Intro to DOS

D.O.S is an acronym for “Disk Operating System” which was the earlier form of an operating system implemented in computers preceding the current Windows operating system. Each operating system contains its own specific “dials and buttons” to allow the end user to use the computer in an effective way therefore it provides the end user with a command interface. Interfaces are representations of the point of interaction where 2 systems-the computer and the end user meet and communicate.
DOS uses a command line interface since one needs to type the command and it gets interpreted and carried out by the DOS program command.com( com stands for command) or cmd.exe(exe stands for executable) both of which contain the internal commands, but more on that later. DOS is still inside the current computers of today but in order to bring it up on the screen you need to hit the Start button, click on run and type in “cmd” (minus the quotations). Two other ways to bring up the DOS window are by hitting the start button, click on run and type in “Command” (sans quotes) or by clicking on the DOS icon on the desktop.

Once you bring up the DOS in Windows XP you will see a black screen and this is where you type in the commands (hence command line interface) for the computer to follow out. Every time you type in a DOS command, always type it without quotations. To see the files and folders in DOS type “dir” and press “Enter” on the keyboard. It then carries out the command and gives you all the files and folders on the black screen for that particular drive. The name, time, size and date that each file was created is displayed. To set the time of the computer in the DOS screen type in “time” after the drive C:\\ and hit Enter on your keyboard. To see the date type “date” and press Enter.