If you survived the early PC era, you will certainly remember a simple (but stable, for its time) operating system known as MS-DOS. Microsoft's old command-line OS later became the foundation for the first flaky generations of Windows, but then, as now, the purists were perfectly happy with clear and simple text commands.

One of the most memorable things about MS-DOS was the vast quantity of software written for it – games, word processors, spreadsheets, and other tools that provided millions of families with their first exciting steps into the world of personal computing.

MS-DOS was all closed source, but that didn't stop the FOSS community from developing an equivalent version that would allow the world to keep running legacy DOS software. The FreeDOS project turned 25 this year, and we're proud to include an article from founder Jim Hall on how you can get started with FreeDOS and the gallery of iconic DOS games and applications.

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