't just attacking emulators [video]
  15. …https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/1d13e76e-eb4b-48ef-89... Also just uploading msdos 1.25 asm https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v1.25/source It was way better than I though I think the best is the self referential. This…
    comment by kristopolous · 2024-09-30 · in NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective
  16. …boot sector, so reading it (which was required for synchronization anyway) was free. Glancing at https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/BIOS/... seems to support this...
    comment by PreInternet01 · 2024-09-25 · in Mkfs.fat on Linux vs. OS/2 2.1
  17. …open sourced the code for MS-DOS 2.0 to github, so there's fun nostalgia projects to be had. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/
    comment by fragmede · 2024-07-07 · in How Good Is ChatGPT at Coding, Really?
  18. This 4.0 code contains references to 4.00, though: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/BOOT/...
    comment by ComputerGuru · 2024-04-26 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  19. Looks like this is him? https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/commit/2d04cacc5322951f1... https://github.com/mzbik
    comment by ktm5j · 2024-04-26 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  20. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/2d04cacc5322951f187... still waiting for this one
    comment by alexandrukis16 · 2024-04-26 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  21. …'21',0,0 ;J.K. 11/8/86 This is my employee serial # !!! * Lots os "brain damaged comments [3] [1][ https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/2d04cacc5322951f187... ] [2] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/2d04cacc5322951f187... [3]…
    comment by msoad · 2024-04-26 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  22. …this time, for DOS 4.00, we only have maximum 11 bytes left ; for translation.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/BOOT/...
    comment by MaxLeiter · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  23. At https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/DOS/S... it used to have Tim Patterson's full name whereas after the force push they abbreviated it to his initials "TP". I had the repo cloned before the force push and when I went…
    comment by farmerbb · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  24. …his BIOS did not flush the [0] https://github.com/OwnedByWuigi/DOS/blob/ffd70f8b4fb77e2e6af... [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/DOS/S...
    comment by skissane · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  25. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/2d04cacc5322951f187... > ; REV 2.15 7/13/83 ARR BECAUSE IBM IS FUNDAMENTALY BRAIN DAMAGED, AND Someone was angry that day. Wonder if any IBM dev ever stumbled upon this when MS and IBM worked…
    comment by zdimension · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  26. Looks like they were moved to the Ozzie subfolder: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0-ozzie
    comment by willxinc · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  27. They just changed the folder. All of those files are now in https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0-ozzie
    comment by electroly · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  28. Weird that for a couple minutes, these paths existed: * https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/bin * https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/bin/DISK1 * https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/main/v4.0/pdf But they…
    comment by rwl4 · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  29. …for presence of \dev\ (Dam multiplan!) [0] I assume this refers to the spreadsheet application. [0] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/main/v4.0/src/DOS/D... EDT: That one policy hadn't quite gone into effect yet ;-) [1] [1]…
    comment by nullindividual · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  30. Direct GitHub link to the repo. https://github.com/Microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by tiernano · 2024-04-25 · in Open Sourcing DOS 4
  31. …use of "\" instead of "/" as the path separator, and "/" instead of "-" as the switch character. https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/80ab2fddfdf30f09f0a...
    comment by dunham · 2024-04-24 · in Why does Windows use backslash as path separator? (2019)
  32. I recently stumbled across the MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 source code [1]. [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by danbruc · 2024-03-28 · in ST-DOS
  33. …[…]” The source code for MSDOS 2 is available and the file descriptor stuff appears to be in https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/... and XENIX2.ASM. It stands in contrast to the File Control Block API which MSDOS 1…
    comment by andrewf · 2023-12-25 · in The History of Xenix
  34. …didn't realize that kind of forwarding-looking perspective was going into the design of MS-DOS. [0] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/...
    comment by EvanAnderson · 2023-09-06 · in MS-DOS v1.25 and v2.0 is now open-source (2014)
  35. …lie, a small part of me misses smashing the caps lock key when coding back in the day. :) Example: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/...
    comment by BryanLegend · 2023-09-06 · in MS-DOS v1.25 and v2.0 is now open-source (2014)
  36. Not just "open-source", but actual MIT-licensed (aka Expat-licensed) Free Software: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/LICENSE.md https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:Expat Huh. Was not expecting that. Nice. Edit: Of course…
    comment by Karellen · 2023-09-06 · in MS-DOS v1.25 and v2.0 is now open-source (2014)
  37. >Any others I'm missing? I would suggest MS-DOS: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by Dalewyn · 2023-08-13 · in Exploring the Internals of Linux v0.01
  38. No: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v1.25/bin/DE...
    comment by WelcomeShorty · 2022-10-31 · in A 23-byte “hello, world” program assembled with DEBUG.EXE in MS-DOS
  39. …an assembler. It had a disassembler though. An archived copy from MS-DOS v1.25 can be found here: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v1.25/bin/DE... C:\>DEBUG.COM -A ^ Error -N HELLO.COM -L -U 100 107 0340:0100 B409 MOV AH,09…
    comment by susam · 2022-10-30 · in A 23-byte “hello, world” program assembled with DEBUG.EXE in MS-DOS
  40. …either separator, but the option parsers would retrieve SWITCHAR[5] and give it precedence.) [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30510935 [3]…
    comment by mananaysiempre · 2022-07-13 · in CP/M is really open-source now
  41. Microsoft DOS https://github.com/Microsoft/MS-DOS Microsoft WinFile https://github.com/Microsoft/winfile Outside of Microsoft created Windows 2003 32bit: - https://reactos.org - https://github.com/wekan/wekan/wiki/ReactOS
    comment by xet7 · 2022-07-09 · in Microsoft's Growing Control of Linux
  42. …not talking about that here [1] See for example this design document in the MS-DOS 2.x source code: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/bin/DEV... [2] https://www.pcjs.org/software/pcx86/sys/dos/microsoft/4.0M/
    comment by skissane · 2022-05-18 · in The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf]
  43. Nope: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/04a3d20ff411409ab98...
    comment by pwdisswordfish9 · 2022-03-05 · in Why Does Windows Use Backslash as Path Separator? (2019)
  44. It was written in assembly code: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/tree/master/v2.0/source This is a very old version, but I've seen bits and pieces of the last one they shipped and things like command.com and the "kernel" were nearly…
    comment by 13of40 · 2022-02-13 · in The Life of MS-DOS
  45. …assembler for the early versions of MS-DOS (and its precursors). Microsoft has open-sourced them: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by kingcharles · 2022-01-29 · in How FreeDOS Grew Up and Became a Modern DOS (2021)
  46. …licensing GW-BASIC ( https://github.com/microsoft/GW-BASIC ) and early versions of MS-DOS ( https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS ) under MIT is... fascinating but understandable, yet entirely unnecessary. "View only with no repercussions…
    comment by exikyut · 2022-01-08 · in Unidentified PC DOS 1.1 Boot Sector Junk Identified
  47. …with Xenix is also pretty clear from the file names and comments in the released source code: https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/... https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/...
    comment by rep_lodsb · 2022-01-03 · in The World of Vintage Operating Systems
  48. …are now finally available thanks to Microsoft's release of the early MS-DOS source code. [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v1.25/source... [2] https://github.com/Microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v1.25/source...
    comment by kiwidrew · 2021-06-05 · in 8088ify: Intel 8080 CP/M 2.2 to Intel 8086/8088 IBM PC DOS assembly translator
  49. MS-DOS 1.25 (1983) is on Github https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS
    comment by bdcravens · 2021-05-31 · in WordTsar, a WordStar Clone
  50. …clear how Microsoft intended for MS-DOS to be configured, but alas IBM had other ideas... [1] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/... [2] https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/bin/CON...
    comment by kiwidrew · 2021-02-26 · in Why is the DOS path character "\"? (2005)