Is it possible to have multiple users on FreeDOS? For remote terminal use

Question

Is there a way to support multiple users on FreeDos?

I'm asking because I have an old application in clipper that runs on MS-DOS and I'd like to make it available over my LAN so that users could "ssh" into the FreeDos "server" box and use the application.

Currently the server box is running Windows Server 2003 but I'd like to get away from Windows as the costs of CALs for Terminal Services are quite steep for my number of users.

double-dos exists; but I can't find a usable ssh server. Not sure why this got downvotes. I can't solve it because of the lack of ssh server. — joshudson, Jun 10 '23 at 17:51

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 22 '14 at 20:00

Just run many virtual machines with FreeDOS - one for each user - for example on Linux.

I suppose you don't need more than a couple of megabytes of RAM on each virtual machine. On a server with say 32GB of RAM you'll be able to serve hundreds of them simultaneously.

You can set it that user will connect to his dedicated virtual machine using his dedicated TCP port number using any VNC client.

You could even set it up so it will start a VM while connecting and shut it down on disconnect. But it would be somewhat more complicated.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 29 '15 at 03:08

1

I run remotely Clipper apps over dosemu in linux ok. Users run dosemu via ssh.

answered Jun 29 '15 at 03:08

user296675

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I think your answer is okay, but it would be better if you wrote more. – peterh Jun 29 '15 at 05:16

Is it possible to have multiple users on FreeDOS? For remote terminal use

2 Answers2