[petters]

I did the same! Honestly don't remember how I figured all that stuff out without internet and stack overflow.

Also, my friends would call me and ask for the secret code to start Doom. I'd begin: "cd doom2"....

[Delk]

I can't quite remember how those things were figured out either, but I think it was probably partially word of mouth. Games also had tips for memory configuration in their readme files or manuals. There was also at least one book I had at home that my father had bought that had all kinds of details on the workings of DOS (and PCs of that era in general).

[dwd]

The good old days of floppy disk swapping!

I used to spend a bit of time browsing Computer & Game magazines at the local newsagency and library. I think some of what I picked up came from the likes of PCMag, C+VG and a lot of trial and error.