Thank you cr0sh and justjed. I am downloading the ubuntu live cd. I will give it a try and if I can bare with it I will install it in a box.
My favorite IDE was the turbo C. It is simple and good. I remember you can call up help on any functions or statement you write. Maybe it also included dos and bios interrupt helps but I don't know. I liked turbo assembly or TAMS too but it most certainly doesn't do rep movsd correctly in 386 protected mode. No dos compilers did it correctly anyway. I learned BASIC a long time ago and can still read and write in it a little bit when it comes to programming excel or other M$ office tasks for processing grades and lecture simulations. It's not my favorite. My favorite is still C. Yes, I remember QB for dos and I used it quite a bit before finally switched to C.
OK, now the live cd is downloaded. Time to burn it and try!