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Introduction to DOS

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The development of MS-DOS

MS-DOS is the most well known operating system, the most commercialised version is that of Microsoft, christened "MS-DOS" (there are other versions such as DR-DOS). MS-DOS was created in 1981 when it was used on an IBM PC.

Introduction to the operating system

DOS, as with any operating system, controls computer activity. It manages operations such as data flow, display, data entry amongst other various elements that make up a system.

The role of DOS is to interpret commands that the user enters via the keyboard.
These commands allow the following tasks to be executed:

  • file and folder management
  • disk upgrades
  • hardware configuration
  • memory optimisation
  • program execution

These commands are typed after the prompt, in the case of MS-DOS (Microsoft DOS, the most well known): the drive letter followed by a backslash, for example: A:\ or C:\.

To execute a command type the command then hit ENTER.
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