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Jul 3, 2018 at 21:21 comment added Stephen Kitt @Ross versions before DOS 5 weren’t available off-the-shelf, but there wasn’t necessarily any variation. I have various versions of DOS 3.3 and 4.01 from different OEMs which are bit-for-bit identical (for a given version of course; I also have some which are different). I also have a DOS 4.01 which is only Microsoft-branded.
Jul 3, 2018 at 17:42 comment added user722 @BrianH MS-DOS 5.0 was the first version of MS-DOS you could buy in stores, before that there were no off-the-shelf versions of MS-DOS and they were all proprietary to some extent.
Jul 3, 2018 at 16:24 comment added supercat @BrianH: I think later versions of the Tandy 1000 did so, but earlier ones needed bootable floppies just like any other PC. It's possible the Tandy system files were smaller than those of other PC clones, but I see no reason to particularly expect that.
Jul 3, 2018 at 15:41 comment added Brian H @supercat Right. And Tandy also ROM'd their DOS to boot (pun intended!).
Jul 3, 2018 at 15:33 comment added supercat @BrianH: I think the Tandy used their own DOS for licensing systems. A Tandy could boot from a generic MS-DOS disk just fine, but Tandy would likely have had to pay more to bundle MS-DOS boot disks that could boot anywhere, than to bundle disks that were only usable with Tandy computers.
Jul 3, 2018 at 14:57 comment added Brian H Needing a proprietary version even for DOS doesn't paint a good image for compatibility. I know Tandy 1000s had their own DOS too, but were well-known for being highly compatible. In the Tandy case, you were able to load up off-the-shelf MS-DOS if you wanted.
Jul 3, 2018 at 14:24 history edited snips-n-snails CC BY-SA 4.0
Custom MS-DOS.
Jul 3, 2018 at 14:23 comment added snips-n-snails Admittedly the T1100 requires its own custom version of MS-DOS. I will add this to my answer.
Jul 3, 2018 at 14:15 comment added snips-n-snails It's a tough requirement. For example there are video modes that are only available on the original CGA card, not on later EGA or VGA cards. Also timing differences make a lot of games run too fast on faster CPUs.
Jul 3, 2018 at 11:06 comment added Raffzahn While beeing a good bet, it doesn't fit the 100% compatible requirement, does it?
Jul 3, 2018 at 7:39 history edited snips-n-snails CC BY-SA 4.0
Compatibility.
Jul 3, 2018 at 5:38 history answered snips-n-snails CC BY-SA 4.0