<s>
A	O
self-booting	O
disk	O
is	O
a	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
for	O
home	O
computers	O
that	O
loads	O
—	O
or	O
boots	B-Operating_System
—	O
directly	O
into	O
a	O
standalone	O
application	O
when	O
the	O
system	O
is	O
turned	O
on	O
,	O
bypassing	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
PC	O
booter	O
"	O
is	O
sometimes	O
used	O
in	O
reference	O
to	O
self-booting	O
software	O
for	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
compatibles	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
other	O
computers	O
,	O
like	O
the	O
Apple	B-Device
II	I-Device
and	O
Atari	B-Device
8-bit	I-Device
family	I-Device
,	O
almost	O
all	O
software	O
is	O
self-booting	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
,	O
the	O
distinction	O
is	O
between	O
self-booting	O
software	O
and	O
that	O
which	O
uses	O
MS-DOS-compatible	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
PC	O
booter	O
"	O
was	O
not	O
contemporary	O
to	O
when	O
self-booting	O
games	O
were	O
being	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Between	O
1983	O
and	O
1984	O
,	O
Digital	O
Research	O
offered	O
several	O
of	O
their	O
business	O
and	O
educational	O
applications	O
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
on	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
floppy	I-Operating_System
diskettes	B-Device
bundled	O
with	O
SpeedStart	B-Operating_System
CP/M	B-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
reduced	O
version	O
of	O
CP/M	B-Operating_System
-86	I-Operating_System
as	O
a	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
runtime	B-Device
environment	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Infocom	O
offered	O
the	O
only	O
third-party	O
games	O
for	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
at	O
launch	O
by	O
distributing	O
them	O
with	O
its	O
own	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
scaled	O
down	O
version	O
of	O
GeoWorks	B-Application
was	O
used	O
by	O
America	O
Online	O
for	O
their	O
AOL	O
client	O
software	O
until	O
the	O
late	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AOL	O
was	O
distributed	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
3.5-inch	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
,	O
which	O
could	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
boot	B-Operating_System
GeoWorks	B-Application
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1998	O
,	O
Caldera	O
distributed	O
a	O
demo	O
version	O
of	O
their	O
32-bit	O
DPMI	O
web-browser	O
and	O
mail	O
client	O
DR-WebSpyder	B-Application
on	O
a	O
bootable	B-Operating_System
fully	O
self-contained	O
3.5-inch	O
floppy	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
386	O
PCs	O
with	O
a	O
minimum	O
of	O
4MB	O
of	O
RAM	O
,	O
the	O
floppy	B-Device
would	O
boot	B-Operating_System
a	O
minimal	O
DR-DOS	O
7.02	O
system	O
complete	O
with	O
memory	O
manager	O
,	O
RAM	B-Application
disk	I-Application
,	O
dial-up	O
modem	O
,	O
LAN	O
,	O
mouse	O
and	O
display	O
drivers	O
and	O
automatically	O
launch	O
into	O
the	O
graphical	O
browser	O
,	O
without	O
ever	O
touching	O
the	O
machine	O
's	O
hard	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
