q. name one 'os' that sucked donkey balls getting a functional tcp/ip stack runnin'

It looked like this:

It was pretty similar to modern Windows but without taskbar or Start menu.
Instead, you had a main window called "program manager" with icons in it to start other programs.
Do you have any specific questions about it?

What is that? I don’t think that’s what I had in mind. I think it’s DESQview I was trying to think of. Anyway, not important.. it was just driving me nuts I could not remember.

I remember OS/2 by IBM which looked like Windows 3.11, and OS/2 Warp which looked like Windows 95. There were probably others.

In those days, DOS was the OS. Windows and DESQview were just window manager apps that ran other apps.

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your question.
And I had literally never heard of any Windows 3 alternatives up to now.

Maybe GeOS/Geoworks?

https://winworldpc.com/product/geos/geoworks-1x

To be fair, I was quite vague. I think there are multiple right answers.. but I recalled one starting w/a 'D' and that’s what I was trying to recall.

Is there a specific screenshot you're thinking of?

No, I figured if I could recall the name I could get a nostalgic fix by searching it. I found this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DESQview

I recall DESQview was much lighter weight and better performing than Windows, but had limitations. I did not recall that the windows were text only within, but that’s starting to fill some holes in my memory.

DOS Shell?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOS_Shell

ViewMAX or GEM. Both from Digital Research.

The first computer my dad bought, back in the late '80s, was mostly a DOS machine that also came with a mouse-driven GUI called GEM.

I don't know if it ran on top of DOS, though. It booted directly from its own set of disks.

DOS Shell was something like that. Not much in the way of functionality, but it was graphical…ish.

You may be thinking of DesqViewX:

https://lunduke.substack.com/p/desqviewx-the-forgotten-mid-1990s

Edit for a little personal anecdote: ran a 2-line (2400, then later 14.4k) WWIV BBS under this on a 386sx in the 90s. What an awesome time that was.

hence the single quotes.. i was just pullin a jeopardy

I thought your question was clear for what it's worth. If it was Windows 3.0 era you're probably looking for ViewMAX (from the same company as DR-DOS, which was an MS-DOS compatible operating system, maybe that's where the 'D' comes from?). I vaguely remember reading (or maybe watching) a good feature about it online a while ago but I can't find it unfortunately.

Digital Research DOS, of my memory is right

Haha

Oh Trumpet something... The hell of getting a stack back then

WinSock Trumpet (yea, that was on Win 3.1)

Correct, yes (I meant the 'D' evenwicht said they recalled it starting with if that wasn't clear, indeed for Digital Research, in fact I had to look up DR-DOS to remember the name ViewMAX).

A great resource when looking for older GUI shells/OS's is Toastytech: http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html

Lots of info and screenshots to browse through there. And if you don't find what you're looking for you might find something else that's interesting :)

You might be talking about the DOS Shell. A pseudo graphical file managerm shipped with DOS.

O, wow, ViewMaxx... I had completely forgotten that.

Sure would like to get a collection of this stuff and run in a VM just for fun.

HP had an internal system just to make a simple GUI in DOS, forget what it was called. Just gave you buttons for a dozen programs.

was it though? I guess it depend on having a mouse, a second floppy drive and a printer. You could thus use it as a desktop publishing platform, or spreadsheet calculator.

Oh, wow… Packard Bell Navigator…