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Information about “4DOS”
4DOS is designed to make DOS more powerful and easier to use by
replacing your COMMAND.COM file with a new command interpreter. You'll
find 4DOS provides a wide variety of capabilities that regular
COMMAND.COM can't -- like an enhanced DIR command, point-and-shoot file
selection for any command, or the ability to completely redefine your
system's commands. It provides enhancements to most of the DOS commands
and introduces more than 40 new commands. Yet 4DOS is fully compatible
with COMMAND.COM. You'll wonder how you ever got along with DOS alone.
It is compatible with virtually all pc hardware and software, including
most networks and most TSR (memory resident) programs. It requires less
than 3K of RAM while applications are running (less than COMMAND.COM).
4DOS is a "DOS shell" but is unlike most DOS shells on the market. It
doesn't isolate you from the DOS command line; it makes you more
productive while working at the command line. If you're tired of the
limitations of DOS, you'll love 4DOS.
COMPAT.DOC
4DOS Compatibility Documentation
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by
J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617)
646-3975.
This file provides information on compatibility between 4DOS and a
variety of other software products. It is intended for use whenever you
have a question about using another product with 4DOS, or suspect a
compatibility problem.
Inclusion of a product in this file does NOT mean there are compatibili-
ty problems with it! It only indicates that we have some information
that may be useful to you when you use the product with 4DOS.
Sections added or significantly changed in version 3.02 of 4DOS are
identified with a "3.02" in the left margin. If this mark appears on
the first paragraph of a section, assume the whole section has been
changed. Otherwise the mark applies only to the paragraph it's next to.
This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and
page footers. It can be printed properly on most PC printers using the
command:
copy compat.doc prn
Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work
due to the formatting included in the file.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 1
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Causes of Compatibility Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Multi-Way Software Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Running 4DOS along with COMMAND.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Executing DOS Commands via Interrupt 2E . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4DOS and Multitasking / Task Switching Programs . . . . . . . . 7
CAUTION: Multitaskers and Disk Swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Swapping to RAM Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Loading 4DOS High with /U or /E:nnnnU . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4DOS and Command Line Editing Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4DOS and TSR (Memory-Resident) Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Information on Specific Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MS-DOS APPEND Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
MS-DOS DATE and TIME Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
MS-DOS FASTOPEN Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
MS-DOS 4.0+ FORMAT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
MS-DOS 4.0+ SELECT Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1DIR+ (Bourbaki) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3+Open Network (3COM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
AllCharge Card (All Computers Inc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ANSI.SYS (various manufacturers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Btrieve (Novell) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CED and PCED (Cove Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CheckFree (CheckFree Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
DESQView (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
DESQView DOS Services (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
DoubleDOS (SoftLogic Solutions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
DR-DOS (Digital Research) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Epsilon (Lugaru Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Headroom (Helix Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
HIMEM.SYS (Microsoft) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Hot Line (General Information Inc.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
MOVE-EM (Qualitas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Netware (Novell) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
OmniMouse Software Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
PC Tools (Central Point Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
QEMM and QRAM (Quarterdeck) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
QuickCache II (Glassel and Associates) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Software Carousel (SoftLogic Solutions) . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Telix Communications Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
TSRCOM Utilities (TurboPower Software) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
UltraVision (Personics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Ventura Publisher (Xerox) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
VP/ix with Sun/OS (Sun Microsystems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
VTSR (Golden Bow Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Windows 3.0 (Microsoft) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
WordPerfect 5.1 (WordPerfect Corp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 2
Introduction
------------
We have made every effort to insure that this file is as accurate and up
to date as possible. Our information is based on our own investiga-
tions, technical support calls, conversations with manufacturers of
other products, and reports from our beta testers. Unfortunately, test-
ing for software compatibility is not always reliable. Varying condi-
tions between systems or between software releases can easily invalidate
the results of previous tests. Therefore we cannot guarantee that every
item in this file is accurate for all systems or will remain accurate
over time; you may have to do your own testing to determine what works
well on your system with the software you own.
In some cases we may have found that upgrading another manufacturer's
software to a newer release helps with a particular problem. Unfortu-
nately we cannot guarantee that it will always do so on your system, for
the reasons described above.
If you have a compatibility problem, the first thing you should do is
read through Appendix D of the 4DOS manual ("Troubleshooting and Tips").
Appendix D gives general suggestions for solving compatibility problems,
and should always be used along with this file when attempting to solve
such a problem.
If the information in Appendix D doesn't help, check below for both
general suggestions which pertain to your problem, and information on
the specific product with which you are having trouble. Please note
that some products are listed by category rather than or in addition to
specific listings by product name; check the Table of Contents carefully
to see where any particular product may be covered.
If you cannot resolve a compatibility problem, contact J.P. Software for
technical support.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 3
General Information
-------------------
This section describes some techniques you can use to either diagnose or
solve compatibility problems. It also includes general information
which may be used in solving problems with a whole group of products
(e.g., multitaskers).
Causes of Compatibility Problems:
In most cases software which does not to run properly under 4DOS
is experiencing one of the following problems:
* 4DOS is not configured properly;
* The other software is not configured properly;
* Some condition in your system (for example, insufficient
memory) is preventing the other software from running at
all, but you are so used to 4DOS that you haven't noticed
that the same problem occurs under COMMAND.COM, i.e. the
problem is not related to 4DOS;
* There is a multi-way interaction between 4DOS, the other
software, and one or more of your TSRs or device drivers;
* The presence of 4DOS in your system has uncovered a bug
or design problem in the other software that did not appear
when running it under COMMAND.COM, but that is not due to
a malfunction or error in 4DOS.
* The other software was written based on specific
characteristics of COMMAND.COM, and cannot run under 4DOS
unless COMMAND.COM is also loaded.
* The other software was written based on specific
characteristics of COMMAND.COM, and cannot run under 4DOS
at all.
Multi-Way Software Interactions:
In many cases programs which appear to fail under 4DOS, yet run
properly under COMMAND.COM, are actually involved in a 3-way
interaction with one of your TSRs or device drivers. If you are
having trouble with a program, try removing then replacing your
TSRs and device drivers as described in Appendix D, and see if
you can determine whether there is such an interaction occurring.
Running 4DOS along with COMMAND.COM:
You may find a rare program which will not work under 4DOS, but
runs properly under COMMAND.COM. If you have determined that the
problem cannot be solved through configuration changes or by
eliminating or reconfiguring a third program which is causing the
problem, use this section to see how to run 4DOS and COMMAND.COM
together in order to diagnose such a problem.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 4
There are two methods of loading COMMAND.COM before another pro-
gram. The first is to load it only when a specific program is
running. This can be accomplished with the following command
(assuming COMMAND.COM is in the root directory of drive C:):
c:\command /c progname options
where "progname" is the program name (with path if necessary) and
"options" are any parameters for the program. This command will
run COMMAND.COM, load and run the program, and upon exit from the
program will exit from COMMAND.COM and return to 4DOS. If this
is necessary to run a specific program, it can be defined as an
alias:
alias progname `c:\command /c progname %&`
The "%&" passes all command line arguments on to the program.
With this method, if the program is large COMMAND.COM may need to
reload itself when the program exits. It will not be able to do
so unless the COMSPEC is set properly. If you experience prob-
lems such as "Invalid COMMAND.COM" errors when using this method,
use a batch file like the following to run the program in ques-
tion (the SETLOCAL and ENDLOCAL cause COMSPEC to be restored to
its previous value after the program exits). You will need to
modify this file if your copy of COMMAND.COM is not stored in the
C:\ directory:
setlocal
set comspec=C:\COMMAND.COM
c:\command /c progname %&
endlocal
The second method is more drastic: you can start your system
under COMMAND.COM, then run 4DOS. This approach is rarely neces-
sary, and will use about 4 - 5K of additional RAM for the resi-
dent portion of COMMAND.COM.
The following steps will set your system up to boot with
COMMAND.COM, and run 4DOS automatically as part of the boot pro-
cess:
(1) Set up the SHELL= statement in CONFIG.SYS to run
COMMAND.COM, or leave it out entirely. In other words, set
it up just as you would if 4DOS were not on your system.
(2) Be sure the statement:
DEVICE=KEYSTACK.SYS
is included in CONFIG.SYS if you wish to use the 4DOS
KEYSTACK command.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 5
(3) Separate your AUTOEXEC file into two parts: part 1,
which remains in AUTOEXEC.BAT, should contain any commands
you wish to have COMMAND.COM execute before 4DOS is started.
This might include loading any TSRs which you cannot get to
load properly under 4DOS. Part 2, which you must place in a
separate batch file (we suggest the name 4DAUTO.BAT, but you
can use any name with a .BAT or .BTM extension), should con-
tain the commands you wish to have 4DOS execute when the
system is started.
(4) Place the following line as the last line in the modified
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
4DOS parameters filename
where "parameters" represents the appropriate 4DOS parameters
for swapping, environment and history size, etc. (see the
Installation section of the manual), and "filename" is the
name of the new batch file you created for part 2 of your old
AUTOEXEC file. Do NOT include a /P in the "parameters" or
4DOS will re-run AUTOEXEC and therefore load itself again, ad
infinitum!
This will load COMMAND.COM, execute the commands in AUTOEXEC,
load 4DOS, execute the commands in your new batch file, and then
give you the normal 4DOS prompt.
There is one drawback to this second approach: because 4DOS is
not loaded with a /P, the EXIT command will return you to
COMMAND.COM if you inadvertently enter it at the primary shell
prompt. You can get around this by including the /P parameter
despite the caution above, and then placing the following line at
the start of AUTOEXEC.BAT:
if not "%@eval[2+2]"=="4" quit
This line tests the 4DOS variable function %@EVAL, which will be
blank under COMMAND.COM and non-blank under 4DOS. If %@EVAL is
non-blank, the statement QUITs the batch file, preventing the
infinite loop described above.
Executing DOS Commands via Interrupt 2E:
3.02 COMMAND.COM contains an undocumented (and unsupported) feature
which allows programs to execute DOS commands by passing the
command through software interrupt number 2E (hex). Very few
programs use this feature, and the current release of 4DOS does
not support it internally. However the SHELL2E TSR included with
4DOS will allow you to run most programs that use INT 2E.
If you have a program which is supposed to execute DOS commands
and it does not work under 4DOS, first read the Troubleshooting
appendix in the manual, especially page 160, and check over your
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 6
settings of COMSPEC and 4DSHELL. If these appear correct, your
program may be trying to use INT 2E to execute commands.
If you believe this is the case, try loading the SHELL2E program
which came with your copy of 4DOS. Documentation on SHELL2E is
in the file SHELL2E.DOC. If you aren't sure whether your program
is using INT 2E, SHELL2E's /W switch can help you find out -- see
SHELL2E.DOC for the details.
See below for specific information on Novell's MENU program,
which requires SHELL2E.
4DOS and Multitasking / Task Switching Programs:
(For convenience below we will refer to all these programs as
"multitasking", even though some are only task switching pro-
grams, and to all windows or partitions they use as "windows",
even though some systems do not support windowing).
4DOS can be used with most multitasking systems including Win-
dows, DESQView, Back and Forth, OmniView, Software Carousel, and
VM/386. See the sections on specific products below for informa-
tion on the individual products.
3.02 If you require task switching (switching between multiple pro-
grams) without multi-tasking (multiple programs actually execut-
ing concurrently), we particularly recommend that you try the
shareware task switcher Back & Forth, from Progressive Solutions.
Back & Forth is fully compatible with 4DOS by design, runs effi-
ciently using small amounts of memory, and provides a wide range
of configuration options and compatibility. It is available from
most common sources of shareware (disk vendors, CompuServe, Ge-
nie, bulletin boards, etc.).
Unless otherwise noted below, 4DOS should work properly both as
the root shell loaded before the multitasking system, or when run
inside a window.
To start 4DOS inside a window in any of these systems you can
define it as a program to be run directly, or you can have the
multitasker load it automatically as the command processor, by
leaving COMSPEC set to 4DOS. Regardless of the approach used,
you can use the 4DSHELL environment variable to set the 4DOS
command line parameters (such as swapping method and environment
size) to be used when starting the 4DOS window. If 4DOS is de-
fined as a program to be run directly you can also set these
parameters on the command line.
Under most multitasking systems the COMSPEC setting will control
whether 4DOS or COMMAND.COM is used to run batch files and to
open windows that are NOT closed on exit to DOS. In some cases
setting the COMSPEC to COMMAND.COM before starting the multi-
tasker can provide slightly more efficient operation (when most
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 7
windows do not require the capabilities of 4DOS), and 4DOS can
then be set up in its own window. In most other cases you will
find it works best to leave the COMSPEC set to 4DOS.
Note that if you boot your system with COMMAND.COM, then set the
COMSPEC to 4DOS, if you return to COMMAND.COM (e.g., by exiting
from your multitasking program) the system may hang, as
COMMAND.COM needs to use the COMSPEC setting to find and reload a
portion of its own code.
CAUTION: Multitaskers and Disk Swapping:
When 4DOS is swapping to disk in multiple windows of a multi-
tasking system, it must be configured properly to avoid conflicts
among the swap file names used in each window.
When loaded normally, the primary copy of 4DOS will act as a
"traffic cop" for the copies of 4DOS in the different windows,
assigning each one a unique "shell number" which is used as the
extension for the disk swap file (4DOSSWAP.001, 4DOSSWAP.002,
etc.). In this case no conflict will occur.
However, if 4DOS is NOT loaded before the multitasking program
this capability will not be available. In this case the copy of
4DOS in each window will use the swap file name 4DOSSWAP.000. To
avoid a filename conflict every copy of 4DOS started in disk
swapping mode MUST place its swap file in its own unique direc-
tory specified with the "/S:Dd:\path" switch. If this rule is
not observed the system will hang when switching windows or upon
exit from an application.
In version 3.0 and earlier, you could satisfy this condition
simply by starting each window in its own unique directory. But
beginning with 4DOS version 3.01, disk swap files default to the
root directory of the drive COMSPEC points to, and not to the
current directory; hence to make 4DOS disk swapping work properly
under these conditions you must EXPLICITLY use /S:D to place the
swap files in separate directories.
This problem will only occur if 4DOS is NOT the primary shell,
AND disk swapping is used in more than one window as described
above. There is no such conflict with EMS or XMS swapping. Note
that since the default /S:B swapping option uses disk swapping if
no EMS or XMS memory is available, you can be invoking disk swap-
ping your multitasker windows even if you haven't explicitly
requested it.
Swapping to RAM Disks:
In order to swap to a RAM disk with the root shell the RAM disk
must be completely defined in CONFIG.SYS via a DEVICE= statement
(most RAM disks are set up this way). RAM disks completely or
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 8
partially defined in AUTOEXEC.BAT (such as the RAM disk / cache
combination in Multisoft's PC Kwik Power Pak) cannot be used for
root shell swapping, because AUTOEXEC.BAT has not been executed
at the time that the root shell is loaded, and hence the RAM disk
does not exist at that point.
Loading 4DOS High with /U or /E:nnnnU:
3.02 To load 4DOS or the master environment into high memory with the
/U or /E:nnnnU switches, you MUST be running a memory manager or
a combination of a memory manager and XMS driver which provides
BOTH the ability to remap memory into the area between 640K and
1MB, AND software support for the eXtended Memory Specification
(XMS). In general /U and /E:nnnnU will work on any system which
can load TSRs high. The combinations of hardware and software
which will support /U and /E:nnnnU include:
386 systems:
Hardware: Sufficient memory space; no additional
hardware required.
Software: Qualitas's 386MAX, or Quarterdeck's QEMM
version 5.0 or later.
286 systems:
Hardware: Chips and Technologies NEAT chip set, or
EMS board with LIM 4.0 or EEMS hardware;
sufficient memory space.
Software: Qualitas's MOVE-EM version 1.02 or later
with Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS, or Quarter-
deck's QRAM and QEXT.
Other memory-management software may also work; the listings
above are examples, not exhaustive lists. See specific informa-
tion on your memory management program below.
The following software will NOT allow /U or /E:nnnnU to work:
HIMEM.SYS by itself; QRAM without QEXT; or MOVE-EM without
HIMEM.SYS. Also these switches will not work on systems with
expanded memory boards with LIM 3.2 hardware (regardless of the
software used); if you are trying to load 4DOS (or TSRs) high
using an expanded memory board you need hardware which supports
either LIM 4.0 EMS, or the similar EEMS. Check with your system
or board manufacturer to determine whether your board supports
LIM 4.0 or EEMS.
4DOS and Command Line Editing Programs:
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 9
Programs such as Anarkey (Moderne Software), PCED (Cove Soft-
ware), and ReDOS (Multisoft) will work properly with 4DOS. How-
ever these programs require the use of SETDOS /L1 to operate,
which will disable 4DOS's command recall and command line edit-
ing. In most cases you will be able to switch back and forth
between 4DOS editing and the other editor by toggling the SETDOS
/L state.
3.02 When another editor is used 4DOS's command history will be main-
tained, and can be viewed with HISTORY, but will not be available
for recall until a SETDOS /L0 is executed. 4DOS aliases, execut-
able extensions, and other features will be active with another
command line editor running, regardless of the SETDOS /L state.
Aliases will be processed after any processing done by the other
editing program. You must use care with other programs that
provide an aliasing capability to avoid confusion if a command is
expanded by both the other program and 4DOS!
4DOS and TSR (Memory-Resident) Programs:
3.02 In 4DOS version 3.0 and above many memory-resident programs
should be able to unload themselves, even if they could not do so
under earlier versions of 4DOS. You may still experience unload
problems if you have a complex system or many TSRs loaded; if you
do, use MARK and RELEASE from the TSRCOM utilities, available on
many bulletin boards and on the 4DOS Utility Disk. These prod-
ucts will allow you to unload virtually all TSRs without diffi-
culty. See more specific information on TSRCOM below.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 10
Information on Specific Products
--------------------------------
The information below is listed alphabetically by product, with manufac-
turers' names included. MS-DOS commands are listed before other soft-
ware products.
Items marked with two asterisks [**] after the product name were sup-
plied by users, and have not been tested by J.P. Software.
MS-DOS APPEND Command:
Unlike most other commands in MS-DOS, APPEND has both an external
portion and an undocumented internal portion. The first time
APPEND is run the external portion is executed, and loaded into
memory as a TSR. Subsequent uses of APPEND to adjust the APPEND
path use the internal portion built into COMMAND.COM.
4DOS does not support the internal portion of APPEND command.
This means that you cannot change the APPEND path directly from
4DOS. However you can still use APPEND with 4DOS.
APPEND should be started in the usual way, from AUTOEXEC or any
other batch file, or from the command line. However to change
the APPEND path you must run APPEND from COMMAND.COM, not from
4DOS. To do this, enter the following command (modify the com-
mand appropriately if COMMAND.COM is not in the directory C:\):
c:\command /c append [new append path list]
You could also set up a 4DOS alias to do the above command for
you, for example:
alias app `c:\command /c append`
which would be invoked with the command
app [new path list]
The /X switch can be used, and it will affect 4DOS directory
searches for many 4DOS commands (as it does for COMMAND.COM).
Please note that this makes APPEND a little dangerous: if you
APPEND a directory and then (say) delete all the .BAK files, the
.BAK files in the APPENDed directory will be deleted too.
The APPEND /E switch will not work with 4DOS.
CAUTION: In our opinion APPEND is an extremely dangerous com-
mand. It is capable of "fooling" programs into thinking they are
accessing one file when they are really accessing another one
with the same name in a different directory. This can either do
just what you want, or cause all sorts of trouble, depending on
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 11
the circumstances. In particular, this behavior can cause 4DOS
to place descriptions which go with files in one directory in the
description file for another directory, because with APPEND run-
ning 4DOS can't tell whether APPEND has opened a file different
from the one it asked for.
If you must use APPEND to make certain applications work, we
STRONGLY suggest that you set up the aliases described above, and
load APPEND in AUTOEXEC.BAT with an empty path. Then, for each
application, set up an alias to run it that is similar to the
following:
alias myprog `app c:\mydata^d:\util\myprog.exe^app ;`
This alias sets the APPEND path, runs the application, and clears
the APPEND path. When used in this way APPEND is less likely to
cause trouble because it is disabled except when it is explicitly
needed.
3.02 In MS-DOS version 4.0 the new APPEND /PATH:OFF switch mitigates
this problem somewhat; in particular it will keep 4DOS file de-
scription files from getting mixed up between directories. For
this reason 4DOS version 3.02 will automatically set this switch
if it detects that you are running APPEND and DOS 4.0 or above.
MS-DOS DATE and TIME Commands:
Versions of DOS distributed by some manufacturers will automa-
tically set the hardware clock date and time (which is maintained
while the system is turned off, and is different from the DOS
date and time) when the corresponding DOS command is executed.
This is a hardware-specific feature which may not function as you
expect under 4DOS. If you normally set the hardware clock's date
and time with DOS commands, either run a secondary copy of
COMMAND.COM to set them, or invoke your system's SETUP or other
utility program to do so.
MS-DOS FASTOPEN Command:
The MS-DOS FASTOPEN command generally works with 4DOS, but does
not properly detect renamed directories. If you use FASTOPEN and
rename a directory with the 4DOS REN command, then do a DIR com-
mand, you may see the old name and not the new one displayed; you
may also occasionally have trouble accessing files under the new
name. The only solution we are aware of in this situation is to
reboot your system.
Our feeling is that, if you have the memory to support it, a disk
caching program will provide a much larger and more effective
performance improvement than FASTOPEN.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 12
MS-DOS 4.0+ FORMAT Command:
When formatting a bootable disk with FORMAT /S, the FORMAT com-
mand in MS-DOS 4.0 and above has the annoying behavior of copying
whatever file your COMSPEC environment variable points to to the
disk and renaming it COMMAND.COM. When 4DOS is running COMSPEC
normally points to 4DOS.COM, so FORMAT will copy 4DOS.COM to the
floppy disk and rename it COMMAND.COM. This will render the
floppy disk NOT bootable -- 4DOS won't mind the file name change,
but 4DOS.COM alone is not enough for 4DOS to get started; one of
the 4DOS EXE files is also required.
To solve this problem, after formatting a bootable floppy disk
under MS-DOS 4.0 we recommend that you copy COMMAND.COM to the
disk manually. You may want to set up a simple alias or batch
file for this purpose, for example:
alias bootdisk `format a:/s^copy c:\command.com a:`
Alternatively, you can copy the 4DOS88 or 4DOS286 EXE file to the
root directory of the floppy disk, which will make the disk boot
under 4DOS instead of COMMAND.COM. However we do not recommend
this method unless you also rename the "COMMAND.COM" file back to
4DOS.COM and place a proper CONFIG.SYS file on the floppy disk to
load 4DOS.COM. Leaving a copy of 4DOS.COM on the disk with the
name COMMAND.COM is bound to confuse the next person who examines
it!
MS-DOS 4.0+ SELECT Command:
In MS-DOS 4.0 and above a SELECT command was introduced. This
external command is totally unrelated to the 4DOS internal SELECT
command. If you need to use both, you can set up aliases to
adjust how the command names are handled. For example, the fol-
lowing two aliases set up SELECT to access the DOS 4.0 external
SELECT command (assumed to be stored in C:\DOS\SELECT.EXE), and
SEL to access the internal 4DOS SELECT command:
alias select c:\dos\select.exe
alias sel *select
1DIR+ (Bourbaki):
The information below was obtained from tests with 1DIR+ version
3.02.
1DIR+ will work properly under 4DOS version 3 in its partially
resident or EMS modes when set up as described below. It will
work in its fully resident mode but cannot reliably exit back to
4DOS once started.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 13
If your copy of 1DIR+ is set up for fully resident mode, you can
load it into memory under 4DOS to switch it to partially resident
or EMS mode. To do so, from the directory where you normally run
1DIR+, type the commands:
setdos /l1
1dirplus
When 1DIR+ starts go to the "Wonder" / "Setup" menu (F8 then F2)
and switch the mode to partially resident or EMS. Hit Esc to
exit, and take the "Exit/Save" option (not "Save/Reset"). Back
at the main menu, exit with "Wonder" / "Exit" (F8 then F8). At
this point the system will probably hang. Reboot your computer.
You should then be able to run 1DIR+ as described below.
The above steps only need to be done once, when you install or
re-install 1DIR+.
Once 1DIR+ is set to EMS or partially-resident mode, you can
start it from 4DOS using the following alias:
alias 1dir `setdos /L1 ^ 1dirplus`
The SETDOS /L1 is necessary to allow 1DIR+ to send command lines
to 4DOS.
You must do a SETDOS /L0 when you are done with 1DIR+ in order to
get normal 4DOS command-line editing back. You can NOT do this
within the alias above, as 1DIR+ returns to 4DOS in order to
accomplish its work, and you don't want to switch back to /L0
mode until 1DIRPLUS has been removed from memory. If, after
exiting from 1DIR+, you find that 4DOS's command line editing and
history are unavailable, it is because you forgot to do the
SETDOS /L0. If you go in and out of 1DIR+ regularly aliases like
the following can be used to make the process quick:
alias 1d `setdos /L1 ^ 1dirplus`
alias 1e setdos /L0
3+Open Network (3COM): [**]
3.02 Previous problems with 3+Open's LOGON have been resolved. If
your system hangs when loading 3+Open's NBP program, upgrading to
the latest release of NBP should resolve the problem. Please
note that 3COM issues multiple releases with the same version
number; the fact that you have "version 1.1" does not necessarily
mean you have the latest release. Check with your 3COM support
representative to be sure you have the latest release.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 14
AllCharge Card (All Computers Inc.): [**]
4DOS, including EMS swapping, works properly with the latest
AllCharge Card software release (ALLEMM4.SYS file dated 10-3-89).
Earlier releases may hang. The feature to put FILES and BUFFERS
in AUTOEXEC may not work; if you have trouble with it, try rear-
ranging the position of these commands in AUTOEXEC.BAT, or as a
last resort place them in CONFIG.SYS.
ANSI.SYS (various manufacturers):
If you have trouble with screen scrolling in 43-line or 50-line
mode, try a different version of ANSI (we use PC Magazine's free
utility ANSI.COM); for more information see page 156 of the 4DOS
manual.
Btrieve (Novell): [**]
The most recent release of Btrieve as of this writing should work
properly under 4DOS. Earlier releases contain a bug in their EMS
(expanded memory) access which conflicts with 4DOS's EMS swap-
ping, and therefore will not run with EMS swapping enabled. If
you have an earlier version of Btrieve, run 4DOS with XMS or disk
swapping and the two products should work properly together. If
you aren't sure whether you are encountering this problem, just
try switching 4DOS from EMS to disk swapping and see if any
Btrieve problems are cleared up. If so, upgrade to the newest
release of Btrieve.
CED and PCED (Cove Software): [**]
3.02 4DOS has been modified to allow CED and PCED to properly recog-
nize 4DOS secondary shells. This recognition may not work if the
either primary or the secondary shell is loaded high with 4DOS's
/U option. Also see the section on command line editors (above).
CheckFree (CheckFree Systems): [**]
Version 2.0 of this package should work properly under 4DOS.
Earlier versions may need to be run under COMMAND.COM, using the
method discussed above in the General Information section (use
the batch file shown there which begins with a SETLOCAL command).
Because CheckFree uses Btrieve, see the note on Btrieve (above)
as well.
DESQView (Quarterdeck):
3.02 Please see the section on multitaskers under General Information
above before reading this section.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 15
The information below was obtained from tests with DESQView ver-
sion 2.26.
To use 4DOS with DESQview, you must add it to your DESQview Open
Window menu. To do this, select the Add a Program option, then
press the "O" key (for Other Program). Press Enter and you will
get a standard Change a Program window.
You must set the program parameters and startup directory before
opening a 4DOS window. Set the Program Name to d:\path\4DOS.COM
where "d:\path" is the drive and directory where 4DOS.COM is
stored. Set the Parameters to whatever 4DOS startup options you
want (swapping type, environment size, etc.; do NOT use /C or
/P). For other DESQView parameters, the defaults are workable
except for the following changes:
Writes Text Directly to Screen Y (screen 1)
Close on Exit to DOS Y (screen 2)
Uses its Own Colors Y (screen 2)
These parameters assume that you are running 4DOS in a full-
screen window; if so the window dimensions on screen 2 must be
set accordingly.
You may wish to run 4DOS in a window smaller than the full
screen. If so set the window dimensions accordingly, and change
the "Writes Text Directly to Screen" field to "N". 4DOS is writ-
ten to be "Desqview-aware", and will not "bleed through" when
running full-screen commands (DRAWBOX, DRAWHLINE, DRAWVLINE,
LIST, SCRPUT, and SELECT) in such a window. We have found that
the only ANSI driver which works properly in a window smaller
than the full screen is Quarterdeck's DVANSI.COM. If you need to
load DVANSI.COM, you can do so from a window startup batch file
as described in the next paragraph. As of version 3.01 the 4DOS
HELP command has been modified to be DESQView-aware, and should
also work properly in a window smaller than the full screen.
You can set up a startup batch file to be run when a DESQView
window is opened -- just create it, and place its name (with
drive and path if necessary) as the last thing on the Parameters
line. This batch file will be run after and independently of any
4START.BAT or 4START.BTM file.
DESQView will work properly with the 4DOS /U and /E:nnnnU options
in the primary shell, but may not work properly if these options
are set in 4DSHELL and/or used explicitly in a DESQView window.
The 4DOS /E:nnnnS (swapped environment) option is incompatible
with DESQView.
DESQView DOS Services (Quarterdeck):
Under 4DOS, the DESQView DOS Services option will not work in its
default configuration. To make DOS Services work under 4DOS, you
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 16
must first create a batch file, DOSSERV.BAT, in your DESQView
directory to run DOS Services under COMMAND.COM. (We are assum-
ing that DESQView is in directory C:\DV and COMMAND.COM is in
directory C:\; you will need to modify the settings below if your
system is configured differently.) The batch file is:
set comspec=c:\command.com
c:\dv\dosserv
c:\command
exit
Then, make the following changes on the DESQView change a program
screen for DOS Services (items marked ** are on the second page
of the screen):
* Memory Allocation = 100K or greater
* Program Name = C:\DV\DOSSERV.BAT (modify from
previous value of C:\DV\DOSSERV).
** Close on Exit to DOS = N
** System Memory = 10K or greater
** Allow Close Window = N
Once these steps are taken, you should be able to open the DOS
Services window normally. However you will not be able to close
it with a close window command. Instead, go to the window where
DOS Services allows you to compose a DOS command, and type EXIT
to close the window.
DoubleDOS (SoftLogic Solutions): See Software Carousel.
DR-DOS (Digital Research): [**]
3.02 4DOS appears to work properly as a command processor (including
as the primary shell) under DR-DOS 3.x, and preliminary reports
indicate that it will work under DR-DOS version 5.0 as well.
DR-DOS's design makes the ASSIGN, JOIN, and SUBST commands inter-
nal (in MS-DOS / PC-DOS they are external). To access these
commands when using 4DOS as the command processor, you must set
up aliases which run DR-DOS's COMMAND.COM to invoke the commands.
The following 4DOS aliases accomplish this (adjust these if
COMMAND.COM is not in C:\):
alias assign `c:\command /c assign %&`
alias join `c:\command /c join %&`
alias subst `c:\command /c subst %&`
Epsilon (Lugaru Software): [**]
3.02 Epsilon can run 4DOS as a concurrent process, and pass commands
to 4DOS for execution. In this mode it traps 4DOS's input re-
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 17
quests and feeds the keystrokes to 4DOS. However it does not
feed backspaces etc. -- only actual characters. This means that
editing of input isn't seen by 4DOS. To fix the problem, either
run 4DOS as a shell, and not as a concurrent process, or use a
SETDOS /L1 for the copy of 4DOS that is run under Epsilon.
To use the more flexible SETDOS /L1 approach you must use
4START.BAT (or .BTM) to set up the SETDOS /L1 before running
Epsilon. To do so, first set up an alias for Epsilon that sets
an environment variable (change the name of the variable if you
wish):
alias eps `set epsi=YES^epsilon %&^unset epsi`
Then placing the following line in 4START will issue the SETDOS
/L1 command in a secondary shell started by Epsilon, but ignore
it otherwise:
if "%epsi"=="YES" setdos /l1
Headroom (Helix Software): [**]
4DOS and Headroom have been tested by both J.P. Software and
Helix Software and should work properly together. Headroom will
NOT work correctly if the COMSPEC is not set properly, so if you
do have trouble check your COMSPEC (see pages 15 - 16 of the
manual). There is a problem running 4DOS's HELP with a mouse
when Headroom is loaded. If you have trouble with this please
contact Helix Software technical support; a fix will be incorpo-
rated into Headroom version 2.03.
HIMEM.SYS (Microsoft):
3.02 4DOS's XMS swapping will work properly with HIMEM.SYS, but
HIMEM.SYS alone does NOT support the memory mapping required to
use the 4DOS /U and /E:nnnnU options. See the general section on
/U and /E:nnnnU above for more information.
Hot Line (General Information Inc.):
The information below was obtained from tests with Hot Line ver-
sion 2.10.
Previous problems with Hot Line have been solved. You should
have no trouble accessing Hot Line via any of its hot keys.
If you get "insufficient memory" error messages when installing
Hot Line, reboot with COMMAND.COM to complete the installation.
These errors are due to an old version of the PKSFX program used
to extract files from the compressed copies of Hot Line on dis-
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 18
kette. This problem occurs only during installation, and is
unrelated to the actual operation of Hot Line.
If you load Hot Line from your AUTOEXEC file, you may find that
it will not pop up properly at the prompt if you try to invoke it
immediately after boot. As soon as even the simplest application
or utility program is run this problem clears up, and does not
appear to recur. We have been unable to determine its source, as
it clears up when we run our debugger!
MOVE-EM (Qualitas): [**]
MOVE-EM version 1.00 contains a bug which causes the system to
crash whenever any program attempts to access XMS memory. 4DOS
will attempt to access XMS memory if you specify the /U or
/E:nnnnU option, or use the MEMORY command, so these 4DOS fea-
tures cannot be used if MOVE-EM 1.00 is installed.
MOVE-EM version 1.02 corrects the above bug, but is only compat-
ible with 4DOS's /U and /E:nnnnU options if Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS
is also loaded in your system. MOVE-EM itself does not fully
support the XMS specification which permits 4DOS to load itself
and the master environment in high memory. See the general sec-
tion on /U and /E:nnnnU above for more information.
Netware (Novell): [**]
The information below was obtained from tests with Netware ver-
sions 2.12 and 2.15 and Netware 386, and from discussions with
Novell support personnel.
When Netware's LOGIN and/or MAP commands are used to map network
drives into the path, the local path will be lost if it is not
stored in upper case. Earlier versions of 4DOS stored the path
in whatever case it was entered in; beginning with version 3.0
the PATH command always shifts its input to upper case to get
around this problem. However if you use SET to modify the path
you can still manage to include lower case characters, and there-
by exercise this Netware bug. Novell has informed us that they
intend to fix this problem in an upcoming release. In the mean-
time, keep your PATH environment variable entirely in upper case
to avoid the problem.
Netware also appears to lose one or more characters from the name
of an environment variable (usually the second or third one in
the environment) when setting other environment variables from
inside a LOGIN script. If you are setting environment variables
such as COMSPEC within your LOGIN script, you can get around this
problem by using a batch file to set the variables after LOGIN is
complete. Even if you cannot control the LOGIN script, you can
still use a batch file to reset the "damaged" variables after
LOGIN has finished.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 19
It is not currently possible to do disk swapping to a network
drive under Netware. This is because Netware closes all files --
including the 4DOS swap file -- each time an application exits.
When 4DOS goes to reload itself or swap out to start another ap-
plication, a swap file seek error will occur. We are considering
possible internal workarounds for this problem; for now the
available methods are to swap to EMS, XMS, or a local hard disk
or RAM disk.
Use caution with the 4DOS UNSET command under Netware. When Net-
ware is loaded it remembers the exact location of the COMSPEC
variable in the master environment, and it may therefore have
problems if variables such as COMSPEC and PATH are removed and
reloaded in a different sequence.
3.02 The Novell MENU system distributed with Netware uses Interrupt 2E
to execute menu options, and therefore requires the use of the
SHELL2E program to work properly. SHELL2E is included with 4DOS;
see the general section above on INT 2E and the SHELL2E documen-
tation in SHELL2E.DOC for more information.
3.02 When using MENU with SHELL2E, remember that a secondary 4DOS
shell will be started to execute each command in the menu file.
This can be quite slow if you execute many commands for each menu
option, and it won't work if you use SET commands whose results
are used later in the command sequence. However if you put the
commands in a batch file and put the name of the batch file as
the command to be executed for each menu option then there should
be no performance problems, and the results of SET commands will
be available to commands that occur later in the batch file.
The 4DOS /U command line option is reported to be compatible with
Netware, but the /E:nnnnU and /E:nnnnS options are not.
OmniMouse Software Drivers: [**]
The OmniMouse TSR driver, MSCMOUSE.COM, works correctly with
4DOS. The CONFIG.SYS driver, MSCMOUSE.SYS, may not. If you have
trouble with MSCMOUSE.SYS use MSCMOUSE.COM instead.
PC Tools (Central Point Software):
The information below was obtained from tests with PC Tools ver-
sion 5.5, and from user reports on versions 5.5 and 6.0.
Most elements of this popular package work properly with 4DOS.
We have had some problems reported but in all cases investigation
has shown that the problems occurred under COMMAND.COM as well
(though not always with the same exact symptoms).
3.02 PC Tools' PCSHELL 5.5 will refuse to launch applications from the
4DOS prompt, giving an error indicating that you are not at the
prompt. This problem is due to the design of PCSHELL, and occurs
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 20
with all command line editing programs. We have had one report
that the problem has been solved in PC Tools 6.0. It can be
solved in any PC Tools version by loading PCSHELL with Innovative
Data Concepts' shareware product SWAPSH, available on the 4DOS
Utility Disk and on many bulletin boards and on-line systems.
SWAPSH will reduce PCSHELL's resident memory requirements as
well.
We have had one report that PC Tools' MIRROR program will not run
properly from AUTOEXEC.BAT under 4DOS if SWAPPING OFF is in ef-
fect. If you experience this problem, be sure SWAPPING is ON
before running MIRROR.
QEMM and QRAM (Quarterdeck):
3.02 The information below was obtained from tests with QEMM versions
4 and 5, and user reports on QRAM.
Both QEMM 5.0 and QRAM are compatible with 4DOS, and will allow
you to load the 4DOS resident code and the master environment
into high DOS memory (UMBs) via the /U and /E:nnnnU switches
respectively. For /U and /E:nnnnU to work with QRAM you must
have QEXT loaded also (this is the normal method of loading
QRAM). See general information on these switches above as well.
QEMM version 5 allocates both XMS and EMS memory from the same
memory area. Therefore it always reports the exact same amount
of free XMS and EMS memory. You will see this in the free EMS
and free XMS values displayed by the 4DOS MEMORY command -- they
will be exactly the same under QEMM 5. Just remember that if
both values are (say) 512K, that means you have 512K of free
memory which can be allocated either way -- not 1024K!
The FILES.COM program distributed with QEMM version 5 allows
parts of the DOS file handle table to be loaded into high memory,
using the LOADHI FILES=nn command. This option will work proper-
ly under 4DOS as long as you follow Quarterdeck's recommendations
and keep a minimum of FILES=8 in CONFIG.SYS. Lower values of
FILES= in CONFIG.SYS may cause 4DOS to hang during boot, espe-
cially if disk swapping is used.
If you use QEMM's OPTIMIZE and your AUTOEXEC has 4DOS-specific
commands like GLOBAL, IFF, aliases, etc., OPTIMIZE will not rec-
ognize them as DOS commands. Instead, it will act as if these
commands are actually programs being invoked and attempt to see
whether they should be loaded high. This can confuse OPTIMIZE
and make it either fail, or run much too long. To address this,
run OPTIMIZE with the switch /LOADHIONLY and then place a LOADHI
command before each entry in AUTOEXEC that you actually want
OPTIMIZE to examine.
QuickCache II (Glassel and Associates): [**]
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 21
QCACHE is compatible with 4DOS only if its "Use low memory" op-
tion is enabled. If this option is disabled (the QCACHE default)
your system is almost certain to hang when QCACHE is loaded and
4DOS is running in swapping mode.
Software Carousel (SoftLogic Solutions):
Please see the section on multitaskers under General Information
above before reading this section.
The information below was obtained from tests with Software Car-
ousel version 3, and discussions with SoftLogic technical sup-
port.
Neither Software Carousel nor DoubleDOS will work properly with
4DOS loaded as the primary shell. Both programs are written with
the assumption that COMMAND.COM is the system command processor,
and both contain logic which specifically depends on COMMAND.COM
and the way it is written. This makes it impossible to write a
program which works properly as an alternate command processor
loaded underneath (i.e. before) these products.
However, 4DOS can be run without difficulty inside a Software
Carousel partition, and should work properly as a program to be
run under DoubleDOS.
When loading 4DOS into a Carousel partition, the best method is
to leave the COMSPEC set to COMMAND.COM when Carousel is loaded.
4DOS should then be set up in the Carousel options file just like
any other program. For example, to load 4DOS into partition 1:
d:\path\4DOS.COM [parameters] [filename]
where:
d:\path is the drive and path where 4DOS.COM is lo-
cated
[parameters] is the 4DOS command line parameters (/S, /E,
etc.; do NOT use /P here)
[filename] is the name of a batch file to be executed
when the partition is started
Because 4DOS can only be loaded in a partition when running Soft-
ware Carousel, and not as the primary command processor, using
4DOS disk swapping in multiple partitions is subject to the cau-
tionary note on this subject in the general information section
on multitaskers; please read it carefully.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 22
Telix Communications Software:
Telix will work properly with 4DOS. However because Telix uses
all available EMS memory, this memory will not be available for
4DOS swapping when you shell to DOS from Telix. As a result, if
you have set 4DOS up to swap secondary shells to EMS (e.g. with
SET 4DSHELL=/S:E) then the secondary shell from Telix will load
resident. If you have allowed 4DOS to determine the swapping
method itself for secondary shells, then it will swap to disk
(unless XMS is available). This behavior isn't a problem -- it's
just different from what you may see if you shell to DOS from
other programs that don't take all available EMS.
TSRCOM Utilities (TurboPower Software):
3.02 Versions 2.5 and earlier of these popular utilities from Turbo-
Power Software are not compatible with 4DOS. The problem was
corrected in release 2.6, issued in January, 1989. Up-to-date
copies of these utilities are available on the 4DOS Utility Disk
and on many bulletin boards and on-line systems.
If you use TSRCOM's MARK and RELEASE to manage your TSRs, 4DOS
swapping (as set with the SWAPPING command) must be in the same
state when RELEASE is run as it was when MARK (or FMARK) was run.
This is a characteristic of the design of MARK and RELEASE (or
any other such products), and not a bug.
The specific circumstances are that if you run RELEASE with SWAP-
PING ON when MARK was run with SWAPPING OFF it will work, but if
RELEASE is run from a batch file it will generate a "Cancel batch
job (Y/N/A)?" message. If you run AUTOEXEC.BAT with SWAPPING OFF
for speed reasons, use MARK in AUTOEXEC, and later run RELEASE
from a batch file, you will see this problem. The solution is to
have swapping ON when MARK is run in AUTOEXEC. In the opposite
situation (run RELEASE with SWAPPING OFF when MARK was run with
SWAPPING ON), the system will hang.
UltraVision (Personics): [**]
3.02 When using 4DOS and Personics' UltraVision 2.0, you may need to
have a 4START.BAT (or .BTM) that contains a SETDOS /S command to
set the cursor shape, or your cursor may disappear. The proper
cursor start and end values depend to some extent on the UV line
size, but all values less than 14 appear to work in all UV line
sizes.
The DE program distributed with UltraVision is written specifi-
cally for COMMAND.COM, and cannot currently be used to set direc-
tory colors with 4DOS.
If you load UltraVision inside a Microsoft Windows 3.0 window
which was started with 4DOS, and don't unload it before EXITing,
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 23
then when you do EXIT Windows will display a message that a pop-
up program has been activated. Type Ctrl-C when this message
appears to close the window and return to Windows.
Ventura Publisher (Xerox): [**]
3.02 Ventura Publisher may issue an Error 0019 if run with a 4DOS (or
COMMAND.COM) environment size of more than 256 bytes. The prob-
lem occurs based on the environment size set with /E:, not on how
much of the space is actually in use. This is a bug in Ventura
Publisher, and not a problem in 4DOS. In our last conversation
with Xerox we were told this bug "might" be fixed in the next
release of Ventura.
Xerox recommends that Ventura be run with the DOS default envi-
ronment size of 160 bytes, but 4DOS only allows reduction to 256
bytes. In all cases we have seen the Error 0019 problem can be
eliminated by reducing your environment size to 256 bytes. Since
this will not be enough environment space for many users, you may
have to keep multiple CONFIG.SYS files and reboot specially for
Ventura to get around this problem.
VP/ix with Sun/OS (Sun Microsystems): [**]
4DOS appears to work as the primary command processor in a DOS
window started under VP/ix on a Sun 386i system. The /L: switch
does not permit 4DOS to find its EXE files outside the root di-
rectory, so the 4DOS files must be placed there.
VTSR (Golden Bow Systems): [**]
Version 2.0 of VTSR will work properly with 4DOS. Earlier ver-
sions will report (incorrectly) that no TSRs are installed.
Windows 3.0 (Microsoft):
3.02 When the instructions below are followed 4DOS will work properly
with Windows 3.0 in all modes.
The standard "DOS" icon provided with Windows is set up to run
COMMAND.COM, regardless of your COMSPEC setting. To run 4DOS,
either go into the Program Manager's File / Properties menu se-
lection for the DOS icon and change the command line entry to
refer to 4DOS, or create a new DOS icon (take the File / New menu
selection, then choose "Program Item") with the name "4DOS" and a
command line which refers to 4DOS. In either case the command
line should include the full path and filename for 4DOS.COM, plus
any switches you wish to set (swapping, alias and environment
size, etc.).
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 24
If you want a real 4DOS icon displayed, rather than the generic
"DOS" icon Windows gives you, copy the file 4DOS.ICO which comes
with 4DOS into your Windows directory (for a monochrome system,
use 4DOSM.ICO). You can also leave the file in your 4DOS direc-
tory and enter the full path when prompted for the icon file
name. Select the 4DOS icon on the Program Manager screen (click
on it once), then open the Program Manager's File Properties
dialogue box and click on the Change Icon button. You'll be
prompted for the name of the new icon file -- just type it in and
click on OK, and when you go back to the Program Manager screen
you'll have a custom icon for 4DOS. (Thanks to 4DOS user Charles
Jay Pilzer for providing the original icon design; we modified it
with the shareware program ICONDRAW by Philip Eskelin Jr.).
When creating a 4DOS icon, you may wish to set up a .PIF file
instead of simply using the File Properties screen. A .PIF file
will give you more control over how 4DOS is set up and started.
We have included a sample Windows .PIF file with 4DOS, called
4DOS.PIF; the values in this file are examples and should be
checked before using the .PIF file on your system. The 4DOS .PIF
file can be called by any name, though of course using "4DOS.PIF"
will make maintenance easier. You can set up more than one .PIF
file for 4DOS if you wish to run different windows with different
parameters or characteristics.
To associate a .PIF file for 4DOS with a Program Manager icon
set up as described in the previous paragraphs, first set up the
.PIF file itself (using the PIF editor from the Accessories
screen), then set up the icon as described above, placing the
full path and name of the .PIF file into the command line field
instead of the path and name for 4DOS.COM.
Whether you use a PIF file or the simpler Program Manager ap-
proach, if you are running Windows 3.0 in real mode or standard
mode, you MUST add the parameter /V to the 4DOS command line. If
you don't, the system will hang if you switch away from and then
return to a 4DOS window which is at the 4DOS prompt or otherwise
running 4DOS itself (rather than an application). You can add
the /V to the command line in the File Properties screen, or to
the Parameters field in your PIF file. You can also set it be-
fore running Windows by using the 4DSHELL variable:
set 4dshell=/v
If you are running Windows in 386 enhanced mode the /V is not
necessary, but it will do no harm. We recommend that you always
use /V when setting up 4DOS for Windows, so that if you change
Windows modes 4DOS will continue to operate correctly.
When running in 386 enhanced mode, you can run 4DOS in a window
that's smaller than the full screen. All 4DOS commands, includ-
ing "full screen" commands like LIST and SELECT, will work prop-
erly in such a window. To invoke this option you must set up a
4DOS .PIF file, and set the "Windowed" (as opposed to "Full
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 25
Screen") flag in the PIF editor. This flag is visible only when
running the PIF editor in 386 enhanced mode. It is not set in
the sample .PIF file provided with 4DOS.
Some Windows 3.0 EGA and VGA drivers have a bug which can cause
Windows to set the screen color palette to all black, so nothing
appears on the screen. If this occurs with 4DOS it is probably
due to this bug, and not a 4DOS problem.
WordPerfect 5.1 (WordPerfect Corp.): [**]
Early releases of WordPerfect 5.1 had a variety of problems in
the way they accessed expanded (EMS) memory, and therefore may
conflict with 4DOS's EMS swapping. Symptoms of the conflict
include incorrect response to keystrokes, and system hangs. If
you have a problem with WordPerfect 5.1 and 4DOS when using
4DOS's EMS swapping, try changing to disk swapping. If this
resolves the problem, you can probably solve it permanently by
upgrading to a later release of version 5.1.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] COMPAT.DOC page 26
README.DOC
4DOS README.DOC
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by
J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617)
646-3975.
Greetings, and thanks for trying 4DOS!
This file contains recent changes and other useful information. It also
lists the files distributed with version 3.02; explains how to upgrade
from earlier versions of 4DOS to version 3.02; and describes the 4DOS
Utility Disk.
To order 4DOS, see the ORDER.FRM file or call us at (800) 368-8777
(orders only please!) or (617) 646-3975. If you are upgrading from an
earlier version of 4DOS, be sure to read UPDATE30.DOC for information on
changes between versions!
This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and
page footers. It can be printed on most PC printers using the command:
copy readme.doc prn
Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work
due to the formatting included in the file.
We support 4DOS in our own CompuServe area, section 10 of the PC Vendor
B forum (GO PCVENB). If you are not currently a CompuServe subscriber,
consider a special offer CompuServe has made to 4DOS users: call 1-800-
848-8199 (outside the US and Canada call 614-457-0802) and ask for
operator 178 to receive a free CompuServe introductory membership,
including user ID, password, and a $15 connect time credit.
Official 4DOS Product Support is always available on our support BBS:
Future Technology Multi-Node EMDS (617) 720-3600 / 720-4095
120+ Conferences - 140+ Directories - 1.5 Gigabytes - 9600b below
(617) 227-6260 AX9624c*(617) 227-4170 HST*(617) 720-1330 HAYES V9600
Home of 4DOS Product Support & QModem National Distribution Site
For more information on technical support please see page iv of the
manual. Note that the correct number for the Future Technology BBS is
NOT 617-646-3975 as shown in some versions of the manual!
If you live outside the US and Canada you may want to check the list of
international dealers in the ORDER.FRM file. Purchasing through these
dealers can save you the delay and inconvenience which may be involved
in dealing with currency conversions and international shipping.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 1
Changes in Version 3.02
-----------------------
Virtually all of the changes in version 3.02 are compatibility
improvements and bug fixes, but a few are new features. Here's a quick
description of some of the more significant changes; there are also many
other smaller additions and bug fixes. For details on these and other
changes see the items marked "3.02" in UPDATE30.DOC.
** The HELP text has been modified in many places. An ANSI table has
been added along with the APPEND, FASTOPEN, GRAPHICS, KEYB, NLSFUNC,
RECOVER, and REPLACE commands. All resident commands now show their
DOS 3.3 resident size.
** We have added one new built-in environment variable, and two new
variable functions:
%_ndp Returns:
0 if no coprocessor is installed
87 for an 8087
287 for an 80287
387 for an 80387
%@upper[string] Returns the string converted to upper case.
%@lower[string] Returns the string converted to lower case.
** A "?" wildcard character now matches zero or more characters like
COMMAND.COM instead of one or more like previous versions of 4DOS.
** The F3 key now works like COMMAND.COM, so you can type part of a
line and hit F3 to get the rest of the previous line.
** The recurring problems with I/O redirection on Novell networks
have been solved by revamping the handling of redirection inside 4DOS
to get around Netware's oddities.
** 3+Open compatibility has also been improved by modifying 4DOS
internally to get around some of 3+Open's oddities.
** Divide by zero handling has been removed from 4DOS, allowing
standard DOS divide by zero handling to take place.
** Problems with missing <cr>s in description files have been solved.
These problems did not cause any trouble within 4DOS, but 3rd-party
description editors were confused by them.
** Problems with occasional out-of-memory errors in DIR have been
resolved.
** When starting a shareware copy of 4DOS, the 3-second delay for
display of the shareware message can now be interrupted by hitting
any key.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 2
Files Included with 4DOS
------------------------
The following files are included with 4DOS version 3.02 (numbers in
parentheses refer to notes at the end of the list):
4DOS.DOC Complete 4DOS manual
4DOS.COM 4DOS loader for EMS or disk swapping
4DOS.PIF (3) PIF file for running 4DOS under Windows 3.0
4DOS.ICO (3) Icon file for running 4DOS under Windows 3.0
4DOSM.ICO (3) Same as 4DOS.ICO but for monochrome systems
4DOS88.EXE 4DOS program file for any PC-compatible
system
4DOS286.EXE (2) 4DOS program file for 186/286/386/486 systems
ALIASES Sample aliases
COMPAT.DOC Information on using 4DOS with other products
DOS.HLP 4DOS help text
HELP.EXE 4DOS help program
HELPCFG.EXE Color configuration program for HELP.EXE
INSTALL.BAT (1) Startup installation batch file
INSTALL.BTM (1) Additional installation batch file
KEYSTACK.SYS 4DOS KEYSTACK driver
ORDER.FRM 4DOS license agreement, order form, and
upgrade order form
PKUNZIP.EXE (1,4) Unzip (decompression) program for 4DOS
README.1ST (1) Shareware disk README file and startup
instructions
README.DOC This file
SHELL2E.COM Program to allow software using INT 2E for
command execution to work with 4DOS
SHELL2E.DOC Documentation for SHELL2E.COM
SUPPORT.BBS Information on Future Technology, the
independent BBS used for 4DOS support
SYSOP.DOC 4DOS information for BBS sysops
UPDATE30.DOC Information on changes in versions 3.01 and
3.02; manual corrections
VENDOR.DOC 4DOS information for shareware disk vendors
(1) Included only with diskette copies of 4DOS. The INSTALL files
are not included with electronically distributed copies because
they will only work properly when 4DOS is stored on diskette in
its usual distribution format.
(2) The 4DOS286.EXE file is not included with shareware copies sold
on 5.25", 360K disks because it does not fit on such disks. If
you have a registered copy of 4DOS on 5.25" disks, 4DOS286.EXE is
in the file 4DOS2.ZIP on your registered disk. This file is
provided for convenience only and makes no noticeable difference
in the use or behavior of 4DOS, so its absence on 5.25" shareware
disks should not affect your evaluation of a shareware copy. See
below for more information on what 4DOS286 is and how to obtain a
copy if you feel you must evaluate it before purchasing 4DOS.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 3
(3) For information on using the Windows files see the Windows 3.0
information on page 24 of COMPAT.DOC.
(4) PKUNZIP is part of the shareware PKZIP file compression package
distributed by PKWare, 7545 North Port Washington Road, Suite
205, Glendale, WI 53217. It is Copyright 1989 PKWare Inc., and
is distributed under license to J.P. Software. PKUNZIP is a
trademark of PKWare Inc. Shareware copies of the full PKZIP
package are available on many bulletin boards and on-line
services. The copy of PKUNZIP distributed with 4DOS has been
reduced in size with an EXE file compression program in order to
save space on the distribution disks, but is fully functional.
4DOS286
-------
4DOS286 is a version of 4DOS compiled specifically for 186, 286, 386,
and 486 systems. It no longer fits on 5.25" shareware disks; the
information here is provided only so you know what isn't there if you
have such a disk. 4DOS286 is always included with registered copies
of 4DOS, upgrades for registered users, and shareware copies of 4DOS
distributed electronically or on 3.5" disks.
4DOS286 provides a marginal (and usually undetectable) performance
improvement, but is otherwise EXACTLY equivalent to the 4DOS88.EXE
file on the standard shareware disk. 4DOS will work properly on any
PC system using 4DOS88; 4DOS286 is not needed for proper operation,
and is provided for convenience only. In the next major release of
4DOS, the separate "286" executable file will be eliminated entirely.
If you have a single 5.25" 4DOS shareware disk and feel that you must
try 4DOS286.EXE before purchasing 4DOS, check with your shareware
disk vendor to see if they carry the supplementary disk containing
this file. You can also obtain this supplementary disk from J.P.
Software by sending a check, money order, or cash (via registered
mail please) for $2 ($4 outside the U.S.). Or, you can download a
copy of 4DOS from an electronic bulletin board or on-line service.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 4
Installing Version 3.02
-----------------------
If you do not presently have 4DOS installed, follow the instructions
in README.1ST for automatic installation. For manual installation
see pages 12 - 13 of the 4DOS reference manual for "quick start", or
pages 14 - 27 for full details. If you have 5.25" disks with a
registered copy of 4DOS, when doing a manual installation please note
that the 4DOS286.EXE file is now on the second disk, in the file
4DOS2.ZIP.
Upgrading an Earlier Version of 4DOS to Version 3.02
----------------------------------------------------
If you already have an earlier version of 4DOS, use the procedure
below to upgrade to version 3.02.
Version 3.02 of 4DOS is a maintenance release. If you are a
registered owner of version 3.0 or 3.01 and are entitled to a free
major upgrade, version 3.02 does NOT count as that upgrade. The
BRAND program you used to brand version 3.0 or 3.01 will also brand
version 3.02.
If you need to order a paid upgrade, a new copy of the printed and
bound 4DOS version 3 manual, or a utility disk, see the upgrade order
form in the ORDER.FRM file. The printed manual has not been revised
for version 3.02.
All users with 4DOS presently installed can use the following upgrade
procedure:
1) Be sure you have a bootable DOS floppy handy in case you have
a boot problem.
2) Install 4DOS version 3.02 using either the manual or automatic
procedure described in the documentation. Install it in a
directory which is NOT the same as the directory containing your
old 4DOS files, and do not modify your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT
files (yet). If you purchased your upgrade on 5.25" disks, when
doing a manual installation note that 4DOS286.EXE is now on the
second disk, in the file 4DOS2.ZIP. If you received a free
upgrade on 5.25" disks, 4DOS286.EXE is on the second
(supplementary) disk and must be copied manually to your boot
disk.
3) If you are a registered user be sure to brand your new version
of 4DOS to convert it to a registered copy. (If you are not a
registered user, how long have you been using 4DOS? Maybe it's
time to register!) Branding is included in the automatic
installation procedure, and described in the manual (page 12,
step 3) if you are installing 4DOS manually. If the branding
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 5
operation fails with a "brand installation error", check that you
entered the serial number correctly. If so and you are upgrading
from an older version to a new major release (for example, from
version 2.21 to version 3.02), you probably are not entitled to
the current upgrade; see the last page of ORDER.FRM to order an
upgrade, or contact J.P. Software.
4) To "test drive" 4DOS version 3.02, run the EXE file
(4DOS88.EXE for any PC system, or 4DOS286.EXE for 186/286/386/486
systems; use 4DOS88.EXE if you aren't sure). Don't run 4DOS.COM
(i.e. do not use the "4DOS" command) as described in the "Test
Driving 4DOS" section of the manual -- it isn't compatible with
the earlier version of 4DOS already installed on your system and
will simply generate an error message.
5) Read through UPDATE30.DOC, and figure out any changes you need
to make in your normal use of 4DOS, and in CONFIG.SYS,
AUTOEXEC.BAT, 4START, your aliases file, and any other 4DOS-
related files. Pay particular attention to the items marked
"-->". If you are upgrading from version 3.01 or 3.01a to 3.02,
you only need to examine the items marked "3.02". Note that
changes between versions 2 and 3 are no longer included in
UPDATE30.DOC; contact J.P. Software if you need a detailed list
of these changes.
6) Once you are familiar with the changes in this new version,
modify CONFIG.SYS and any other files accordingly, copy the 4DOS
system files (4DOS.COM, 4DOS88.EXE or 4DOS286.EXE, and
KEYSTACK.SYS) to your boot directory, and reboot your system. If
you keep all 4DOS files in their own directory, you can simply
modify CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to adjust for the new
directory name and reboot, without doing any copying. If you do
this be sure to modify the shell name in SHELL=, any places where
you use 4DOS's /L: command line switch, any SET COMSPEC command,
and your PATH.
7) A note for those upgrading from version 3.01 (or 3.01a) to
3.02: once you've ensured that the correct files are being
referenced for the new version, you probably won't need to make
any other changes in your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC files for
version 3.02 to work correctly. The changes from 3.01 to 3.02
are very unlikely to require changes to your 4DOS configuration
or the system startup commands in AUTOEXEC.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 6
The 4DOS Utility Disk
---------------------
J.P. Software offers an add-on product for registered 4DOS users
only, the 4DOS Utility Disk, priced at $10 plus shipping.
All products on the utility disk except 4MAKE are either shareware or
freeware, and are available on many BBSes and on-line services. We
provide them on the utility disk as a service to those customers who
do not have modems or who prefer to obtain these programs on
diskette.
The utility disk includes:
* J.P. Software's help file compiler 4MAKE, and a copy of the
ASCII 4DOS help text. With 4MAKE and the help text you can
customize 4DOS's HELP by adding, deleting, or modifying commands
or command descriptions in the help file.
* TSRCOM, TurboPower Software's powerful package of TSR and
memory management utilities. The TSRCOM package allows you to
remove unruly TSRs from memory in several ways, and also includes
a memory map program and several other useful utilities.
* Shareware copies of Iram Weinstein's 4EDIT, a 4DOS full-screen
file description editor; and 4ZIP, a shell for PKZIP / PKUNZIP
allowing 4DOS file descriptions to be stored in and retrieved
from .ZIP files.
* Shareware copies of Innovative Data Concepts' SWAPDOS, a
utility to swap applications out of memory when you shell to DOS;
and SWAPSH, a swapper for the PC Tools Deluxe PCSHELL program
which allows it to run applications from the 4DOS prompt.
(4EDIT, 4ZIP, SWAPDOS, and SWAPSH are shareware products; like all
shareware you must register with the author if you continue to use
the product after a trial period.)
To order the 4DOS Utility Disk, see the upgrade order form in the
ORDER.FRM file.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] README.DOC page 7
SHELL2E.DOC
4DOS SHELL2E Utility
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by J.P.
Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-3975.
SHELL2E is a small TSR (memory-resident) program that allows some
programs using the undocumented COMMAND.COM interrupt 2E (INT 2E) to
work under 4DOS.
SHELL2E is available to all users of 4DOS. You may distribute it to
others for any purpose provided that you do not sell it or charge a fee
of any kind for distribution, and that this documentation is included
with all copies and is not modified in any way. Any other distribution
of SHELL2E requires explicit written permission from J.P. Software.
INT 2E is a "back door" entrance to COMMAND.COM that is neither
documented nor supported by Microsoft. It was apparently designed to
allow programs to execute DOS commands without loading a secondary copy
of the command processor. It is rarely used, but programs that use it
will be entirely dependent on it to work properly.
SHELL2E was originally written to allow users of Novell's MENU program
to use MENU with 4DOS; it has also proved useful for a few other
programs which also use INT 2E.
SHELL2E accomplishes most of the purpose of INT 2E. It traps calls
programs make to Interrupt 2E and loads a secondary shell to execute
them. With one exception, this should make programs that use INT 2E
work properly.
The exception is programs that use INT 2E to issue SET commands intended
to modify the master environment. Under COMMAND.COM the INT 2E is
executed by the primary command processor, and therefore implicitly
modifies the master environment when a SET command is executed. Since
SHELL2E uses a secondary command processor to execute the commands, a
SET command will modify the secondary command processor's environment,
and not the master environment. As of this writing the only program we
know of using INT 2E to execute SET commands is Personal Rexx from
Mansfield Software.
Use of SHELL2E is very simple. To load it, be sure that SHELL2E.COM is
in a directory that's on your PATH), then enter the command:
shell2e
To unload SHELL2E, enter the command:
shell2e /u
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] SHELL2E.DOC page 1
SHELL2E must be the last TSR loaded at the time you are trying to unload
it. If it is not, you will get an error message after entering the
SHELL2E /U command.
SHELL2E occupies approximately 512 bytes of resident memory once loaded.
It can be loaded high under 386MAX, MOVE-EM, QEMM, QRAM, or a similar
program, but it cannot be unloaded with its /U switch once it is loaded
high.
SHELL2E starts the command processor to run a secondary shell. The name
of the command processor is obtained from the COMSPEC environment
variable that was in effect at the time SHELL2E was loaded -- NOT the
COMSPEC environment variable setting in effect when SHELL2E is invoked
by an INT 2E from another program. In general this subtlety won't
matter, but if you change COMSPEC during operation of your system you
may need to consider it. You can set parameters for a 4DOS shell
created by SHELL2E using the 4DSHELL environment variable, just as you
can for any secondary 4DOS shell.
If you load SHELL2E and your program still doesn't work, it may be
getting an error. If your program returns to a menu or other screen
without waiting for you to view the output from a command it executes,
you may be unable to see the error message before the screen is cleared.
If you think this may be happening, unload SHELL2E and reload it with a
/W switch:
shell2e /W
This will force SHELL2E to display the message "Press any key to
continue ..." and wait for a keystroke once execution of the command is
complete, and before returning to the program that issued INT 2E. If
you use the /W switch then wish to disable it, you must unload SHELL2E
and reload it without the /W.
You can also use the /W switch to determine if your program is using INT
2E in the first place. Just load SHELL2E with /W and try the program;
if you see the "Press any key to continue..." message when a command is
done, then the program is using INT 2E; if you don't see the message, it
isn't.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] SHELL2E.DOC page 2
SYSOP.DOC
4DOS BBS Sysop Documentation
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by
J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-
3975.
This file provides information for bulletin board sysops on the distri-
bution of 4DOS via BBS systems.
We do explicitly permit uploads of the shareware version of 4DOS to BBS
systems. (Obviously uploads of the registered version are not permit-
ted). If you have any question as to whether the version which has been
uploaded to your BBS is shareware, simply uncompress the 4DOS88.EXE file
and run it. The signon message will tell you which version you have,
and the serial number. (When done, an EXIT command will return you to
COMMAND.COM).
If your BBS is associated with a commercial or user group shareware
library which distributes disks for a fee, you must obtain permission
from us BEFORE placing 4DOS in the library. See the file VENDOR.DOC for
details. This restriction does not affect your permission to place 4DOS
on the BBS as long as you are not charging a fee for its distribution
(other than the usual user fees for general use of the board).
If you want a copy of 4DOS "branded" for your BBS (when the user starts
the program it will say "uploaded to [your BBS name]" in the signon
message) send us a note and we will send you one, in ZIP format. Please
indicate whether you want 5.25" or 3.5" disks.
If you have any questions about 4DOS please contact us in any of the
following places:
CompuServe J.P. Software section of the PC Vendor B forum (GO
PCVENB), or CompuServe Mail to 75300,210
Bix Bixmail to "trawson"
BBS Future Technology, Boston, 617-720-4095 (this
board is used as a home base for 4DOS support thanks to
sysops Bud Napier and Brian Moran; it is independent,
and is not operated by J.P. Software)
InterLink via the 4DOS Conference
PCRelay via the 4DOS Conference
Voice (617) 646-3975, days Eastern US time
Fax (617) 646-0904
US Mail J.P. Software
P.O. Box 1470
E. Arlington, MA 02174, USA
An uploaded copy of 4DOS should normally include the following
files once everything is uncompressed:
4DOS.DOC Complete 4DOS manual
4DOS.COM 4DOS loader for EMS or disk swapping
4DOS.PIF PIF file for running 4DOS under Windows 3.0
4DOS.ICO Icon file for running 4DOS under Windows 3.0
4DOSM.ICO Same as 4DOS.ICO but for monochrome systems
4DOS88.EXE 4DOS program file for any PC-compatible system
4DOS286.EXE * 4DOS program file for 186/286/386/486 systems
ALIASES Sample aliases
COMPAT.DOC Information on using 4DOS with other products
DOS.HLP 4DOS help text
HELP.EXE 4DOS help program
HELPCFG.EXE Color configuration program for HELP.EXE
KEYSTACK.SYS 4DOS KEYSTACK driver
ORDER.FRM 4DOS license agreement, order form, and upgrade
order form
README.DOC 4DOS recent changes and installation instructions
SHELL2E.COM Program to allow software using INT 2E for command
execution to work with 4DOS
SHELL2E.DOC Documentation for SHELL2E.COM
SUPPORT.BBS Information on Future Technology, the independent
BBS used for 4DOS support
SYSOP.DOC This file
UPDATE30.DOC Information on changes in versions 3.01 and 3.02;
manual corrections
VENDOR.DOC 4DOS information for shareware disk vendors
In addition the following files are distributed on our shareware
disks and may have been uploaded, but are not required for 4DOS to
work:
INSTALL.BAT Startup installation batch file
INSTALL.BTM Additional installation batch file
PKUNZIP.EXE Unzip (decompression) program for 4DOS
README.1ST Shareware disk README file and startup instruc-
tions
If you are cleaning up 4DOS files on your board please delete any old
copies prior to version 3.02; they are all now obsolete. If you are
looking at an uploaded copy, note that the INSTALL.BAT, INSTALL.BTM, and
README.1ST files are meaningful for diskette installations only, and
will only confuse users if placed on a BBS, so you can delete them.
Also PKUNZIP.EXE is already carried on most boards, and it won't do much
good inside a ZIP file anyway!
UPDATE30.DOC
4DOS Update Documentation
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published by
J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617) 646-
3975.
This file provides details on features changed and bug fixes in versions
3.01 and 3.02, and corrections to the version 3 manual, due to either
typographical errors or new features added after the manual went to
press. The ASCII manual distributed with shareware copies of 4DOS has
already been corrected to include most of the changes in this file (all
the ones we could fit!), but such corrections have not been made in the
printed manual. We have made every effort to insure that this file is
as accurate as possible, but we cannot guarantee that every single
change is included.
This file does not document changes between versions 2 and 3 of 4DOS.
If you are a 4DOS version 2 user and this is the first copy of version 3
you've seen, contact J.P. Software for documentation on the extensive
changes between versions 2 and 3, or read through the new manual and
this file carefully before you begin using version 3.02.
The following marks are used to identify items in this file:
--> CAUTION: This change may require modifications to your ex-
isting batch files, aliases, commands, or common methods of
using 4DOS. Check these carefully when replacing an earlier
version of 4DOS with 4DOS 3.02.
3.01 This item is new or has been modified for version 3.01.
3.02 This item is new or has been modified for version 3.02.
[p nn] This item corrects or adds to the information in the version
3 manual, on page "nn".
If you don't want to read through all changes you may find it easiest to
view this file with 4DOS's LIST command and using its (F)ind capability.
If you want to see the modifications for version 3.02, search for
"3.02"; if you want to see the changes in your printed manual, search
for the string "[p".
This file is formatted at 58 lines per page, and contains form feeds and
page footers. It can be printed properly on most PC printers using the
command:
copy update30.doc prn
Printing it with a program that formats the pages is not likely to work
due to the formatting included in the file.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 1
Table of Contents
Installation and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
General Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Automatic Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Features and Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
General Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Command Line Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Aliases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
I/O Redirection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Environment Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Technical Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
ALIAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
CD and CDD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
COPY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DESCRIBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DRAWBOX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
GLOBAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
GOTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
IF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
IFF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
INPUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
KEYSTACK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
LIST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
LOADBTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
LOG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
QUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
REM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
SETDOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
HELP System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
New Capabilities and Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Environment Variables and Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Configuring HELP with HELPCFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 2
Installation and Configuration
------------------------------
This section discusses changes in the way 4DOS is installed and config-
ured on your system. It is not an explanation of how to install your
upgrade to version 3.02 (for that see README.DOC). For more information
on installation see pages 9 - 26 of the manual.
General Enhancements:
3.01 Disk swapping should no longer cause occasional system hangs if
the Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Break key is hit while 4DOS is swapping itself
in from disk (i.e. when exiting an application).
3.01 CLS, LIST, and SELECT are no longer affected by a video BIOS bug
in old IBM PCs.
3.02 [p 27] When starting a shareware copy of 4DOS there is a 1/2-
second, two-tone beep to identify this as a shareware copy, fol-
lowed by a 3-second delay to allow reading of the shareware re-
minder message. Beginning with version 3.02, you can skip this
delay by pressing any key.
Automatic Installation:
[p 13] The command to start automatic installation has been
changed to:
x:install x y
where "x" is the drive the 4DOS disk is in, and "y" is the drive
on which you want to install 4DOS. See README.1ST for more de-
tailed instructions if you need them.
Command Line Options:
All the items below refer to information on pages 21 - 23 of the
manual.
3.01 [p 21-23] Either / or - may be used as the switch character on
the 4DOS command line (eg SHELL=4DOS -S:E instead of /S:E, etc.).
[p 21] The file specified in the "@filename" option can have
more than one line, and is limited to a total of 255 characters
in the file, not 128. A file invoked with @filename can have
another @filename inside it. Wherever @filename occurs, all
options placed after it are ignored, so it must be the last item
present.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 3
[p 21] The /A switch supports the same incremental syntax used
with /E, i.e. /A+n. When used in 4DSHELL this allows you to
guarantee a specified amount of free alias space in secondary
shells.
[p 21] /E:nnnn may also be followed by S (/E:nnnnS) to swap the
master copy of the environment. This will save a small amount of
low memory, but may not be compatible with all applications, and
will not work with any application that needs to modify the mas-
ter environment.
[p 22] 4DOS will normally reduce the space used to swap a sec-
ondary shell by retrieving static information from the primary
shell's swap area. This reduces secondary shell swap size from
68K or more to about 20K. This feature will not work if the
total of your alias, history, and environment sizes in the sec-
ondary shell is larger than that specified for the primary shell,
or if the size of DOS memory has been reduced when the secondary
shell is started (e.g. by a program like DESQView that reserves
some memory at the top end of DOS memory). In such cases second-
ary shells will require a full-size swap area. The size of the
swap area is displayed in the "swapping initialized (nnK)" mes-
sage when 4DOS starts.
3.01 [p 22] The default location for disk swap files in secondary
--> shells is now in the root directory of the drive specified in the
COMSPEC environment variable (the drive where 4DOS.COM is
stored). If you want disk swap files to go to another drive or
directory, use the "/S:Bd:\path" or "/S:Dd:\path" settings in the
4DSHELL environment variable (see page 25 of the manual). This
should cut down on swap file clutter, yet leave you with complete
control over swap file location.
3.01 [p 23] The /U switch requires 386MAX, MOVE-EM 1.02 or above,
QRAM, or QEMM 5.0 or above. It may not be compatible with all
other software products. See COMPAT.DOC for full details on com-
patibility.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 4
Features and Usage
------------------
This section discusses changes in 4DOS features and usage which are not
specific to a particular command and which are not related to installa-
tion and boot.
General Features:
[p 29] The command history is now automatically passed to sec-
ondary shells. It is passed in one direction only, i.e. addi-
tional commands entered in the secondary shell will not be passed
back to the primary shell. To disable this option, place a HIS-
TORY /F command in your 4START file.
3.01 4DOS now has better support for non-English characters in file-
names, environment variables, and aliases.
3.01 Most of the changes in version 3.0 to allow shareable file access
--> on networks have been removed, because some networks and a few
popular programs (e.g. SHARE and FASTOPEN) couldn't handle them
properly. SHARE/LAN support is now provided where possible, but
is avoided in many places where it has been found to cause trou-
ble. This change should eliminate most or all I/O redirection
problems on networks.
3.02 Several changes have been made in 4DOS's file handling to elimi-
nate problems with incomplete redirected output files on Novell
networks.
3.01 A number of changes have been made to increase 4DOS's execution
speed, and reduce its size slightly. Speed improvements are
primarily in the areas of file access (particularly .BAT files),
and environment variable and alias expansion. They may not be
noticeable on higher-speed systems.
3.01 4DOS can now correctly handle text files (.BAT or .BTM files,
files to be LISTed or TYPEd, etc.) which have CR/LF, CR only, or
LF only at the end of each line. Previously not all of these
line terminators worked correctly.
3.02 There is a small speedup in description processing for the file
commands (COPY, DEL, MOVE, and REN).
3.02 The "?" character in filename wildcards now matches zero or more
--> characters like COMMAND.COM instead of one or more like previous
versions of 4DOS. Thus "DIR A?." will match both the files "A"
and "AA"; before it would only match "AA". This change adjusts
4DOS to work the way COMMAND.COM works instead of the way
COMMAND.COM is documented to work.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 5
Command Line Editing:
3.01 [p 28] You can now enter characters that would normally be in-
terpreted by the line editor as a command (e.g., Ctrl-D or Ctrl-
K). To do so precede the character with an ASCII 255 (hold down
the ALT key and enter 255 on the numeric keypad, then release the
ALT key). To enter the ASCII 255 itself into the line, you must
enter it twice.
3.01 The cursor shape will now be changed properly when you hit the
Ins key to switch editing modes. Previously if SETDOS specified
a block cursor in the default mode it would not be changed to an
underline when Ins was hit.
3.02 [p 28] The F3 key now works like COMMAND.COM, so you can type
part of a line and hit F3 to get the rest of the previous line.
Aliases:
3.01 Fixed a bug in alias expansion which occurred when a "%" was the
last character on the line.
Batch Files:
3.01 See the commands section below for information on the new LOADBTM
command, which allows any batch file to work as a BTM file some
or all of the time.
3.01 [p 33-34] Batch files can now be nested 6 levels deep (the
--> previous limit was 4).
3.02 The ECHO state is now inherited properly when batch files chain.
In version 3.01 the echo state was inherited properly on a CALL,
but not on a chain.
I/O Redirection:
--> [p 43-44] Redirection is now fully nestable. For example, in-
voking a batch file XYZ with "XYZ > OUT.DAT" will redirect all
output from the batch file to OUT.DAT unless additional redirec-
tion is encountered within the batch file.
3.01 4DOS now checks for duplicate redirection (i.e., "DIR > 1.DAT >
2.DAT"). Previously duplicate redirection could hang the system.
3.01 The system will no longer hang if a command specifies input redi-
rection after output redirection.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 6
Environment Variables:
3.01 [p 40] In order to support subtraction in the new %@EVAL func-
--> tion (see below) 4DOS will no longer accept a "-" in the name of
an environment variable to be expanded, unless the name is en-
closed in brackets [].
3.01 [p 41] Three new internal variables have been added:
%_dow The day of the week as a string (Mon,
Tue, etc.)
%_rows The height of the screen
%_columns The width of the screen
3.02 [p 41] One new internal variable has been added:
%_ndp Returns:
0 if no coprocessor is installed
87 for an 8087
287 for an 80287
387 for an 80387
[p 42] There are a few minor errors or points which are not
clear in the list of variable functions in some versions of the
manual:
* When using variable functions they must be preceded (and
optionally followed) by a percent sign, like all other envi-
ronment variables. For example the "ext" function is refer-
enced as %@ext[filename] or as %@ext[filename]%.
* The correct spelling for the string length function is
"%@len", not "%@length".
* The %@line function is missing from early copies of the
manual. This function returns the nth line of a file. The
first line of the file is numbered 0.
* In the %@substr function, the first character is numbered
0, and the correct syntax is "%@substr[string,start,length]"
not "%@substr[string,start,end]".
3.01 [p 42] A new function, %@eval, has been added. The syntax is:
%@eval[expression]
Where "expression" is any arithmetic expression. The expression
can include any of the following elements:
parentheses, which may be nested
unary + or - operators
multiplication and division operators: *, /, and %% (modulo)
addition and subtraction operators: + and -
environment variables, variable functions, and constants
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 7
The elements of an expression are processed with the precedence
shown above. For example, 5*3+2 is treated as (5*3)+2 rather
than 5*(3+2). Examples of the use of %@eval are:
Increment a variable: set a=%@eval[%a+1]
Perform environment variable arithmetic:
set c=%@eval[(%a*2) + (%@len[%b]-5)*7]
Evaluate expressions in IF:
if %@eval[%@substr[%_time,0,2] %% 12] == 0 echo 12:00!
Set up a simple command line calculator:
alias calc `echo The answer is: %@eval[%&]`
3.02 [p 42] Commas will now be ignored by %@eval. This will allow
(for example) %@eval[10,000 * 3] to get the expected result. It
will also allow %@eval to work on the output of a command like
FREE, which contains embedded commas. Also %@eval will give a
"Divide by zero" error message if you try to use 0 as a denomina-
tor for division or modulo calculation; previously it would give
an error for the modulo, but return the numerator as the result
for the division.
3.02 [p 42] %@substr can now handle quotes around the "string" argu-
ment. Double quotes and back quotes are equivalent in this con-
text, and the quote characters DO count when determining which
characters are placed in the substring. This capability allows
you to get substrings of strings which contain commas. For exam-
ple:
%@substr["Mon, Aug 27, 1990", 1, 3]
will return "Mon". Previously the commas would be seen as argu-
ment separators, even if they were within a quoted string.
3.01 [p 42] Another new function, %@index[string1,string2] returns
the position of string2 within string1 (string2 can be as small
as a single character). The first position in string1 is num-
bered 0. If there is no match, the function returns -1.
3.02 [p 42] Two new variable functions have been added:
%@upper[string] Returns the string converted to upper
case.
%@lower[string] Returns the string converted to lower
case.
3.01 [p 42] When expanding environment variables 4DOS will display a
"Variable loop" error if you nest variable functions too deep, or
define variables which refer back to themselves.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 8
Technical Information:
(All items here go with the technical information on page 149 of
the manual.)
3.01 4DOS.COM now closes file handles 5 - 29 when it starts. This
should solve problems with programs that pass open file handles
to a secondary shell.
3.01 4DOS now generates two different INT 2F calls to allow TSRs to
tell when 4DOS is back at the prompt. These calls have AX =
D44Eh. The first occurs immediately before displaying the
prompt, with BX = 0; the second occurs after displaying the
prompt and immediately before accepting keyboard input, with BX =
1. Any routine intercepting these calls should preserve at least
the SI, DI, BP, SP, DS, ES, and SS registers.
3.02 Both 4DOS.COM and the 4DOS EXE files now check for version mis-
match (e.g. trying to use version 3.01a 4DOS.COM with a version
3.02 EXE file). Previously this testing was done by 4DOS.COM
only, so a mismatch could go undetected in some circumstances.
3.02 Divide by zero handling has been removed from 4DOS, allowing
standard DOS divide by zero handling to take place. The 4DOS
divide by zero handler was not providing any advantage and could
occasionally fail to recover properly from division errors in
application programs.
3.02 Cursor positioning during command line editing will now take
place in the current video page, rather than assuming page 0.
This should fix minor cursor positioning problems with programs
that shell to DOS with the video adapter set somewhere other than
page 0 (like Turbo Debugger).
3.02 Handling of the Abort response to a critical error during a 4DOS
command has been modified to solve some obscure problems with
changing floppy disks after Aborting from a disk error.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 9
Commands
--------
This section describes the changes made to specific commands. Note that
some commands are also affected by the general changes in the "features
and usage" section above.
3.01 ALIAS: ALIAS /R can now read multiple files, for example:
alias /r alias1 alias2 alias3
3.01 [p 57-58] CD and CDD: Modified to allow forward slashes (/) in
path names.
3.01 [p 62-64] COPY: There are several changes:
Problems with appending files in binary mode have been fixed.
The way that COPY accesses files has been modified to mini-
mize or eliminate problems with the MS-DOS APPEND command.
The /R and /U switches are now ignored if the target is a
device.
A ^Z (end of file mark) is now properly added to the target
file when it is in ASCII mode.
3.01 [p 66] DEL: Speed has been improved somewhat, especially on
non-cached disks.
3.01 DESCRIBE: 4DOS description files will no longer get mixed up
between directories when running reasonably-behaved data pathing
utilities like DPATH.
3.02 DESCRIBE: Problems with missing <cr>s in description files have
been solved. These problems did not cause any trouble within
4DOS, but 3rd-party description editors were confused by them.
3.01 DIR: Changed to display directory totals even when the "File not
found" message is displayed. Changed the /F and /H switches so
they don't conflict with each other.
3.02 DIR: The time separator character will now be correct when the
country code is set for outside the US. Previously it was hard-
coded as a colon.
3.02 Problems with occasional "Out of memory" errors and missing
description displays in DIR have been resolved. However, if you
fragment DOS memory (for example by loading two TSRs, then un-
loading the first but not the second) you can get "Out of memory"
errors in larger directories as DIR tries to expand the memory it
is using to store your filenames and descriptions. If this oc-
curs, determine the cause of the fragmentation and resolve it.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 10
The primary tool for solving such a problem is a memory mapping
program like MAPMEM, PMAP, or Manifest.
3.01 DRAWBOX: Styles 3 and 4 now work properly.
3.01 FOR: Now aborts when a nested batch file CANCELs. Also, fixed a
bug that was causing FOR variables to be ignored inside double
quotes.
3.01 [p 83] GLOBAL: Added a /Q(uiet) switch to disable the display
of "GLOBAL: pathname".
3.01 [p 85] GOTO: A GOTO inside an IFF statement now cancels all IFF
--> parsing, and assumes you've branched completely outside the IFF
construct. If you haven't, you will get "Unknown command" errors
on subsequent ELSE, ELSEIFF, and ENDIFF statements (see examples
below). This change was necessary to avoid frequent errors
caused by GOTOs from inside an IFF block which left IFF parsing
active. Also fixed a bug which prevented GOTO from branching to
the end of the file from within a GOSUB subroutine.
iff "%1"=="Y"
:test
copy file1 a:
goto done <--- Legal - branches outside the
else IFF block
copy file2 b:
goto test <--- Illegal - branches within IFF
endiff block
[do some other work here]
:done
3.01 [p 88-90] IF: There are several corrections to the description
in the manual. Some of these errors are present only in early
copies of the manual:
* The DOS memory size option is named DOSMEM, not DOSFREE.
* The tests which check a numeric value (EMS, DOSMEM, etc.)
use the same relational operators as the string tests, as
shown in the examples. For example, the syntax for EMS
should read:
EMS relop n[K|M]
where "relop" means EQ, GE, GT, etc. The "relop" is optional
for ERRORLEVEL, but required for all other numeric tests.
* The MONITOR and VIDEO tests also require a relational oper-
ator (==, EQ, or NE) as described above for numeric tests.
* The IF ATTRIB test has an additional option: "N" tests for
no attributes set (i.e. all of the other attributes are off).
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 11
* IF ATTRIB volname V will only work if the volume name re-
fers to the root directory, and if there is a period after
the eighth character in volume names of nine characters or
more (e.g. to test for volume "MYFILES0107" in drive A:, use
IF ATTRIB A:\MYFILES0.107 V ...).
* Two tests are missing from some copies of the manual:
IF DISKFREE relop n
Tests the disk free space on the current drive.
Cannot be used to test other drives.
IF FILESIZE filename relop n
Tests the size of the specified file.
For example:
if diskfree gt 40M echo Plenty of room
if filesize myfile.dat gt 360K echo It won't fit!
3.01 [p 88-90] IF: String comparisons will now be done numerically
if both values being compared begin with a digit. This allows
you to do true arithmetic tests. For example:
set aa=027
set bb=20
if %aa gt %bb ... This test will succeed because it
will compare the numeric values 27
and 20.
if "%aa" gt "%bb" ... This test will fail because it will
compare the alphanumeric values
"027" and "20", and the "02" will
appear 'smaller' (alphanumerically)
than "20".
3.01 IF: The ATTRIB test for a volume label has been changed to get
around a bug in DOS, and should now recognize labels correctly.
3.02 IF and IFF: The string tests will now work correctly even if the
string contains an "=" sign (which is one of the IF test charac-
ters) or a "/" (which is the 4DOS switch character). Also the
EMS test now returns the correct value (0) if there is no EMS
driver present. In version 3.01 it would return a random value.
3.01 IFF: ELSE and ENDIFF will now be recognized properly even if
they are not followed with whitespace.
3.01 INPUT: Fixed a bug with very long variable names and/or input
text.
3.01 [p 94] KEYSTACK: There are two changes:
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 12
* KEYSTACK now supports a new symbol, !, to clear keystrokes
from the typeahead buffer, as well as anything in the
KEYSTACK buffer. For example:
keystack ! @59
will clear the typeahead buffer before stacking the @59 (F1)
keystroke.
* Some programs will not interpret stacked keystrokes proper-
ly unless they contain both the correct ASCII value and the
correct keyboard "scan code". For example, if you attempt to
KEYSTACK an "Enter" using ASCII code 13 (carriage return) and
see a small musical note instead, the program you are running
probably needs the scan code to interpret the keystroke prop-
erly.
KEYSTACK now supports the entry of scan codes for standard
ASCII keys. To enter the scan code, multiply it by 256 and
add it to the ASCII code. Using the same example, the scan
code for the Enter key is 28, so the full value for this key
would be 28*256+13 = 7181. With some programs you will find
that KEYSTACK 7181 works when KEYSTACK 13 does not (or vice
versa). Experimentation is required to get the correct val-
ue. A full discussion and table of scan codes is beyond the
scope of this document, but is available in many basic PC
books.
3.01 [p 95] LIST: There are two changes:
--> Changed the search and print keys to use letters instead of
function keys: F(ind), N(ext), and P(rint). This avoids
conflicts when you wish to redefine the function keys for
other purposes.
Added a new switch, /H, to strip the high bit of each charac-
ter, for displaying WordStar documents and other similar
files.
3.02 LIST: The switches now work properly when specified without
spaces, eg as /WS or /W/S. Previously they required a space
(/W /S) to work correctly.
3.01 [p 96] LOADBTM: This is a new command. It will switch the
current batch file to and from .BTM mode. The syntax is:
LOADBTM [ON | OFF]
LOADBTM ON loads the entire file into memory and processes the
following lines as a .BTM file. LOADBTM OFF unloads the file
from memory and processes the following lines one by one like a
.BAT file. Both commands can be used regardless of the file's
original extension.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 13
LOADBTM will allow you to have a single batch file for both
COMMAND.COM and 4DOS, and select .BTM mode via a statement like:
if "%@eval[2+2]" == "4" loadbtm on
Since the %@eval function does not exist under COMMAND.COM, the
IF test will fail there and the rest of the line will be ignored.
Under 4DOS where %@eval exists, the LOADBTM ON will be executed.
LOADBTM will also allow you to load TSRs from a .BTM file by
switching it into .BAT mode, loading the TSRs, and switching back
to .BTM mode. However note that, depending on what the file
does, such mode switching can erase much of the speed gained by
using a .BTM file in the first place.
3.01 LOG: Fixed a problem which caused a ^C to occasionally hang the
system when LOG was ON. Also changed LOG to automatically switch
LOG OFF if it couldn't open the log file.
3.01 MOVE: Now returns an "Access denied" error if you try to move
files to a character device. Also the way that MOVE accesses
files has been modified to minimize or eliminate problems with
the MS-DOS APPEND command.
3.01 QUIT: Fixed a bug which kept 4DOS from QUITting within a GOSUB
subroutine.
3.01 REM: Will now be echoed if ECHO is ON.
3.01 SELECT: Fixed a bug that was causing SELECT COPY to copy from
the wrong directory when the argument was a directory name with
no trailing backslash.
3.01 SET: SET /R can now read multiple files, for example:
set /r env1 env2 env3
3.01 SETDOS: There are two changes:
/S now resets the cursor shape immediately, so it can be used
to hide the cursor while in a batch file.
/U1 should now properly return uppercase filenames in all
instances.
3.02 SETDOS: The COMPOUND character (SETDOS /C) can now be any ASCII
character except those specified in the manual as not allowed.
Previously characters above ASCII 127 would not work as the sepa-
rator.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 14
HELP System
-----------
This section describes changes made to the 4DOS HELP system.
New Capabilities and Topics:
3.01 There are many corrections and additions to the text, including a
complete ASCII table.
3.01 A new "soft pagination" capability enables many commands to be
displayed completely on one screen if using more than 25 lines,
but paginates in a logical spot if using a 25-line screen.
3.01 HELP is now DESQView-aware and should run properly in a less than
full screen DESQView window.
3.01 HELP now accepts up to 16 pages per topic and 32 cross-references
per topic, to allow 4MAKE users to install longer topics inside
the help file.
3.02 The text has been modified in many places. An ANSI table has
been added along with the APPEND, FASTOPEN, GRAPHICS, KEYB,
NLSFUNC, RECOVER, and REPLACE commands, and more information on
HELP itself. The explanations of JOIN and SUBST are more de-
tailed. All resident commands now show their DOS 3.3 resident
size. Several minor typographical errors have been corrected.
Environment Variables and Switches:
3.02 HELP has two switches which can be set temporarily on the command
line (in version 3.02), or "permanently" -- until explicitly
changed -- via the 4HELPC environment variable (see below). When
switches are set on the command line they can be placed before or
after the topic name (if any), so for example these two commands
are equivalent:
help copy /r
help /r copy
The switches are:
3.02 /BW: Forces HELP to display all text in monochrome colors,
to support the use of monochrome monitors attached to color
video boards (e.g. use of a composite monochrome monitor on a
CGA system). If you have such a system you will probably
want to set the /BW switch permanently as shown under 4HELPC
below.
3.01 /R: Disables dynamic window resizing and forces all text
screens to be displayed at the full screen height for those
who prefer an unchanging display window size.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 15
3.01 Three new environment variables have been added to give you bet-
ter control over HELP:
4HELP: Specifies the full path and file name for the help
program to be loaded when F1 is pressed. If 4HELP is not
used, 4DOS will look for HELP.EXE in the current directory
and then on the PATH. 4HELP affects only F1, NOT the HELP
command; if you need to change how the HELP command works as
well, use an alias.
For example, if your HELP files are in the directory
D:\4DOS\HELP you will need the following lines in
AUTOEXEC.BAT:
set 4help=d:\4dos\help\help.exe
alias help d:\4dos\help\help.exe
4HELPF: Specifies the full path and file name for the help
text file. If not used, HELP will search for DOS.HLP in the
directory specified in 4HELP (if any), then in the current
directory and on the path.
4HELPC: Specifies permanent control switches for HELP.EXE.
More information on switches is above. For example, to per-
manently force HELP into monochrome mode, place the following
line in AUTOEXEC.BAT:
set 4helpc=/bw
Configuring HELP with HELPCFG:
The HELPCFG.EXE program, provided with 4DOS, can be used to con-
figure the help system display colors. To use it, change to the
directory HELP.EXE is in, be sure HELPCFG.EXE is in the same
directory, and enter the command:
HELPCFG
HELPCFG allows you to set the colors for several different por-
tions of the help display. Use the vertical arrows to select
which type of display color you wish to adjust. Hit <cr> and you
will be able to move a box in the left-hand window to select the
color. Hit <cr> again to select the color, or Esc to return to
the right hand window without changing the color. Another Esc
will save the new colors and return you to DOS.
If you are using a monochrome monitor on a color system and re-
quire HELP's /BW switch for proper displays, you may not be able
to change the monochrome display attributes easily with HELPCFG,
which does not currently have a /BW switch. This will be changed
in a future release of 4DOS.
4DOS 3.02 [9-7-90] UPDATE30.DOC page 16
VENDOR.DOC
4DOS Shareware Disk Vendor Documentation
Version 3.02, 9/7/90
Copyright 1989, 1990, J.P. Software. All Rights Reserved. Published
by J.P. Software, P.O. Box 1470, E. Arlington, MA 02174 USA, (617)
646-3975.
This file provides information for disk vendors on the distribution of
4DOS.
Please note that our policy on distribution of 4DOS by disk vendors is
the same for both commercial vendors and non-profit user group
libraries.
As stated in the 4DOS license agreement, we require that you obtain
written permission from us before placing 4DOS or any part of the 4DOS
package in any user group or commercial library, unless you have
been approved by the Association of Shareware Professionals and
have notified us that you wish to distribute 4DOS. (See the
license agreement for more information).
We would be pleased to work with you in the distribution of our
product, as disk vendors are an important part of the shareware
distribution system. Once we give you permission to distribute 4DOS we
will send you a copy which is "branded" for your library (when the user
starts the program it will say "obtained from [your library
or company name]" in the signon message). We will also do our
best to keep you up to date with the latest version.
Before we can send you a copy of 4DOS and give you permission to
distribute it we require that you meet one of the following two
conditions:
(1) Send us a copy of your standard written materials (catalogs /
flyers) which clearly explain the shareware concept, the REQUIREMENT
that users register products they use, and the fact that the price of
your disks is a copying fee only and does not constitute payment for the
product. The material must also differentiate between shareware and
public domain software.
We aren't concerned with what language you use or how concise or de-
tailed the information is, but it must explain these basic concepts or
we will not be confident that users are fully informed about what they
are (and are not) purchasing.
It is not sufficient to state that you explain these issues to customers
in person, it must be reflected in your written materials.
(2) Become an Approved Vendor of the Association of Shareware Profes-
sionals (ASP). For more information on the ASP vendor program, contact
the ASP at:
Association of Shareware Professionals
Vendor Certification Committee
P.O. Box 5786
Bellevue, WA 98006
We strongly recommend that you consider becoming an ASP approved
vendor if you have not already done so. The ASP vendor program
reduces the workload for both authors and vendors, and helps give
customers confidence that reasonable standards are met in the
distribution of shareware products.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this policy may cause you, but we
have found it to be necessary due to widespread confusion in the
marketplace and the occasionally troublesome practices of some vendors.
We look forward to working with you in the future, and please feel free
to contact us if you have any questions or comments on our product or
our policies.
You can contact us at any of the addresses below. Please mail
materials to us at the P.O. Box address.
CompuServe Mail to 75300,210
Bix Bixmail to "trawson"
BBS Future Technology, Boston, 617-720-4095
InterLink via the 4DOS Conference
PCRelay via the 4DOS Conference
Voice (617) 646-3975, days Eastern US time
Fax (617) 646-0904
US Mail J.P. Software
P.O. Box 1470
E. Arlington, MA 02174, USA
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #1773
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
INSTALL BAT 2014 9-07-90 3:02a
README 1ST 4319 9-07-90 3:02a
PKUNZIP EXE 17931 9-07-90 3:02a
4DOS ZIP 325006 10-04-90 3:02a
4 file(s) 349270 bytes
11264 bytes free