Timeline of MS-DOS for NEC PC98 [PC98]
MS-DOS versions for NEC PC98
This figure shows a timeline of MS-DOS for NEC PC-98 and IBM PS/55.
| Ver. | P/N | Price(JPY) | Date(Y/M) | Notable for introducing |
| 1.25 | PS98-111 | 43000 | 1983/7 | Japanese language support defined within MS-DOS Standard Kanji Specification. |
| 2.0 | PS98-121 | 11000 | 1983/11 | A variant of MS-DOS 2.11. 20MB HD support. System disk only, no manual(option). |
| 2.0 | PS98-122 | 16000 | 1986/6 | Single phrase Kana-Kanji Converter. |
| 2.0 | PS98-123 | 16000 | 1986/11 | Multi phrase Kana-Kanji Converter. |
| 3.1 | PS98-125 | 18000 | 1985/10 | A variant of MS-DOS 3.1. Extended formatted hard drive (<40MB, 8 partitions). |
| 3.1 | PS98-127 | 18000 | 1986/11 | Multi phrase Kana-Kanji Converter. MASM was sold separately. |
| 3.1 | PS98-129 | 18000 | 1987/7 | Added ADDDRV, etc. Some commands(FORMAT,etc.) support menu selection. |
| 3.1 | PS98-011 | 18000 | 1987/10 | Sequential Kana-Kanji Converter. PRINT.SYS(Printer driver) separated from IO.SYS. |
| 3.1[A] | PS98-012 | 12000 | 1987/10 | Runtime for MS-DOS applications. Developers manual is not included. |
| 3.3 | PS98-013 | 18000 | 1988/7 | Added XCOPY. Supported EMS memory, SCSI-HD ,FAT16(<128MB). NEC AI Kana-Kanji Conv. |
| 3.3[A] | PS98-014 | 12000 | 1988/7 | Runtime version of MS-DOS 3.3. |
| 3.3A | PS98-015 | 18000 | 1989/2 | Supported EMS page frame address at C0000h-CFFFFh. |
| 3.3A[A] | PS98-016 | 12000 | 1989/2 | Runtime version of MS-DOS 3.3A. |
| 3.3B | PS98-017 | 18000 | 1989/11 | Added PATCH, FONT.SYS. Supported virtual EMS memory(>i386CPU). |
| 3.3B[A] | PS98-018 | 12000 | 1989/11 | Runtime version of MS-DOS 3.3B. |
| 3.3C[B] | PS98-019 | 9800 | 1990/7 | MO drives support. Developers manuals and commands were removed. |
| 3.3C[E] | PS98-1001-*1 | 8200 | 1990/7 | Included reference books for developers and commands(SYMDEB, DEBUG, EDLIN). |
| 3.3D[B] | PS98-1002 | 9800 | 1991/11 | Installable into sub directory. Add SEDIT(screen editor). Last release with 8-inch floppy. |
| 3.3D[E] | PS98-1001-*2 | 8200 | 1991/11 | Additional manuals and tools for MS-DOS 3.3D. |
| 3.3D-R | - | - | - | Built-in ROM version of MS-DOS 3.3D. |
| 3.3D-H | - | - | - | Pre-installed version of MS-DOS 3.3D. |
| 5.0[B] | PS98-1003-*1 | 12800 | 1991/11 | A partition size up to 2GB. HMA, UMB, DOSSHELL, SEDIT(screen text editor). |
| 5.0[E] | PS98-1004-*1 | 10000 | 1991/11 | Additional manuals and tools for MS-DOS 5.0. |
| 5.0A[B] | PS98-1003-*2 | 9800 | 1992/11 | Task swapping, DPMI. |
| 5.0A[E] | PS98-1004-*2 | 8200 | 1992/11 | Additional manuals and tools for MS-DOS 5.0A.. |
| 5.0A-H | - | - | - | Only provided with PC-9821 computers. Included drivers(CD, 256 colors, sound). |
| 6.2[B] | PS98-1005 | 12000 | 1994/12 | Included utilities(DEFRAG, SCANDISK, etc.) and drivers(CD, 256 colors, sound). |
| 6.2[E] | PS98-1006-*1 | 8000 | 1994/12 | Developer manuals and tools for MS-DOS 6.2. |
[A]=Application Runtime Set (アプリケーション実行環境セット, Application Jikko Kankyo Set), [B]=Basic Function Set (基本機能セット, Kihon Kino Set), [E]=Extended Function Set (拡張機能セット, Kakucho Kino Set). Extended Function Set only includes references and utility commands for developers, excludes MS-DOS system. Thus, it requires the Basic Function Set.
End of P/N is determined by the disk format. Although PC-98 versions of Windows 95 / 98 / NT were provided with 1.44 MB formatted disks (and CD-ROM), MS-DOS has never been provided with 1.44 MB disk.
| End characters in P/N | Disk type | Logical format |
| -HSF | 8" 2D 1.2MB | |
| -H2W | 5.25" 2D 320KB | |
| -H4W | 5.25" 2DD 640KB | |
| -HMW | 5.25" 2HD 1.2MB | =8" 2D |
| -HU | 3.5" 2DD 640KB | =5.25" 2DD |
| -HV | 3.5" 2HD 1.2MB | =8" 2D |
| -5* | 5.25" 2HD 1.2MB | =8" 2D |
| -3* | 3.5" 2HD 1.2MB | =8" 2D |
Details
Ver.1.25
Microsoft provided this version without Japanese language support, so each manufacturers added their own Japanese writing system. At that time, it seemed the CP/M was popular than the MS-DOS, so the first version of MS-DOS for PC98 was shipped out on July 28, 1983, after the CP/M-86 released in 1982. Note that Microsoft Japan didn't sell MS-DOS directly to end users except MS-DOS 6.2/V Upgrade for IBM compatible machines released in 1993. Microsoft had only supplied OEM adaptation kits (OAKs) for PC manufacturers.
Ver.2.0 (Internal version: 2.11)
The original MS-DOS had been updated with much improvements, eg: Directory, Device Driver, Customization with CONFIG.SYS, Disk Volume ID, Filter, Pipe and Escape Sequence. Also, MS-DOS with Japanese language support was provided by Microsoft. First, it was shipped for Toshiba PASOPIA16 in the early 1983. The PC98 port supported the Idiom Kanji Convertion (sold separately) and two 20 MB SASI hard drives. Microsoft (At that time, ASCII Corporation in Japan) allowed software companies to bundle the MS-DOS 2.0 (Internal version was 2.11) without license fee. This campaign ended in 1987. For example, early versions of Ichitaro and Lotus 1-2-3 used it. I heard MS-DOS 2.01 was the first official version came with Japanese language support. It was combined with MS-DOS 2.1, then it was released as an international version MS-DOS 2.11.
Ver.3.1
This version has some minor versions with the same name and/or product numbers. It supported Extended Format (拡張フォーマット, a partition management table for hard drives) which could have 4 bootable partitions and up to 8 (256 bytes per sector) or 16 (512 bytes per sector) partitions. The traditional format was called Standard Format (標準フォーマット) which supported a hard drive up to 20MB and single-booting. MASM (Microsoft Assembler) was removed because Microsoft wanted to sell it as a standalone product. The Application Runtime Set (PS98-012, etc.) is a low-cost version of MS-DOS which included a brief manual. However, it didn't sell well because many popular softwares bundled a subset of MS-DOS 2.11. It was old version at that time, but many users didn't need newer versions because they didn't use a hard drive which was an expensive option at that time. The early version had a serious bug which corrupt data on the hard drive. Another minor bug, EDLIN's bug, became infamous because NEC had a bad response for its users. See EDLIN - Wikipedia (ja).
Ver.3.1 (PS98-011)
MS-DOS for the High-resolution mode (ハイレゾリューションモード) had been combined. The High-resolution mode / machine has a 768KB conventional memory, 1120 x 750 monitor and different video system. Its BIOS and I/O are partly compatible with normal PC98. It was supported by a few models such as PC-98XA, XL, XL2 and PC-H98 series. They were mostly used for CAD systems.
Ver.3.3 (Internal version: 3.21)
A prefix (A, B, C...) was appended to the name when it had been updated. This version supports the SCSI interface (PC-9801-55: SCSI I/F board), up to 2 SASI and 4 SCSI hard drives. A partition size is up to 128MB, but some old applications cannot handle it. EMS memory driver (EMM.SYS) is added but it cannot work with third party's board, only for NEC proprietary EMS board (PC-9801-53). This version is a variant of Japanese MS-DOS 3.21, although it displays Version 3.30. You can see it in MSDOS.SYS. From this version, NEC intended to prevent Epson's PC98 clones from booting NEC's MS-DOS. This protection was commonly called "EPSON protect" or "EPSON check". Epson againsted it, and they released "SIP; Software Install Program" (ソフトウェアインストールプログラム) to remove the protection. A freeware is also available. See DISPELL - Vector.
Ver.3.3A
In the previous version, the EMS page frame address was set at B0000-BFFFFh to avoid conflicting with other ROM boards (especially PC-9801-26K Sound Board). But, third parties complained that it was different from the industrial standard using C0000-CFFFFh. So, this version added use of this address.
Ver.3.3C
Since cost of hard drives and MS-DOS had been reduced, MS-DOS was sold well from this version.
Ver.4.0
Version 4.0 had never been released for PC98 because the original MS-DOS had much memory consumption and unstable. A few Japanese manufacturers supplied it for their machines, Epson's PC-286/386 ('98 compatible machines') and IBM Japan's PS/55.
Ver.5.0 / 5.0A
Many improvements, various extended memory support, XMA, HMA and UMB. A partition size is up to 128 MB with Ver.3.3, going up to 2 GB with this version. It bundled a screen editor (SEDIT command) instead of QBASIC and EDIT.
Ver.5.0A-H
There is no retail version. It came with the PC-9821 series, pre-installed in its hard drive. It supports 3.5" 2HD PC/AT (1.44 MB) floppy, extended memory more than 15 MB, 19.2 Kbps serial communication, libraries for sound/graphic functions and virtual floppy drive. This version had been installed into many models, but now its difficult to get it because most machines lost their recovery media or data.
Ver.6.2
The last version of MS-DOS for PC98 was shipped out in December 1994, one year after the Japanese MS-DOS 6.2/V was. It added some utilities, Memmaker, Fast serial port file transfer, Scandisk, Defrag and Drive compression tool, and bundled drivers and libraries for CD-ROM, sound board (AVSDRV.SYS) and 256 colors(AVGDRV.SYS), no EPSON protect, and required 80386SX and 1.6 MB of RAM. You can download an update patch for MS-DOS 6.2 from NEC.
The last operating system for PC98 released from Microsoft/NEC is Windows 2000. FreeBSD for PC98 had been maintained by its community until version 8.x.
Comparison of MS-DOS versions
Supported hardware
| Version | 1.25 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 3.3/3.3A | 3.3B | 3.3C | 3.3D | 5.0 | 5.0A | 6.2 | Win95 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setup disk | 8" 2D, 5" 2D | +5" 2DD | 8" 2D, 5" 2DD/2HD, 3.5" 2DD/2HD | 5" 2HD, 3.5" 2HD | +CD-ROM | ||||||
| Supported CPU | <5MHz | <10MHz | <16MHz | <80386 20MHz | - | (>80286) | >386SX | >486SX | |||
| Minimum memory | 128KB | 256KB | 384KB | 640KB | 1.6MB | 8MB | |||||
| Hard drive interface | SASI(*1) | SASI(IDE)(*2) | +SCSI | IDE, SCSI | |||||||
| Drive size max | ? | 20MB | 40MB | 130MB | 300MB | 2GB(*2) | ? | ||||
| Partition size max | ? | 20MB | 32MB | 128MB | 2GB(*3) | ||||||
| Hard drive format | ? | FAT12 | +FAT16 | +VFAT | |||||||
| Floppy drive | 320KB, 1MB | +640KB | 640KB, 720KB, 1MB | +1.44MB | |||||||
| MO drive | n/a | Optional | + 5" MO | + 3.5" MO(<540MB) | 3.5" MO | ||||||
| CD-ROM(MSCDEX) | n/a | Optional | Included | ||||||||
| Mouse driver | n/a | Optional | Included | ||||||||
(*1) PS98-111-HSF only.
(*2) To format a hard drive larger than 1 GB, Format version 5.50 or above is required.
(*3) On-board hard disk interface has the size barriers (544MB, 4.56GB, 8.46GB) by BIOS limitations.
(*4) A partition size on an MO disc is up to 64MB in MS-DOS 3.3x.
Supported floppy disk types
| Media type | DOS Version | 1.25 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 5.0 | 5.0A-H | 6.2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8" 1S | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F |
| 8" 2D / 5.25" 2HD/ 3.5" 2HD | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F |
| 5.25" 2D | R/W/F | R/W/F | R | R | R | R | R |
| 5.25" / 3.5" 2DD 640KB | X | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F |
| 5.25" 2HC (*1) | X | R/W | R/W | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F |
| 3.5" 2DD 720KB | X | X | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F | R/W/F |
| 3.5" 2HD 1.44MB (*2) | X | X | X | X | X | R/W/F | R/W/F |
(*1) Use "FORMAT /5" undocumented command to format a 5.25" 2HC floppy disk.
(*2) Require PC-9821 series.
Supported MS-DOS utilities/drivers
| Version | 1.25 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 3.3/3.3A | 3.3B | 3.3C | 3.3D | 5.0 | 5.0A | 6.2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extended memory | n/a | RAM disk | +EMS | +EMM386 | +XMS, HMA, UMB | |||||||
| CD-ROM(MSCDEX) | n/a | Optional | Included | |||||||||
| RSDRV.SYS | n/a | (Included in IO.SYS) | Included | |||||||||
| PRINT.SYS | n/a | (Included in IO.SYS) | Included | |||||||||
| RAMDISK.SYS | n/a | Included | ||||||||||
| GRAPH.SYS | n/a | Included | ||||||||||
| FONT.SYS | n/a | Included | ||||||||||
| SMARTDRV | n/a | (Included in MS-Windows) | Included | |||||||||
| MASM | Included | Optional | ||||||||||
| Text editor | EDLIN | SEDIT | +EDLIN | |||||||||
| Text shell/menu | n/a | MENU | +DOSSHELL | |||||||||
| N88/MS-DOS Fileconv | n/a | Optional | Included | |||||||||
MS-DOS for EPSON PC series
Epson sold PC98 clones called "EPSON PC series" from 1987 to 1995, and released MS-DOS for its machines. Epson's MS-DOS could be run on both Epson and NEC machines.
| Ver. | Date(Y/M) | Notable changes |
| 2.11 | 1988/6 | Supported ESC/P printer, extended formatted HD (<40MB), LINK command (no MASM) |
| 3.1 | 1988/12 | Added ADDDRV, DELDRV, FILECONV, MENU and SETUP command. |
| 4.01 | 1990/2 | Supported large HD (<2GB), SCSI, High-res mode, EMS / graphics / font library driver. |
| 3.3 | 1992/2 | BATKEY and COLOR command, virus scan / boot logo, start-up config utility. |
| 5.0 | 1992/2 | Supported HMA/UMB, DOS shell, UNDELETE, UNFORMAT, SMARTDRV. |
| 6.2 | 1995 | Supported 1.44MB floppy. Undelete and Backup utility for Windows 3.1. |
References
- DOS/Vの歴史 ? IBM5550からWin95まで (The history of DOS/V - From IBM5550 to DOS/V) http://radioc.web.fc2.com/column/dosvhist.html
- 「Unix風の機能を持ち込んだ日本語MS-DOS2.0の機能と内部構造 (Features and internal structures of Japanese MS-DOS 2.0 which adopted Unix-like functions」『日経エレクトロニクス (Nikkei Electronics)』 1983/12/19, pp.165-190, ISSN 0385-1680
- 「トピック・レポート：混乱するMS-DOS―こんなにあるバージョン (Topic Report: MS-DOS is in confusion - Various versions)」『日経パソコン (Nikkei PC)』 1988/12/05, pp.183-188, ISSN 0287-9506
- 「トピック・レポート：機能不足が表面化、老兵「MS-DOS2.11」(Topic Report: Poor capabilities surfaced, a veteran MS-DOS 2.11)」『日経パソコン (Nikkei PC)』 1991/01/21, pp.178-182, ISSN 0287-9506
- 河西 朝雄 (Kawanishi, Asao)『MS-DOS Ver.5.0 オペレーティングハンドブック (MS-DOS Ver.5.0 Operating Handbook』, 1992, ISBN 4-87408-532-6
Update : 2018/10/02