What do you still remember or use from the DOS days?

The best part was how quickly you could get around once the commands became second nature. A dual-pane file manager was a nice middle ground too: keyboard-driven, but easier to scan than a long directory listing. Modern file managers still borrow that basic idea.

Batch files were the fun bit for me. Even a small script that set up paths or launched a program saved a lot of repetitive typing. AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS also made startup feel less mysterious, since you could see what was being loaded.

If you want to revisit the old workflow, try a DOS environment or a compatible system in a virtual machine rather than trying to make a modern shell behave exactly like DOS. The commands and file model are different, and aliases can be handy but may surprise you if they hide what the underlying command actually does.

Some of the command names stuck around in people’s muscle memory, but not every old command has a direct modern equivalent. For example, file comparison tools exist on current systems, though their options and output differ from DOS utilities. It’s worth checking what a command does before assuming an alias is a drop-in replacement.

There’s a lot of nostalgia in the keyboard-first feel, but I don’t think everyone needs to recreate it. If you’re borrowing ideas for a current shell, keep aliases simple and be cautious with anything that deletes or overwrites files. An interactive prompt is useful, but it isn’t a substitute for backups.