DOS

Memory manager for DOS PCs with 386 or higher CPUs, released by Qualitas company in 1992. Source code was released in June 2022 on GitHub with GPL-3.0 license.

Bruce's C compiler is a simple C compiler that produces 8086 assembler for tiny/small memory models.

IDE to develop DOS games in 2d, mode 7 and 3d. Released in 1998.

DJ Delorie's complete 32-bit C/C++ development environment for Intel 80386. Used for Quake.

The is very valuable in order to understand working with both version 1.9 and the V2 fork.

JavaScript programming environment for MS-DOS, FreeDOS or any DOS-based Windows (like 95, 98, ME).

A 16-bit counterpart to DJGPP, a GCC-based toolchain for developing 16-bit (8086 to 80286, a.k.a. IA-16) DOS applications, currently maintained by TK Chia.

Very small debugger for real-mode DOS programs with Borland's Turbo like UI. Features an i80486 disassembler, and i8086 assembler.

Online demo of Lua 5.3.5, compiled for MS-DOS on the Intel 80486 processor.

FreeDOS ad-hoc module for micropython.

Formerly commercial C/C++ development environment for 16- and 32-bit DOS and

GitHub fork which is actively maintained and is

Perl for DOS.

Python for DOS, including multi-threading, networking and OpenGL.

A self-hosting Small-C Compiler Toolkit for DOS(8086) with: K&R C Compiler, Make, Linker, Assembler. First released in 1982 by Jim E. Hendrix.

Portable self-hosting C compiler capable of producing executables for a number of platforms, including real and protected mode DOS programs, by Alexei A. Frounze.

A small, portable, procedural, block-structured, recursive, almost typeless, and to some degree object-oriented programming language by Nils M. Holm.

C IDE and compiler from Borland first released in 1987.

C++ IDE and compiler from Borland released in 1991.

C++ IDE and compiler from Borland released in 1992.

A TSR that emulates Sound Blaster and OPL3 in pure DOS using modern PCI-based (onboard and add-in card) sound cards. Supports both real mode and protected mode games!

A fork of SBEMU (see above), which also aims to offer Sound Blaster emulation for modern PC hardware, in both real mode and protected mode games.

Sci-fi side-scrolling platform game. Regarded as an innovative cult classic by most people. Supports SVGA mode up to 1280x1024 resolution. Written in C, the architecture includes a Lisp-scripting engine.

Game development library for DOS, Windows and Linux. 4.2 version supports DOS platform.

Point-and-click adventure game set in a dystopian future. Written in assembly.

Sequel to the original Cyberdogs. Ronny Wester, the original creator no longer maintains the website for the original C-Dogs, but multiple ports exists, including cdogs-sdl.

2D top-down shooter developed by Softdisk (later becoming id Software). Supports EGA and CGA graphics. Written in Turbo Pascal and assembly.

First-person shooter in fantasy setting developed by Softdisk (later becoming id Software). Features pseudo-3D graphics with raycasting technique. Supports EGA graphics. Written in C and assembly. Compiled with Borland C++ 3.1.

Side-scrolling platform game developed by id Software. Keen Dreams is the Commander Keen game created between Keen 3 and Keen 4 (often considered "Keen 3.5"), but was not widely released. Written in C and assembly.

Top-down 2D shooter playing as a mercenary to earn money. Written in Turbo Pascal. Supports two player mode.

First sci-fi FPS/space shooter to feature entirely true 3D graphics. Written in C and assembly.

Sequel to Descent. Written in C and assembly.

Original source code for the DIGPAK sound drivers uploaded to GitHub by John W. Ratcliff.

Sci-fi FPS developed by id Software where you fight demons from hell on Mars. The DOS-specific code for Doom could not be published because of a dependency to the licensed DMX sound library, hence why it's cleaned up and only the Linux source is there. However, the Heretic and Hexen projects contain the original DOS code in a way where DMX-related code is removed.

Christopher Wellons's x86 real mode DOS Asteroids clone created as an entry for Lundum Dare #31.

Marco A. Marrero's DOS VGA/hardware library implemented in assembly and Turbo Pascal.

FPS developed by Apogee featuring the iconic character Duke Nukem. Written in C. Compiled with Watcom C/C++ 10.0.

First-person 2.5D dungeon-crawler on protected mode. Written in C++, includes software rendering, fixed point math, test coverage and sound (PC speaker, Adlib, OPL2LPT).

Pong clone for DOS, Windows and Linux. Uses PC speaker for sound on DOS.

Flappy Bird clone written in 16 bit assembly. Not a DOS program, but a PC-Booter application instead (although it's also possible to build a COM executable for DOS).

FreeDOS is an open source DOS-compatible operating system that you can use to play classic DOS games, run legacy business software, or develop embedded systems. Any program that works on MS-DOS should also run on FreeDOS.

Turbo Pascal with few games in C and C++. Games include Nibbles, Connect Four, Ms Pacman clone and two arcade/platform games. One of them (ra2) was written using Allegro. Utilities are all written in Turbo Pascal, these include game system routines, file and disk utilities and terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSR).

Platformer written in C using DJGPP.

'80s style arcade shooter written in Quickbasic. Also the very first known DOS game that supports Oculus Rift VR headset.

Hangman clone written in Basic. Runs on at least 80286 processors and uses EGA graphics.

Dark fantasy FPS running on id Software's Doom engine.

Indirect sequel to Heretic.

FPS developed by id Software. Features pseudo-3D graphics with raycasting technique, before Catacomb 3D and Wolfeinstein 3D. Written in C and assembly.

A framework for making 2D DOS games in Lua. API based on a subset of the LÖVE API.

3D maze game using CGA graphics with algebra as theme.

Code analysis by MaiZure.

Super Mario Bros clone written in Turbo Pascal.

GitHub repository of the original source code for MS-DOS v1.25, v2.0 and v4.0, open-sourced by Microsoft.

Descendant of the original NetHack rougelike game first released in 1987 available on multiple platforms.

Gomoku clone written in C. Works on DOS, ZX Spectrum, ZX81, ZX80, APPLE1, AS400 and Windows.

Overhead puzzle game written in C. Web version uses DOSBox ported to Emscripten to embed DOSBox into HTML5. However, the original executable is also downloadable and buildable with Open Watcom.

Tetris clone written in C. Runs on DOS, Unix/Linux, ZX Spectrum and Windows.

FPS developed by id Software set in a fully 3D world. Written in C. Compiled with DJGPP for DOS.

Code analysis by Fabien Sanglard.

FPS developed by Apogee. It was developed as a follow-up to Wolfenstein 3D, but was altered and became a standalone game instead. Uses a heavily modified Wolfenstein 3D engine. Written in C.

Side-scrolling shoot 'em up created by David L. Clark in 1984. The game involves piloting a Sopwith biplane, attempting to bomb enemy buildings while avoiding fire from enemy planes and various other obstacles.

Original for Heretic/Hexen.

Sudoku clone written in C. Runs on 8086/8088 CPU, uses CGA, MCGA or VGA graphics and uses a mouse.

Tetris clone written in assembly.

Tower of Hanoi puzzle game written in Turbo Pascal. Originally released in 1996.

FPS developed by id Software set in the Nazi German prison Castle Wolfenstein. Features pseudo-3D graphics with raycasting technique. Written in C and assembly.

Text-mode Pong clone written in C. Runs as PC-Booter game and under DOS.

Text-mode Snake clone written in C. Runs on 8086 DOS.

32-bit compilation tutorial for Open Watcom.

Short article about getting Turbo C running on FreeDOS and moving a pixel around.

16-bit compilation tutorial for Borland/Turbo C/C++ and Open Watcom. Goes into depth of memory addressing and memory models.

Raymond Chen's explanation of segmented memory, including near- and far pointers.

DOS game programming tutorial series including a primer on C, graphics, animation, input handling and collision detection. This series contains a tutorial for making buffered input handling. Last chapter contains full source code of a Break Out game on DOS.

API documentation for routines accessing BIOS operations directly (disk operations, BIOS keyboard, printer, time, memory, serial, interrupts).

Just code listing for drawing an ellipse in VESA mode.

Document describing the hardware, memory map, register I/O and hardware clones of the IBM's original CGA.

Tutorial series to learn how to create graphics on DOS, written in 1996.

Tutorial about querying VESA modes.

VESA article with history at the beginning and short mention of the VESA VBE standard, but unfortunately the example codes aren't even available through Wayback Machine.

Freqency table usable to parameterize the PC speaker.

version 3.4 on

A VGA programming tutorial that also shows the list of video modes (text, CGA, EGA, VGA, SVGA) in a table at the beginning.

Series of tutorials that include drawing pixels in VESA mode (protected or real).

Build process of Chris Wellons's DOS Defender game using DJGPP. Goal was to create a 32-bit 80386 COM executable.

Blog post about Scali's journey of doing CGA, EGA and VGA programming.

Very short tutorial on using the PIT for generating PC speaker frequency.

dos.h header documentation by Digital Mars - API documentation of functions for interfacing with the DOS operating system itself.

dos.h header documentation by Digital Mars - API documentation of functions for interfacing with the DOS operating system itself.

Collection of guides covering assembly, sound (Sound Blaster, Gravis UltraSound, PC Speaker, GameBlaster, Adlib), input, memory (EMS, XMS, DMA Transfers), PIT, VGA, SVGA, algorithms and file formats.

Reverse-engineered reference on OPL3.

Source code and files for the following topics: MS-DOS, networking, C, C++, Pascal, Visual Basic, Delphi, 3D, PC speaker, Soundblaster, Gravis Ultrasound, MIDI and many more.

System programming tutorials like disk handling, interrupts, inputs, sound, graphics.

A 1995 CD-ROM containing source code for Adlib, Gravis, Pro-Audio, Roland and Sound Blaster sound cards. The description for the folders on the CD-ROM is listed on the back of the CD-ROM case.

List of every documented and undocumented interrupt call known, accessible through search, categories and interrupt numbers.

Original in downloadable .zip files from

Programming the Sound Blaster 16 DSP CT1341 chip for recording and playback of digitized audio.

PC speaker programming chapter of the "A to Z of C" book with source code.

List of Sound Blaster models and registers.

A table for setting the appropriate DOSBox cycle count according to CPU types (IBM XT 88, 286, 386, 486, Pentium I, Pentium II). Comes handy when you are developing a DOS game and want to simulate the environment where you intend to execute it.

Reference of OPL2 operations and registers.

Series from 1999 that introduces to graphics programming under DOS. The home site contains other late 90s/early 2000s game programming articles as well.

Kevin Matz's almost book-length treatment of DOS system programming and VGA programming fundamentals using C/C++ and 80x86 assembly. Unfortunately it is incomplete and was abandoned since 2001.

History of the DOS family including CP/M, Q-DOS/86-DOS, MS-DOS and PC-DOS. Article also includes a diagram of the timeline and family tree of DOS

List of all known video modes including BIOS interrupt numbers, text/pixel resolution, number of colors and video memory addresses.

Tutorial about querying VESA modes.

Hardware guide for VGA cards that is also relevant for modern graphics cards including NVidia and ATI.

VGA programming tutorial series in Pascal and Assembly.

Best starting point to learn about the OPL2 sound chip besides 8-bit guy's YouTube video.

History and technical details about IBM's CGA system. Also describes 4-color RGBI and 16-color Composite modes.

Video about DOS executable formats including `.COM`, `.BAT` and `.EXE`.

Video about PC speaker, FM synthesizers in NES and Commodore 64, Yamaha OPL chip in AdLib and Sound Blaster sound cards, PCM samples and MOD music.

DOS programming tutorial series including VGA, SoundBlaster and VGA Mode X.

Comparison of playing the intro theme of Secret of Monkey Island through PC speaker, IBM PCjr/Tandy, AdLib, Game Blaster, Roland LAPC-1/MT-32, Gravis Ultrasound, Roland SCC-1 MIDI, SB16 Waveblaster/AWE32 and CD quality digital audio.

Former Microsoft employee David Plummer tells stories about development of MS-DOS and compiles MS-DOS 4.00 source code which has been open-sourced by Microsoft.

GDC talk. Brian Provinciano's presentation on porting Retro City Rampage from PlayStation 4 to DOS. Topics include optimization, using interrupts, timing, PC speaker sound, joystick, memory management and fixed-point math.

Video about how PC memory looks like, conventional memory, extender memory and reasons for the need of DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) and extenders like DOS/4GW.

Video about the 8.3 limitation of filenames under DOS, FAT partitioning scheme, NTFS, VFAT, FatGo, and `LFN.EXE`.

Historical talk starting from Unix, going through CPM, DOS 1.x, DOS 2.x, DOS 3.x, DOS 4.x, DOS 6.x, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and ending with FreeDOS.