Welcome to DOS Days
DOS Days aims to be a comprehensive online resource for all things concerning the hey day of the Personal Computer (PC) and compatibles.
Perhaps you're building a vintage PC, or you simply want to know how to do something in FreeDOS or DOSBox, DOS Days is here to help!
I publish regular articles covering a variety of topics, such as how to setup MIDI on an old PC or how to partition large modern hard disks for use with your vintage computer, as well as relevant downloads that run in DOS. Look out for extensive game reviews as well!
DOS Days also has a large collection of over 1,200 hardware pages with useful knowledge and downloadable drivers for graphics cards, sound cards and motherboard chipsets, as well as a built-in search function - use it to help identify your old hardware! Don't forget the datasheets index too which has over 300 technical articles and data sheets from 50+ manufacturers related to DOS-era hardware.
So why not put on your DOS goggles and stay a while!
Latest Updates (2nd December 2024)
- Dedicated page added for the ATi 3D Charger from 1997, as well as numerous additions to other pages.
- I've updated the Borland Turbo Pascal page to cover all versions.
- Retro Review: Yamaha DB50XG General MIDI daughterboard - Part 1.
- Hercules graphics cards now have their own dedicated page.
- I've started a new software page on SPC, the creators of Harvard Graphics and the pfs: suite of applications.
- Turtle Beach cards now have their own dedicated page.
- Retro Review: Terratec Promedia Base 1 sound card from 1997.
- New hardware page for Pine Technologies' range of sound cards, graphics cards and motherboards.
- Sound Blaster/SB Pro and Sound Blaster 16 cards now have their own dedicated page.
- Fixed issue with the latest Kaspersky Anti-Virus definitions from 29th September 2012 (the last version to work with KAV 3.0 for DOS). This contains over 500,000 signatures.
- New hardware page added for the Typhoon range of sound and graphics cards.
- Lots of updates to the anti-virus pages with more downloads.
- Cirrus Logic chipsets now have their own dedicated page.
- New games pages added for Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0 and Flight Simulator 4.0. The latter also with a page that showcases the various official expansions / add-ons.
- Printing in DOS - a brief look at the various printing technologies, emulations and how to print in DOS.
- New dedicated pages for Number Nine and Paradise/Western Digital cards.
- Each Diamond Multimedia card now has its own dedicated page.
- New game page added Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love in Several Wrong Places.
- A History of Toshiba Laptops - Parts 1 and 2 cover their early years (1985-1992).
- New game page added for 1942: The Pacific Air War.
- New page showcasing the London-based Morgan Computers who sold surplus and liquidated PC stock in the 90s.
- Each ATI card now has its own dedicated page.
- A review of the RGBtoHDMI where we get this excellent scaler/converter up and running.
- Retro Review: Toshiba Satellite 4010CDT laptop from 1999.
- AST Research page added with software downloads. Note this only covers their expansion cards, not the PC range.
- Updated VGA-to-HDMI Scaler article with more models added by Dusko Marincic.
- My first retro review of 2024 is this ExpertColor MED1931 from 1996. Based on the OPTi 82C931, it uses their own variant of OPL3 called OPTiFM.
- The Software Wavetables article has been extended to 3 parts and now includes over 50 soundfont downloads!
- Part 3 of my Retro review of the Sound Blaster Pro 2 (CT1600).
- In early December, my retro review takes a look at the rather intriguing MultiWave AudioWave 16 AISP (SCSI) sound card - it has a combination of OPL3, Crystal and MediaVision chipset!
- November's retro review explores the Octek EVGA-16 graphics card, based on a C&T chipset.
- New game page added for Destruction Derby, with a full review.
- New feature page added for nVidia RIVA TNT2.
- Matrox downloads section added, with drivers and utilities for most operating systems.
- The search results now show a summary of the page's content - thought it would be a nice addition to help see the context of searched words.
- The best DOS driving games - Part 4 which covers 1996 to 1998 is finished, closing out my look at 38 golden-era driving games.
- In this month's retro review I take a look at the Faraday Micro PC single board computer.
- Updates to the Paradise, Tamarack and S3 hardware pages.
- Pics, downloads and user manual added to my Octek VC-001 Gemini (MicroEGA) retro review - thanks William!
- The best DOS driving games - Part 3 is complete, bringing us up to 1995.
- The best DOS driving games - Part 2 is out, which explores what we could get our hands on from 1990 to 1992.
- New game page added for 4D Sports - Driving / Stunts.
- The best DOS driving games - Part 1 is now ready! We start with games released from 1987 to 1989. Let me know how you rate them.
- New game pages added for Test Drive and Test Drive II: The Duel.
- Lots more content added to the A-Trend page, including graphics and sound cards.
- 15 kHz Monitors - I've done a little research into multisync monitors that support 15 kHz and digital/analogue inputs which can support all the old PC graphics standards.
- Using VGA on a Modern Display - A comparison of two converters/scalers for VGA to DVI/HDMI.
- Sound Blaster AWE Range and Alternatives - A brief look at the AWE32, AWE64 and Sound Blaster 32 cards, and why they're perhaps not the best choice for retro PC gamers. I offer some alternatives that achieve better results.
- Lemmings game page added
- Retro Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro 2 (CT1600)
- New feature page added for nVidia RIVA TNT
- Grand Prix Legends game page added (content still a work in progress)
- New feature page added for nVidia RIVA 128 series
- Compaq LTE range of laptops added, and IBM PC-XT Model 286
- New sound cards pending testing/review: Multiwave Audiowave 16 AISP (SCSI) and Orchid NuSound PnP 32
- Added more information to the Genoa Systems and Everex hardware pages
- Added Multiwave Innovation hardware page
- Main page added for Borland International and Ashton-Tate dBase
- Retro Review: PC Chips M590 Super Socket 7 motherboard
- Added Inmos/SGS-Thomson and Oak Technology sections to the Datasheets Index.
- Fixed an issue where some of the site's pages were not being indexed for search.
- Added game review for F-19 Stealth Fighter (MicroProse, 1988)
- Retro Review: Aztech Sound Galaxy Nova 16 Extra - Part 3
- Building an MDA/Hercules/CGA/EGA to VGA converter - Stage 1 complete!
- A pretty complete MT-32 box set, courtesy of Dusko Marincic.
- New Feature pages added for ATI 3D Rage II series, Matrox Millennium, and Video 7 VGA 1024i.
- Added more details to the Number Nine hardware page with driver downloads.
- Added more details to the ExpertColor and S3 hardware pages with driver downloads.
- Pages that are heavy on audio are now "mobile-aware" (won't preload audio if mobile device detected). Override option added to access Sync Play if viewing on a mobile.
- New retro review: the Yamaha Audician 32 Plus from 1998 - a three-part article with over 35 recordings.
- Added MicroProse history (three parts).
- Added a new 3-part article on Virtualising DOS which looks at the level of compatibility of DOSBox, vDosPlus and VirtualBox when running word processors, spreadsheets, finance apps, and databases.
- Added game pages for F-15 Strike Eagle (MicroProse, 1985) and Fleet Defender (MicroProse, 1994)
- Added game pages for Star Wars: Dark Forces (LucasArts Entertainment, 1995) and European Air War (MicroProse, 1998)
- Updated Typical PCs per Year, which gives you some insight in the hardware and software that was new, and their prices.
- Added game pages for Prince of Persia (Brøderbund, 1990) and Wolfenstein 3D (Apogee/ID Software, 1992).