4DOS
A colored directory listing in 4DOS.
Developer:	JP Software
Latest release:	7.50.130 / August 25, 2004
OS:	DOS,Windows
Genre:	Command shell
License:	modified MIT Licence incompatible with Free Software or Open Source
Website:	http://jpsoft.com/

4DOS is a command line interpreter by JP Software, designed to replace the default command interpreter COMMAND.COM in DOS and Windows 95/98/Me. Related products that substitute for Windows NT's command interpreter (4NT) and IBM's OS/2 command interpreter (4OS2) are also available. The Take Command product was designed as a compatible interpreter but requiring and enjoying a GUI environment (Windows or PM). 4DOS was written by Rex Conn and Tom Rawson; it was first released in 1989. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... “Software development” redirects here. ... A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. ... is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ... This article is about the family of closely related operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform. ... “Windows” redirects here. ... Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Command line interface. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... The MIT License, originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a license for the use of certain types of computer software. ... This article is about free software as used in the sociopolitical free software movement; for non-free software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Command line interface. ... COMMAND.COM is the name for the default operating system shell (or command line interpreter) for DOS and 16/32bits versions of Windows (95/98/98 SE/Me). ... This article is about the family of closely related operating systems for the IBM PC compatible platform. ... Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. ... Windows 98 (codenamed Memphis) is a graphical operating system released on June 25, 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95. ... Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation: [miː], [É›m iː]), is a hybrid 16-bit/32-bit graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft. ... Windows NT (New Technology) is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. ... 4NT is a command line interpreter by JP Software, designed as a substitute for the default command interpreter cmd. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Take Command is a series of real-time tactics computer games by MadMinute Games. ... GUI can refer to the following: GUI is short for graphical user interface, a term used to describe a type of interface in computing. ... Presentation Manager (PM) was the name given to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) which IBM introduced in version 1. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

Features

4DOS features a number of enhancements when compared to COMMAND.COM:

• Additional commands
• Extended functionality of existing commands
• Extended batch file processing facilities
• Improved command line editing, including filename completion and command history
• Support for command aliases
• Enhanced wildcards and the ability to filter by file sizes, date and time stamps, etcetera
• Extended syntax for redirection and piping
• Context-specific online help
• Colored directory listings
• Internal variables and variable functions
• A more sophisticated swapping mechanism, yielding more free conventional memory on most systems
• An interactive debugger for batch files
• A mechanism for creating, maintaining and displaying file descriptions
• Configuration stored in an .INI file
• Support for the Windows clipboard

Wikibooks has more about this subject: Guide to Windows commands In MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows, a batch file is a text file containing a series of commands intended to be executed by the command interpreter. ... Command line completion is a common command line interpreters feature, which allows to automatically fill-in partially typed elements. ... Command history is a common feature in command line interface, such as in operating system shells, computer algebra programs and other software that interact with the user through a command line. ... In Unix shells (like csh, bash, etc. ... The term wildcard character has the following meanings: // In telecommunications, a wildcard character is a character that may be substituted for any of a defined subset of all possible characters. ... Redirection is a function common to most Unix shells which allow standard streams to be redirected to user-specified locations. ... Conventional memory is the first 640 kibibytes of an IBM PCs memory. ... An initialization file, or INI file, is a configuration file that contains configuration data for Microsoft Windows based applications. ... The clipboard is a software program that is used for short-term storage of data as it is transferred between documents or applications, via copy and paste operations. ...

History and current status

Originally distributed as shareware, the now obsolete 4DOS has been later released as unsupported freeware. Currently, the source code is available under a modified MIT Licence but it "may not be used in any commercial product without written permission from Rex Conn"^[1] so it does not qualify as open source as defined by OSI.^[2]. The last update was version 7.50.130, released in August 2004. During its 15-year history, 4DOS underwent numerous updates; here are a few of the most significant. Look up shareware in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The term Freeware refers to gratis proprietary software with closed source. ... The MIT License, originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a license for the use of certain types of computer software. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Some versions of the Norton Utilities for DOS included modified copies of 4DOS called NDOS. The last version of NDOS was bundled with Norton Utilities 8, and corresponded to 4DOS 4.03. is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Expanded Memory was a trick invented around 1984 that provided more memory to byte-hungry, business-oriented MS-DOS programs. ... is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 66th day of the year (67th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Guide to Windows commands In MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows, a batch file is a text file containing a series of commands intended to be executed by the command interpreter. ... XMS or Extended Memory Specification is the specification describing the use of IBM PC extended memory in real mode for storing data (but not executable code). ... is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... The Upper Memory Area (UMA) is a feature of the design of IBM PC-compatible x86 computers. ... is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... Long filename is the name given to the longer and therefore more descriptive titles on the FAT filesystem, which was previously restricted to eight characters and a three-character extension (referred to as 8. ... REXX (REstructured eXtended eXecutor) is an interpreted programming language which was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language which was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read. ... is the 205th day of the year (206th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... is the 169th day of the year (170th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the operating system. ... is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... The Norton Utilities releases were collections of software utilities. ...

See also

• Comparison of computer shells

A shell is a computer program which interacts with the userland and subsequently the kernel of an operating system. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ See README.TXT inside http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/util/user/4dos/7.50.1/4dos7501.zip
2. ^ Jim Hall's announcement at http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=634635 states that 4dos is open source but in http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=1163523328.3263.35.camel%40x94-129-196.oit.umn.edu he explains that he does not mean "open source as defined by OSI".

External links

• www.4dos.tk - latest version available here!
• JP Software
• 4DOS.INFO - Klaus Meinhard's 4DOS support site with many batch examples, related docs and programs
• 4DOS Guide - Using 4DOS as a secondary shell under Windows 95/98/Me
• comp.os.msdos.4dos - Usenet group covering 4DOS and other JP Software shells
• 4DOS @ Club Dr-DOS's Wiki
• Revived 4DOS - Open source 4DOS, new builds and patches