For text-based interfaces, see the Menus and the Operating Sytems / Shells pages.

This page is devoted to free Graphical User Interfaces for DOS, all of them open source, released under GNU General Public License. Because custom applications must be coded specifically for these GUIs, their long term success or failure seems to depend partly on the level of interest that they generate within the programming community. Many free DOS GUIs have been initiated, but none seem to have garnered significant long-term attention.

Of course, not all "desktops" require use of a VGA mode environment – two of the most stable and polished "integrated shells" available are text mode programs: Connect and DOS Navigator.

GEM, formerly a commercial product (c. 1984-89), is best suited to low resource PCs. Several productivity applications were written for GEM during its commercial years; some independent development continues (e.g., FreeGEM).

Desktop 2 is a polished shell with a few accessories, an editor, good file manager, and an icon/folder-based program manager.

SEAL is a 32-bit GUI project. A few media (sound) applications are available for SEAL, as are a multi-format image viewer, a simple text editor, file manager, and HTML viewer. SEAL is still in development, not yet a finished, bug-free program, but it does merit attention.

SWORD (System of Windows for the Organization of the Desktop), in development since 1993, is a C/C++ code library that can be used to build interfaces for DOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux and Solaris.

GEM — GUI desktop for low resource PCs.

unrated

[added 2000-02-19, updated 2005-09-24]

GEM experienced its zenith during the mid to late 1980s ('85-'89). It is undergoing some additional development in the hands of independent programmers (e.g., FreeGEM). GEM remains a good choice for low resource PCs running DOS. The GEM desktop allows only one GEM application to run at a time, but the included desktop accessories (clock, calculator, print spooler) can be placed and moved on the desktop when a primary application is running. GEM supports CGA, EGA, and VGA video adapters (max 16 colors).

For a simple-to-install 1.3MB FreeGEM distribution which includes many of the latest enhancements to GEM by FreeGEM developers, see Owen Rudge's GEM Workshop (Here's a desktop screenshot of Owen's FreeGEM v1.2).

Shane Land has another set of GEMs: OpenGEM Release 4, the tiny GEMini file commander, and the new Project Liberation with a redesigned interface, new functions, and backward compatibility with older versions.

Various tweaks to the GEM desktop and other new features can be found at Ben Jemmett's site, Gem.

Applications: Several old applications for GEM (word processor, bitmap painter, vector drawing app, desktop publisher) are available at Christian Chech's Gem page.

Other active GEM projects & newer applications are listed on the FreeGEM webring.

Suggested by Max Geller.

Desktop2 — GUI desktop shell with program and file managers, text editor, more.

unrated

[added 1998-10-25, updated 2004-07-31]

Desktop2 represents a fairly complete VGA desktop shell that should be attractive to GUI enthusiasts. It is essentially a spruced-up file manager with a nice front-end menu. Overall impression: easy to set up; and well designed for its intended GUI audience. Includes hierarchical folder / icon-based program manager, well designed dual pane file manager, integrated text viewer and editor, file & text finder, calculator, alarm, cd player, and more. DSK2 doesn't support multitasking or task switching. I've encountered some erratic mouse behavior using certain dialog boxes. Not Win9x ready. Full manual (ps format) is available in German only.

Minimum requirements: 80286, DOS3.3, VGA, 640K mem (but 2MB recommended), mouse. Installed files require about 1.6MB.

640X480 screenshot of Desktop2's file manager on a 386 grayscale VGA laptop.

Author: Felix Ritter, Germany (1998).

Get more info & source code (Borland C++, TASM) at the Desktop2 page.

SEAL — 32-bit GUI for 386+ / VGA; Win9x LFN support.

unrated

[added 2000-02-20, updated 2005-12-08]

SEAL is a 32-bit project that is still in development, placed here for the programmer as much as the end-user. Unlike some abandoned GUI projects, SEAL already has a selection of applications under development: A dual panel file manager, sound players for CD, MP3, MIDI/MOD, and WAV, an HTML viewer, a simple text editor, and a multi-format image viewer. Currently supports partial multitasking and task switching. Minimum requirements: 80486 CPU, 8MB RAM, 1.6MB disk space, any DOS 3.0+, VGA, DPMI provider (supplied by the OS or by CWSDPMI). Programmers are needed for this project. The future: Transformation into XSeal, which will be the underlying system for several different graphical interfaces.

Important installation note: Before running SEAL you must edit the SEAL.INI file [path] section to indicate the path of SEAL.

Maintainer: Kostas Michalopoulos (2003). Suggested by Florian Xaver.

2003-05-19: Test version 2.12-unofficial released. Earlier v2.00.11 also remains available (see below).

Download SEAL212.ZIP (5.1MB).

Go to the SEAL Home Page for v2.00.11, other programs and info, and to the mailing list for even more info.

SEAL, XSeal and support utils are also available at the XSeal files page.

SWORD — GUI for most DOSes, on high-power machines.

unrated

[added 2005-12-08]

SWORD, the System of Windows for the Organization of the Desktop, provides a Unix/NeXT-style GUI, based on object hierarchies. Originally for MS-DOS, versions 2.10 and 2.11 can be considered finished products, in the sense that they are stable and the download packages contain all of the main and support files needed to run them. Version 2.30 is a major extension, still in development and currently available for testing. It incorporates new graphics libraries, and is designed for compatibility with FreeDOS, with Enhanced DR-DOS, and even with WinXP. Minimum hardware requirements: 80486, 4MB RAM, 9MB HD space. Recommended hardware: Pentium 90MHz+, 16MB+ RAM, 20MB HD space for real work.

• Resizeable windows
• Dialog boxes
• Button, process bar, lift, scrollbar etc.
• Screen saver
• Image viewer
• Menus
• Event management
• EGA/VGA/VESA graphics

Authors: Base code by Eric Nicolas, France (1993-96). Latest extensions and compilations by Florian Xaver, Germany (2005).

Go to Florian Xaver's DOS SWORD for news and screenshots.

Go to Eric Nicolas's Sword Home Page for background info and docs.

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©1994-2004, Richard L. Green.
This Edition ©2004-2005, Richard L. Green and Short.Stop.