https://ncot.uk/tags/ms-dos/ Recent content in MS-DOS on NCoT Tech Hugo en-gb Fri, 16 Oct 2026 20:06:31 +0100 https://ncot.uk/videos/the-dark-art-of-dos-audio-pc-speaker-tricks-and-pwm-madness/ Mon, 11 Aug 2025 22:25:30 +0100 https://ncot.uk/videos/the-dark-art-of-dos-audio-pc-speaker-tricks-and-pwm-madness/ Think the old PC speaker was only good for making awful beeps? Yeah, me too—until I started digging into how it actually works. #MSDOS #RetroComputing https://ncot.uk/videos/digital-graffiti---programming-1990s-pc-demoscene-effects/ Mon, 11 Aug 2025 22:22:33 +0100 https://ncot.uk/videos/digital-graffiti---programming-1990s-pc-demoscene-effects/ Step back into the golden age of the demoscene as I dive into some of the most iconic visual effects from 1990s PC demos, all recreated under MS-DOS using Borland C++. #MSDOS #CPlusPlus #RetroComputing #Programming https://ncot.uk/videos/ms-dos-programming---the-mode-x-deviation/ Sat, 29 Mar 2025 23:14:27 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/ms-dos-programming---the-mode-x-deviation/ After learning about Mode 13h last time, I’ve been digging about in the ancient tomes of wisdom and discovered Mode-X. Let’s make a PC’s VGA card do odd things it was never designed for. #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/mode-x-madness/ Sat, 22 Mar 2025 14:35:37 +0000 https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/mode-x-madness/ After learning about Mode 13h last time, I’ve been digging about in the ancient tomes of wisdom and discovered Mode-X. Let’s make a PC’s VGA card do odd things it was never designed for. #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics https://ncot.uk/videos/can-i-program-vga-graphics-in-ms-dos-watch-me-struggle/ Mon, 10 Mar 2025 21:24:25 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/can-i-program-vga-graphics-in-ms-dos-watch-me-struggle/ Let’s move into the 1990s and draw some graphics! I’ve got a whole 320x200 pixel screen, 256 colours and direct access to the video card. No APIs, no helper functions. Just me and the video RAM. #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics https://ncot.uk/videos/retro-ms-dos-coding---recreating-the-iconic-award-bios-screen/ Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:13:13 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/retro-ms-dos-coding---recreating-the-iconic-award-bios-screen/ Because why not, it looks simpler than it really is and we’ll get to fall down a rabbit hole trying to draw the Energy Star logo. #MSDOS #RetroComputing #PCHardware #Programming https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/borland-c-dos-programming/ Thu, 27 Feb 2025 15:15:09 +0000 https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/borland-c-dos-programming/ I ditched DJGPP for now and am using Borland C++ 3.1 that I found on some abandonware website. I even sent the user manual to an online document printer to get it bound into a real book. #DJGPP #MSDOS #CPlusPlus #RetroComputing https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/lets-recreate-a-90s-pc-bios-boot-screen-part2/ Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:48:31 +0000 https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/lets-recreate-a-90s-pc-bios-boot-screen-part2/ Thanks to @hobbified on YouTube, making the EPA logo look correct was quite straight forward… #MSDOS #VGA #RetroComputing #Graphics https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/lets-recreate-a-90s-pc-bios-boot-screen/ Fri, 13 Dec 2024 12:48:31 +0000 https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/lets-recreate-a-90s-pc-bios-boot-screen/ Because why not, it looks simpler than it really is and we’ll get to fall down a rabbit hole trying to draw the Energy Star logo. #MSDOS #DJGPP #VGA #Interrupts https://ncot.uk/videos/nostalgic-dos-development-part-1-freedos-djgpp-rhide-and-other-madness/ Mon, 25 Nov 2024 22:06:11 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/nostalgic-dos-development-part-1-freedos-djgpp-rhide-and-other-madness/ Come back to a time when 640k was enough, and when a 486 DX2/66 was considered a fast computer. None of this modern multi-core rubbish or branch predicting exploitable nonsense here. Just you, me, DOS and a C compiler. #MSDOS #DJGPP #CProgramming #AssemblyLanguage https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/nostalgic-dos-development-part-2-writing-our-first-programs/ Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:00:34 +0000 https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/nostalgic-dos-development-part-2-writing-our-first-programs/ This is part two, go read part 1 first. #MSDOS #DJGPP #Keyboards #RetroComputing https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/nostalgic-dos-development-setting-up-the-machine/ Mon, 25 Nov 2024 20:35:13 +0000 https://ncot.uk/projects/dosdev/nostalgic-dos-development-setting-up-the-machine/ The modern world is far too complex. Software has become piles of APIs stacked on top of each other, running on virtual machines inside browsers. Even the CPUs themselves are too complex for anyone to understand. #MSDOS #DJGPP #RetroComputing #Programming https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/forcing-dos-onto-an-unwilling-thinkpad-r60e/ Fri, 01 Nov 2024 11:54:04 +0000 https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/forcing-dos-onto-an-unwilling-thinkpad-r60e/ I decide that doing DOS development means I need a real computer, rather than an emulator. I have an old laptop, surely making it run DOS can’t be that hard, right? #MSDOS #RetroComputing https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/dodgy-dos-development/ Sun, 29 Sep 2024 11:28:22 +0000 https://ncot.uk/blog-posts/dodgy-dos-development/ From the mind that brought you “let’s try to write games using just pure C” I have a new idea for making my life difficult. Let’s write DOS software using period correct tools… #MSDOS #RetroComputing https://ncot.uk/videos/25-year-old-coding-project-review/ Tue, 12 Oct 2021 22:39:38 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/25-year-old-coding-project-review/ I found my 25 year old A-Level programming project, is it any good? #MSDOS #Python #RetroComputing #Programming https://ncot.uk/videos/bbc-micro-mega-upgrade/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 20:19:41 +0000 https://ncot.uk/videos/bbc-micro-mega-upgrade/ Upgrading my BBC Micro to use a Gotek floppy emulator, 1770 disk controller and a Raspberry Pi co-processor. #BBCMicro #MSDOS #RaspberryPi #RetroComputing