CREEPINGNET'S WORLD
FreeDOS is an OpenSource clone of DOS created by Jim Hall and bolstered by various other developers since 1994, when Microsoft declared DOS as "Dead" with the up and coming rise of Windows 95. FreeDOS is an OpenSource, 100% legal, alternative to Microsoft Disk Operating System, and functions much the same, though it has some trade-offs and caveats being an original piece of software for the most part. It should run most, if not all, DOS applications. However, this page covers everything I know about FreeDOS
System Requirements, and Minutia
FreeDOS System Requirements - per CreepingNet are as Follows

PARAM MINIMUM RECCOMMENDED
SYSTEM IBM Personal Computer 5150 (or compatible) INtel 386SX or Faster (for more advanced programs)
CPU 8088/V20 CPU @ 4.77MHz 80386SX-16 CPU or Faster for Better Results
RAM 512K RAM (may run on 256K) 640K Base Memory + 7168K (8MB Total) of RAM for EMS/XMS
HDD 20MB MFM/RLL HDD (minimum install) At least a 8GB or bigger HDD For a Full Install + Storage
MEDIA Floppy Diskette Drive Optical Drive w/ Boot Support (DDO or BIOS)
VIDEO Monochrome (Text Only) SVGA VESA Compliant 1MB or better
SOUND Internal Speaker SoundBlaster Compatible Card
NETWORK not required Ethernet Adapter Card
INTERNET Any Dial-Up Connection Via Modem (if desired) Broadband Internet behind a decent Firewall

FreeDOS will run on actual Hardware, Virtual Machines, and even Modern Hardware, though each one has it's own caveats.

On actual Vintage Hardware, you will need the Legacy Boot CD or Floppy Distribution to install depending on the vintage of your computer. Most computers from the 386 on back will require the Floppy Distribution, while a 386 or better with a Dynamic Drive Overlay on a large Hard Disk - such as OnTrack 9 - can leverage this feature to boot off of the LEGACY CD media to install (the latter is how I do this on my own computers).

On Modern Hardware - bare metal - you can install FreeDOS using a USB Distribution including a LiveUSB that allows you to use it without installing it, and a USB Distribution that will install to your modern PC's hard disk. For FreeDOS, Modern is defined as anything post Pentium II pretty much. It will run on these systems, but the caveat is you might need some more modern specialized utilities to get the best experience, such as the SoundBlaster Driver Utilites found on the VOGONS Forum to ustilize a modern sound card like a vintage SoundBlaster card.

And lastly you can use VirtualBox, or any other Virtual Machine Software, and run FreeDOS in that sort of environment, allowing you to concurrently use it with your modern Linux/MacOS/Windows Operating system without rebooting. This is a very popular option these days to save space, time, and money.

That said, using legacy computers, you might run into problems with some more esoteric systems such as the Tandy 1000, Olivetti/AT&T PC 6300, possibly some WYSE/Amdek systems, or anything that's quite a bit "off" from the standard. For these systems, we suggest using the version of DOS they came with, or MS-DOS 6.22. Mostly this covers older (286 and older) syystems moreso than stuff from the 386SX/DX on up.


Installation Process
The installation process for FreeDOS is quite easy....
FreeDOS Basics

FDIMPLES Software Manifest & Information