Desktop2 graphical shell for MS-DOS

That time has long passed, and only now, while studying various materials on the Internet, I came across an interesting graphic shell of those times. It was called Desktop2 and was created by German programmer Felix Ritter in 1998. Details are traditionally under the cut.

Who was the first?

It is quite difficult to understand now which company was the first to adopt a graphical user interface. Some might say it was Xerox, which implemented a GUI in the Xerox Alto computer. Others will say that the trend was set by Apple Lisa. Still others will remember AmigaOS, created for the Amiga PC. Most operating system developers of that time not only borrowed the concept of a graphical interface, but also made their own implementations of individual elements that they spied on competitors.

The first versions of Windows were not operating systems in the usual sense. They can be called shells that significantly expanded the capabilities of MS-DOS. They added a graphical interface and multitasking, took on the functions of managing memory and available input-output interfaces. In addition, it was possible to conveniently work with files, and also run applications created both for DOS and for Windows.

But Microsoft was not the only company that created a graphical interface for MS-DOS. Other developers, seeing the very specific success of Windows 3.XX, tried to create alternative shells. One of them will be discussed today.

Installation

Nowadays we use broadband connections that allow us to download gigabytes of data in a couple of minutes. Or capacious disk drives that are measured in tens of terabytes. In the past, software was often distributed on floppy disks. For example, the MS-DOS 6.22 distribution took up 3 standard 1.44” floppy disks, and Windows 3.11 took up as many as 8 floppy disks. The Desktop2 installer fit on just one floppy disk, taking up less than 800 KB. Not bad for a full-fledged graphical shell with a bunch of programs, which I will tell you about later.

Before running the installer, you need to make sure that your computer has MS-DOS version 3.3 or higher. Plus, you should load the mouse driver in advance. The whole point is that the shell's full potential is revealed when using a mouse, although theoretically you can get by with just a keyboard.

I can advise driver from the resource collection old-dos.ruwhich perfectly detects standard Microsoft mice, as well as those emulated in the same PCem. When all preparations are completed, go to the diskette with the installer and run it using INSTALL.BAT:

Here you are asked to specify the location on the disk where the shell files will be copied. You can check the box and specify a call to the DBD command to start from DOS, so that you do not have to manually call the executable file by its full path. After pressing the button Start copying will begin. Each stage of installation is visualized by separate status bars:

First launch

Immediately after the installation is complete, the installer will automatically launch Desktop2, and we will see the main shell window. The gray one looks especially funny heavy drinker gingerbread man with a red nose:

Desktop2 has two main modes: Program Manager and File Manager. What we see on the screen by default is the Program Manager with a desktop, currently empty. The second mode is File Manager. It allows you to perform many actions on files and directories:

It is felt that the creator of the shell appreciated the advantages of two-panel file managers, like Norton Commander, and did not reinvent the wheel. At the same time, it is clearly indicated that the left panel is the source, and the right one is the receiver. This avoids confusion, instead of the banal Left and Right.

The top panel with buttons is responsible for displaying and selecting elements, changing the active disk. The bottom panel provides control over files and directories. Moreover, using the bottom panel, you can call up additional menus – for example, actions on the disk:

It may seem that the first button View DOS will switch us to console mode, but this is not so. This button only demonstrates what is currently displayed in the DOS console, allowing you to kind of look at it, but by pressing any key you can return to the graphical shell. This is a good option when some error has occurred and you need to look at the output, but do not close the shell.

Utilities and programs

It is also interesting that Desktop2 allows you to see how much space is occupied on a particular disk drive. And also to perform the necessary actions, for example, format or check for errors:

Another unusual item is Freshen. The thing is that all floppy disks lose their magnetic charge over time and there is a risk of losing data. So you could copy the contents to the hard drive and then give the Freshen command, which will rewrite each sector several times and thus “refresh” it, restoring the magnetization. The utility reads each rewritten sector and shows detailed statistics for each of them. Then you can format the floppy disk and write the data again.

In addition, Desktop2 came with a convenient text editor:

Looks pretty good. It also provides advanced editing features such as X-Edit and Prg-Mode. The first allows you to copy and paste text using the left and right mouse buttons, and the second automatically indents lines. There is also the ability to search for text and jump to the desired section of the file by line number.

After closing the editor, I walked away from the computer for a few minutes, and when I returned, I saw the following funny picture:

Screen savers are not so popular now. Previously, during the reign of CRT monitors, such programs were supplied with virtually any operating system with a GUI. To prevent the kinescope from burning out. In Desktop2, the screen was divided into many fragments that were constantly moving and did not allow the screen phosphor to burn out. In addition to the main Puzzle saver, there is another one, which is multi-colored stripes randomly jumping across the screen:

I think I've seen this somewhere before. This screensaver is very similar to Bezier from Windows 95, although much faster and not as impressive:

Then I decided to go into the settings item:

Here you need to pay attention to the color of the OK button. If the author had something to do with Chinese culture, it would be logical. But here is an illustration for any novice UI designer in the style of “how not to do it”.

The settings themselves are quite meager. You can change the mouse pointer speed, the desktop color, select the screen saver, or set the current date/time. In addition, it is possible to set which application (File Manager or Program Manager) will open by default.

Looking at the Exit button again, I felt a sense of déjà vu. I've definitely seen this somewhere. It's as if the author looked at the solitaire card backs in Windows 3.11 and decided to create something similar:

Indeed, why sit in a boring gray world when there is a bright and beautiful world outside the door. But the user's expectations are not met: by pressing this wonderful button, we get back to the MS-DOS console. Here in the installer, we were honestly warned in the picture that upon exiting we would get into DOS. Here – complete cognitive dissonance. It is curious that upon exiting, the system will ask us again whether to save the current state of the desktop.

Let's sum it up

Having thoroughly studied Desktop2, I realized that this shell has many advantages, but also many disadvantages. Firstly, it is just a shell, not a full-fledged operating system. It does not bring anything to work beyond what MS-DOS can do. Yes, it allows you to conveniently manage files, find the necessary information and easily edit some config. It has a bunch of useful utilities that help you quickly format a floppy disk, listen to a music CD or run the desired program by simply clicking the mouse. This is very cool, but on the other hand, Windows 3.11 could do this too.

Secondly, it was originally a commercial product that was planned to be sold. Alas, but Desktop2 never reached this level. With the release of Windows 95, it became clear that DOS's time was rapidly running out. And against the background of its graphical interface, polished by the standards of those years, products like Desktop2 immediately look archaic. This led to the author opening the source code and making it available to anyone who wants it.

Thirdly, the design is clearly not for daily use. I liked the text editor and even the file manager, but let's face it – Norton Commander is somehow more familiar for old computers. This, by the way, led to the fact that I still use Far Manager, which remains the standard for me.

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the author of Desktop2 managed to make his product compact and functional. This was valuable in those years. And now it is an interesting digital artifact in our constantly changing world.

Have you ever worked with such a shell for DOS? Waiting for you in the comments.