Setting up FreeDOS with networking and C++ compiler in VMWare

1. Create a new virtual machine (OS: Other, 256 MB RAM (maybe less, but 16 is not enough for Borland C), 200 MB drive).
2. Download ISO http://www.freedos.org/download/download/fd11src.iso, boot the VM from it.
3. Select "Install to harddisk", then press f to enter fdisk. Use it to create a primary partition (probably FAT32ext), then reboot.
4. Now you need to boot from CD again to install the system. To do so, press F2 during the boot screen. If you see the "partition signature != 55AA" error, reboot and try again.
5. Select "Install to harddisk" again, press 1, then agree and press enter until you get to choose the components to install. Make sure to select NET, but better select everything. Now proceed with installation. When asked choose 1 to install the FreeDOS bootloader.
6. Now the system is ready, so let's configure our environment.
   You will need:
   • AMD network driver (http://www.crynwr.com/drivers/amdpd.zip)
   • Borland C++ 3.1
   • wattcp sources (optional, to build networking apps)
   You can either manually collect all the files, or use this ISO: http://dqteam.org/public/dos-tools.iso.
7. Mount your new ISO and boot from hard disk.
8. First, let's configure the network. Unzip amdpd.zip, copy PCNTPK.COM to your system root and edit autoexec.bat. 
   There uncomment the lines:
   • LH PCNTPK INT=0x60
   • DHCP (if you wish to use DHCP, otherwise edit wattcp.cfg)
9. Save and reboot. Now you should have networking running. Try to ping something.
10. Now let's install Borland C++. Just run install.exe from the distribution, select your CD as source and follow instructions (don't forget to change paths appropriately (D -> C), then ignore everything it says about windows).
11. Edit autoexec.bat, find the line with PATH setting, append the path to the Borland binaries to it (like SET PATH=%dosdir%\BIN;C:\BORLANDC\BIN). Try running `bc`, check that it works, configure directories if you need it (Options -> Directories...).
12. Now let's install wattcp sources to build networking-enabled programs. Unzip wat2001b.zip to some directory (like C:\wattcp).
13. Before you use wattcp libraries, you need to rebuild them, since the binaries in distribution are incompatible with FreeDOS. So delete all *.obj and *.lib files in wattcp subdirs and run `make`.
14. Now you may want to add wattcp\include to include paths in bc. Then try to build some networking program (like TCP echo server) to check it works. Some examples and docs come with wattcp. To link a program with a library in bc, you have to create a project, then add there your sources and the library. Select the appropriate lib depending on your memory model from wattcp\lib.
15. That's it. You can also download the resulting vmdk image from http://dqteam.org/public/FreeDOS2.iso.