Jim Hall，FreeDOS的发起人，著名程序员。FreeDOS Project coordinator, 1994-2009
7月4日消息，MS-DOS的开源版本FreeDOS在月底即将正式发布1.0版。FreeDOS的发起人Jim Hall坦言项目的进展略显迟缓，但远未到放弃的地步。之前曾有传闻这项工程一度夭折。 FreeDOS项目始自1994年，时逢微软集团公司公司正式发布Windows 95并停止支持MS-DOS。Jim Hall于那时开端投入这项开源操作系统的务工。FreeDOS基于GNU GPL规则，因此程式员们完全可 以为其开发新热门软件，而不必依赖MS-DOS。 FreeDOS.org互联网一度门可罗雀，Jim Hall于是将互联网指向了SourceForge的效劳器，并诙谐表明FreeDOS寿终正寝。随后他收到了许多邮件，问询项目终结的缘由。这时Jim Hall立刻恢复了原有的页面，但是FreeDOS死掉的消息已经流传开来。 虽然开发大家之间存在不相同意见的争执，但Jim Hall目前信心十足，他表明FreeDOS 1.0将如期正式发布。 DOS的前世今生 DOS是Disk Operation System(磁盘操作系统)的简称，为1985-1995年个体电脑上应用的主要操作系统。早期的DOS操作系统由微软集团公司公司为IBM PC开发，称为MS-DOS。1981年MS-DOS 1.0发行，与IBM PC捆绑发售，微软集团公司公司也从DOS开端发迹。Windows 9x/Me操作系统即基于DOS(新浪科技注：Windows NT基于OS/2)，MS-DOS的很高版本是8.0。 Windows 95的正式发布使个体电脑迎来了新时代，但是DOS并未从此沉寂。许多程式员出于对Windows的不满以及对DOS价值与潜力的深刻认识，继续开发DOS热门软件。由于在DOS时代的程式员大多都是些水平很高的人操作系统底层中断和汇编/C语句语言的水平很高的人，有着丰富的开发亲身历程和编程功底，因此她们开发出的DOS热门软件质量也相当高。为了开发更多的热门软件并且渐增开发效率，她们设计了诸多DOS热门软件的开发道具，DOS在继续向前进展。 仍在不断进展和更新中的DOS有FreeDOS、PTS-DOS、ROM-DOS等，这一部份DOS的功能都十分强大，往往超过MS-DOS。而且由于Allegro等编程库的呈现，在DOS下呈现MP3等音乐的播放已是轻而易举。为了挑战Windows的界面，程式员们开发了许多仿Windows的界面增强程式，著名的有Seal，Qube，WinDOS等等。还有内核为32位的DOS操作系统，如FreeDOS 32。DOS下已经能够直接读取U盘，支持多任务、长文档名，能够上网，DVD-ROM、鼠标、网络游戏摇杆等设备的支持也不在话下。
简介编辑本段回目录
Jim Hall is a computer programmer and advocate of free software, best known for his work on FreeDOS. Hall began writing the free replacement for the MS-DOS operating system in 1994 when he was still a physics student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He remains active with FreeDOS, and is currently the coordinator for the project.
Hall has said he created FreeDOS in response to Microsoft announcing end of support for MS-DOS in 1994, a year before Windows 95 was released. As a user and fan of MS-DOS, Hall did not want the functionality of DOS to go away. Prompted by a March 31, 1994 post on comp.os.msdos.misc asking if "anyone, for example GNU et al. ever considered writing a Public Domain DOS", Hall decided to garner support for a free version of DOS, written under a free or public domain model. In a June 29, 1994 post, Hall announced an effort to create a free DOS, called PD-DOS, writing:
A few months ago, I posted articles relating to starting a public domain version of DOS. The general support for this at the time was strong, and many people agreed with the statement, "start writing!" So, I have...
Announcing the first effort to produce a PD-DOS. I have written up a "manifest" describing the goals of such a project and an outline of the work, as well as a "task list" that shows exactly what needs to be written. I'll post those here, and let discussion follow.
If you are thinking about developing, or have ideas or suggestions for PD-DOS, I would appreciate direct email to me. If you just want to discuss the merits or morals of writing a PD-DOS, I'll leave that to the net. I'll check in from time to time to see how the discussion is going, and maybe contribute a little to what promises to be a very polarized debate! :->
I am excited about PD-DOS, and I am hoping I can get a group started!
Within a few weeks, other programmers including Pat Villani and Tim Norman joined the project. A kernel, the COMMAND.COM command line interpreter (shell) and core utilities were created by pooling code they had written or found available. Hall wrote over a dozen of the first DOS utilities for the project, mostly file and batch utilities. In a July 26, 1994 post, Hall announced the PD-DOS project had been renamed to "Free-DOS", having updated the project's goals to intend to distribute source code under the GNU General Public License. The project would later be renamed "FreeDOS", without the hyphen, after the publication of FreeDOS Kernel, by Pat Villani. Hall was the project's release coordinator from Beta1 until about Beta7, and also released the first alpha distribution of Free-DOS, as announced in a post on comp.os.msdos.misc.
Hall is also the original developer of GNU Robots, but he is no longer active on this project and has since handed maintainership over to Tim Northover. It is now being developed by Bradley Smith.
2006年：DOS未死 FreeDOS月底推出1.0版编辑本段回目录
尽管有传言说开源项目FreeDOS已经终止，但本月底我们就可以看到这个开源版MS-DOS的1.0版本了。项目发起人、著名程序员Jim Hall承认项目的进展有些缓慢，但远未到放弃的地步。
FreeDOS工程建立于Windows 95宣布、MS-DOS停止开发的1994年，由Jim Hall发起，目标是建立一个完整、自由、开放、与MS-DOS完全兼容的新型DOS操作系统，是著名的GNU GPL协议的自由软件，因此很快得到了众多使用者和程序开发者的响应和支持，一直在不断发展着。
随着FreeDOS.org网站的日渐门庭冷落，Hall将其指向了开源计划站SourceForge的服务器，然后贴了个玩笑说FreeDOS项目已经死了，但Hall随后收到了很多信件，询问他为什么要结束这个项目，因此Hall立即恢复了网站，只是传言已经散播了开来。
Hall表示，该项目最近的迟缓主要源于开发人员之间不同意见引起的一些争议，不过现在的Jim Hall信心十足，保证在本月底拿出FreeDOS 1.0，同时正在深入考虑32位核心的FreeDOS 32。
FreeDOS工程建立于Windows 95宣布、MS-DOS停止开发的1994年，由Jim Hall发起，目标是建立一个完整、自由、开放、与MS-DOS完全兼容的新型DOS操作系统，是著名的GNU GPL协议的自由软件，因此很快得到了众多使用者和程序开发者的响应和支持，一直在不断发展着。
随着FreeDOS.org网站的日渐门庭冷落，Hall将其指向了开源计划站SourceForge的服务器，然后贴了个玩笑说FreeDOS项目已经死了，但Hall随后收到了很多信件，询问他为什么要结束这个项目，因此Hall立即恢复了网站，只是传言已经散播了开来。
Hall表示，该项目最近的迟缓主要源于开发人员之间不同意见引起的一些争议，不过现在的Jim Hall信心十足，保证在本月底拿出FreeDOS 1.0，同时正在深入考虑32位核心的FreeDOS 32。
DOS开源版本月底正式发布 精品操作系统再出江湖编辑本段回目录
相关链接编辑本段回目录
参考文献编辑本段回目录
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hall_(programmer)
http://www.enet.com.cn/article/2006/0705/A20060705124986.shtml
http://www.huinu.com/viewnews-17116.html
http://www.enet.com.cn/article/2006/0705/A20060705124986.shtml
http://www.huinu.com/viewnews-17116.html
