Old Freeware for MS-DOS and MS Windows

Are you looking for some old freeware-programs for your PC? I still have my ancient programs around (dated 1987-1994), but most of them are probably useless nowadays. Note that the programs are no longer updated, since I've left the lousy world of Microsoft DOS/Windows in favour of Linux and X11.

Comment 2001-01-26: Note how some of the programs state that they are written in "assembly language". I was laughing when I read those comments today. There was a time when people actually got impressed when somebody told them a program was written in assembly. Nowadays, most people do not even know what assembly is. Oh, well. I'll keep the stupid comments for historical reasons. In fact, this entire page exists for historical reasons. If you still use any of these programs, I would like to hear from you.

Another comment 2001-01-26: Ancient and historical my *ss. I just skimmed the access log from the second half of the year 2000, and found that the DOSED program was dowloaded more than 1000 times during those six months. Three times more than the most popular of my newer programs. I must have lost something during those years.

Update 2002-04-24: During the last three months, dosed has been downloaded 7 times a day on the average.

The oldest programs have Norwegian texts.

English Programs

ADJCLOCK - Was quite popular

Program for automatic (non-resident) PC-clock adjustment. When called periodically (for instance from AUTOEXEC.BAT), the program tries to compensate for clock inaccuracy.

Update 2000-09-13: Eh, I'm actually quite shocked to realise that I updated the program now (thanks to dosemu on GNU/Linux, and Borland's free, ancient compilers). Version 2.0 is available. Minor changes only.

Download adclk200.zip or the original adclk100.zip

MOUSEBUF

Mousebased cut and paste in DOS' textmode programs. Highlight an area in one program, and import it into another.

Download mouseb10.zip

DOSED - My most popular program ever!

Resident program that gives extended operations on the DOS commandline. The three new functions are:

• Editing (with Emacs-like keys if you want to)
• History, recall previous commands
• Filename completion (with displaying of matching files)

Download dosed520.zip

Some people ask for the source code of this age old program. I don't want to call it "open source", and it definitively is not "public domain", but here is the source for those who want to see. It is Borland Turbo Assembler style 8086 code with comments and labels in Norwegian, so you are hereby warned. Please do not redistribute without talking to me first.

FIVEROW

Simple five-in-a-row game (gomoku) for Windows.

Download 5row030.zip

FORCEXT

Force extended texmode, that is 50 lines on VGA or 43 lines on EGA, whenever programs terminate. Can also be set up to always force extended textmode, so that no program is able to enter 25-line mode.

Download frcext31.zip

GAMES

Two small games, written in assemblylanguage:

• SNAKE3: Traditional snake game, where the goal is to eat fruit in order to grow. Has some nice extras not usually found in this kind of games.
• TETRIS: Tetris with no fancy backgrounds or space-occypying effects.

Download shh_game.zip

GD - Goto Directory

Quickly move to another directory. Maintains a hidden file in the root directory, containing the treestructure of the drive. Give parts of a directoryname, and GD finds it!

Download gd350.zip

GIFSAVE

C-sourcecode for saving GIF-images. Originally written for Borland C, but tested on Linux and SunOS (Unix) as well, so it should be quite portable. Note: This is for saving images only, no loading!
(A newer version is available under my Software for Unix/Linux page.)

2001-01-24: On advice from Unisys, who owns the patent of the compression algorithm used in GIF, this file is no longer available for download. See Unisys' statement on the use and distribution of LZW. Please note that even if I obey the rules, I do not support patenting of algorithms. If possible, stop using GIF and start using PNG instead. It is a superior format in most ways, and widely supported in modern software. libpng, a multi-platform library for reading and writing PNG files, is freely available.

Line Morph

Screen saver for Windows 3.1. Displays line-figures that are transformed into other figures. Idea and mathematics: Glenn T. Lines.

Download lmrph030.zip

MT32PROG

Small program to change instrument on a Roland MT-32 or CM-32L. No need to remember instrument codes, or start a huge sequencer program. Requires: MPU-401 MIDI-card and Roland MT-32, CM-32L or compatible synth.

Download shh_mt32.zip

POPMENU

Pop-up menu for Windows 3.x. Click on Windows' background with the right mousebutton to pop up a user configurable menu. Unlimited number of submenus. Why use Program Manager?

Download popmnu10.zip

RM

Unix-like replacement for dos' del-command. Is able to recurse sub- directories, accepts several filenames in one call, +++

Download shhrm10.zip

SHH ED

Simple Borland/WordStar-like texteditor. This is the editor I use for programming etc. The program is only 17 kb, and thus loads fast. Written totally in assembly.

Download shhed240.zip

TGASAVE

C-sourcecode for saving uncompressed, 24 bit TGA-images. Originally written for Borland C, but tested on Linux and SunOS (Unix) as well, so it should be quite portable. Note: This is for saving images only, no loading!

Download tgasave.zip

WFVIEW

Windows File Viewer. Look at textfiles in Windows. Can be installed directly on the menu of File Manager, to easily view highlighted files. A nice feature is the ability to periodically poll the file for changes.

Download wfview10.zip

WHICH

This program is used to find locations of executables. It will look for the program the way DOS does, by searching the PATH for .COM, .EXE or .BAT -files (unless explicitely specified). It will also recognize commands internal to DOS 6.2.

Download shwhch10.zip

XD - Extended DIR

Replacement for DOS' DIR-command, giving the user greater flexibility specifying how the output should be formatted. Multi-column, multi-color.

Download xd130.zip

XDSKCPY - Extended DISKCOPY

Copies entire diskettes in one drive, possibly using Extended Memory (XMS) and harddisk space for buffering to avoid disk swapping. Also makes several copies of one diskette with just a single read of the source diskette.

Download xdcpy200.zip

Norwegian Programs

CAPTURE

Program for å "fange" skjermbilder fra andre programmer. Virker på EGA-skjerm (mode 10h, 640x350x16) eller MCGA/VGA-skjerm (mode 13h, 320x200x256). EGA-bildene legges i filer som kan leses av programmet EGA-Paint fra Rix SoftWorks.

Bildene kan pakkes (ikke noe super pakkingsalgoritme, men de fleste bildene blir ganske bra forminsket), og de pakkede filene kan vises med et eget program, eller de kan omgjøres til COM-filer som selv pakker ut og viser bildet. MCGA/VGA-filene kan omgjøres til GIF-filer.

Download shh_capt.zip

DIVERSE

Rusk og rask etter diverse eksperimentering. For det meste programmer som krever EGA-skjerm. Eksempler: WORLD, LINJER, SNOW, BALLS, EGACLOCK, SVERRE, BIOrytmer, evighetsKALENDER, ...

Download shh_div.zip

EGA3D

Program for rotasjon av 3-dimensjonale figurer. Dette er IKKE noe nyttig program, det følger ikke en gang med en beskrivelse av hvordan nye figurer kan lages. Programmet er kun laget fordi roterende objekter er ganske morsomt å se på!

Download shh_eg3d.zip

Gamle SHH Utilities

Programmer som tidligere var med i "SHH Utilities" (se under), men som nå av en eller annen grunn er tatt ut. Som eksempler kan nevnes:

• NOIBMFRM - Gjør om rammetegn som sendes til skriver til tegn som kan brukes av alle skrivere, og allikevel ser ut som rammetegn.
• RMBAK - Fjern .BAK-filer over hele disken.
• CHKSUM - Lag sjekksum av alle programmer i håp om å oppdage datavirus.

Download shh_outl.zip

MANDLBRT

Regner ut og viser fraktaler (Mandelbrotmengden) på EGA-skjerm. Programmet bruker ganske (les: svært) lang tid på utregningen hvis man ikke har en matteprosessor.

Download shh_mndl.zip

NORSKEGA

Program som ved hjelp av kun 608 residente bytes gir norsk Ø på EGA- og VGA-kort. Dropp MS-DOS' codepage (DISPLAY.SYS og NLSFUNC)! Følger også med i "SHH Utilities".

Download noega300.zip

OPUT

Program for å formatere utskrift til printer. Mulighet for marger, sideoverskrift, linjenummerering og mye mer. Man definerer selv den skriveren som brukes.

Download shh_oput.zip

PROGUARD

Enkelt antivirusprogram som stopper mistenkelig aktivitet og spør brukeren om disse skal tillates. Er man ikke redd for virus (av en eller annen grunn), kan dette programmet allikevel brukes for å forhindre DEL *.* eller FORMAT C: og andre datafiendtlige kommandoer. :-)

Download shh_prgd.zip

SHH MENY III

Standard menyprogram for brukere som ikke ønsker å jobbe mot DOS' kommandolinje. Ubegrenset antall undermenyer med 14 valg i hver. Mulighet for å endre alle farger slik at undermenyer skilles lett fra hverandre.

Download shh_meny.zip

SHH Utilities

Samling av diverse små nytteprogrammer. Som eksempler kan nevnes:

• ASK Muliggjør valg i batch-filer.
• ALIAS Lag kortformer for kommandoer uten å bruke diskkrevende BAT-filer.
• CRYPT Gjør filer uleselige vha. et passord.
• DELETE Rekursiv fjerning av filer og kataloger.
• KEYBUF Utvid tastaturbufferet.
• LIST For å se på filer, både som tekst og datafil.
• NORSKEGA Norsk Ø med kun 600 bytes resident! Glem codepage!
• PSPOOL Printerbuffer i minnet.

og mye mer. Her kan det tenkes at du finner programmet du ikke har funnet andre steder, og hvis ikke, er jeg moden for forslag!

Download shh_util.zip

VISFUNK

Viser funksjoner som feks. f(x)=sin(x)/x. Glimrende for bruk sammen med 2. og 3. -klasses matematikk på gymnas. Det gis mulighet for å flytte en markør langs grafen for å finne tilnærmede nullpunkter, ekstremalpunkter osv.

Dette programmet kan selvsagt ikke konkurere med profesjonelle matematikkpakker som Mathematica, Derive eller MathCad, men det er heller ikke meningen!

Download shh_vfnk.zip