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Did Dell have an OEM flavor of DOS?

D

dpatten

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I recently dragged a Dell System 200 (286 12mhz) machine out to dump the bios and figured that I might as well clean it up while I had it out. Unfortunately the ST-225 needed a LLF. I went ahead and slapped MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.0 on it, but now I'm curious. I know that IBM and some of the other large OEMS (Compaq, Zenith) had specific releases of DOS tailored to their machines in that time frame (Circa 1987-88 ).

Did Dell? Or were they still just a large white-box manufacturer at the time.
 
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They eventually did but I'm not sure when. I remember seeing Dell branded 3.5" disks labelled v6.2.1 which was the first time I had ever heard of "6.2.1". Honestly at first glance I thought they were malicious/fake.
 
I'm pretty sure the Dell versions are just standard MS-DOS with a Dell logo on the manuals/labels. The Dell machines of that era were all more-or-less 'normal' hardware, which didn't really need a special version of DOS...

As for the 6.2.1 disks, I'd suspect that was probably just an unnecessary dot added, and was actually the regular (though short-lived) 6.21 version.
 
Not sure about that. The one 286 I've seen had SmartVU built in w/ POST code LED Display.
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Perhaps I should have specified... Dell has always liked their proprietary connectors and random little 'enhancements,' but they were more-or-less normal hardware as far as DOS was concerned. The Smart Vu thing was pretty much just an extension of the BIOS... I don't recall it having any sort of interaction with the OS.

Compaq needed their own DOS because the 'vanilla' versions of the time didn't have certain core functionalities, like the 386 memory manager, support for larger drive partitions, and whatnot. Zenith came out with Z-DOS, because the Z-100 was pretty much entirely different from the IBM architecture. Dell didn't really do anything odd like that though, at least not that I can remember.
 
I believe MS-DOS 5.0 was the first version sold as a retail package in stores, so every version prior to that was an OEM version. However, it was up to each particular computer vendor/manufacturer as to whether or not they just passed on the plain vanilla Microsoft product to their customers, if they did minimal rebranding (just put their logo on the box and their name on the COMMAND.COM copyright notice), or if they put together their own highly customized version, like Compaq's MS-DOS 3.31.
 
vwestlife said:
I believe MS-DOS 5.0 was the first version sold as a retail package in stores, so every version prior to that was an OEM version. However, it was up to each particular computer vendor/manufacturer as to whether or not they just passed on the plain vanilla Microsoft product to their customers, if they did minimal rebranding (just put their logo on the box and their name on the COMMAND.COM copyright notice), or if they put together their own highly customized version, like Compaq's MS-DOS 3.31.
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"August 31, 1989
A complete Chinese MS-DOS® version 3.21 will be provided to licensed OEMs and shipped in the future by representatives in Taiwan. As a service to users in Taiwan, a retail version of the Chinese MS-DOS operating system will be made available to end users on a temporary basis. This will be the first time a retail version of MS-DOS had been made available directly to customers."

This is from MSDN, whoever they are. Link

I bought a version 3.30 off the shelf in Mainz, Germany in 1991 at an AAFES. It may have not been available in the U.S. until version 5.0 ?
 
I have Dell DOS version 3.3 and Dell DOS 6.2 (in disk form). The 6.2 version is 2 disks. I also have a Dell Disgnostic disk (can't remember if the version was specifically for the System 310), but it only tests the RAM.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
I have Dell DOS version 3.3 and Dell DOS 6.2 (in disk form). The 6.2 version is 2 disks. I also have a Dell Disgnostic disk (can't remember if the version was specifically for the System 310), but it only tests the RAM.
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Do the Dell 3.3 Disks have any system specific utilities/drivers with them?
 
dpatten said:
Do the Dell 3.3 Disks have any system specific utilities/drivers with them?
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There might also be code in the system files. It might be worth checking the size against the MS issue and/or looking for Dell text in them. COMMAND.COM will probably have a reference about 5 screens down along with the MS notice, if there is anything.
 
So I've done a little digging. I found a Google scan of an InfoWorld ad from early 1988 that includes the Dell systems being sold at the time, Systems 100, 200, 220 and 310. The system 100 was an 8088 machine and came with "Dell Enhanced MS-Dos 3.3" The other machines (200 and 220 being 286/12 and 286/20 and the 310 a 386DX/20) simply refer to "MS-DOS or OS/2.

Dell PCS.jpg

Another ad on the page lists the operating systems that Dell sold:

Dell Ad.jpg

So they clearly sold their own version of DOS, which included their own utilities as well as OS/2 V 1.0

Also, Microsoft's support documentation for windows 3.1 and MS-DOS 5.0 specifically references Dell DOS in section 2.22 as having an incompatible utility called "aformat" whose 32 MB partitions are not visible to the New DOS and Windows unless you run a program called "FIXPART" which was supposedly available from Dell.

So, I can deduce that at the very least the OEM version of DOS for Dell's early XT class machines (System 100) was semi-custom, or at least had some additional utilities to work around the early versions of DOS' partition issues . The question now is, did they use that same version of DOS with the 286 and 386 machines.

I'd really like to get my hands on some original Dell DOS 3.3 images.
 
Getting off-topic, but I noticed the ad for the Dell System 100 mentions an integrated keyboard, 3.5" disk drive (unusual for an XT), and earphone jack... from that I'm guessing it was it in a form factor like the Laser XT10 or Sinclair PC200 / Amstrad PC20?

laser128.jpg


pc20_side.jpg


There were a few other PC clones with a similar integrated style of case, such as the HeadStart Explorer, but I've never seen or heard of the Dell System 100.
 
vwestlife said:
Getting off-topic, but I noticed the ad for the Dell System 100 mentions an integrated keyboard, 3.5" disk drive (unusual for an XT), and earphone jack... from that I'm guessing it was it in a form factor like the Laser XT10 or Sinclair PC200 / Amstrad PC20?


There were a few other PC clones with a similar integrated style of case, such as the HeadStart Explorer, but I've never seen or heard of the Dell System 100.
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You have to consider who Dell was competing against at the time. IBM. IBM did indeed have an XT class machine, (albeit with an 8086) with 720K floppy and 20-30MB hdd. The original PS/2 model 30. The Dell system 100 is very similar to it (albeit with attached Keyboard and is far less similar to the Laser or Sinclair machines.

system 100.jpg

click to embiggen.
 
I know it has been some time for the post "Did Dell have an OEM flavor of DOS?".

Yes. They did. I have the original factory disks in my archive. I wanted to let you know that I have original images of DELL MS-DOS Versions 3.30, and 4.01. These disks are 720k formatted as received from DELL. They are archived in .img files to be used with winimage. If you need these, just let me know in the forum and we can go from there.

dellmsdos330.jpg

dellmsdos401a.jpg
 
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I know this is a old post but I have a couple of Dell System 200's. One looks like a 286 and the other a 386 but unfortunately the 286 version. I have had them both for years and when tried the 286 one the other day, it stopped detecting the hard drive but would boot from a floppy. Then this morning when I turn it on I get a 4-2-3 bios beep code and a blank screen. Ive checked all connections and re-seated all ISA cards but still I get these beeps from the bios. It may have something to do with the keyboard interface & gate A20 I am told if only I knew a bit more. I was looking in support to find a manual in the support section but even though I found it under legacy systems the manual is not there, just a email address link that don't work.

Can anyone here help me diagnose what this could be and maybe help with a manual.
 
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