TIPS ON GETTING ALONG WITH DR DOS 5.0 by Bill Hill for PC Wizard's Workshop CIS # 70025,1621 A- Even though the manual says that you don't have to re-partition and/or re-high level format your hard disk, it is worth your while to do it. You get rid of the possibly problematic MesS-DOS hidden system files and the two DR DOS hidden files will be placed right after the boot sector, directory and FAT. A lot of mysterious problems (mainly disk related like failure to boot and regular occurrences of cross- linked files or lost clusters) seem to magically go away if you do this step. Since you have BACKED UP your HD anyway, why not go ahead and refresh your low-level format at the same time to start clean with DR DOS 5. B- Before doing anything else, carefully read the "Release Notes" pamphlet and the chapters in the Users Guide on "Configuring Your System" and "Memory Management". They will help you understand how to answer questions that the INSTALL program asks you. C- Best way to proceed with Advice A: 1- BACK UP YOUR HARD DISK, ALL PARTITIONS!! 2- Make Working Copies of DR DOS masters using DISKCOPY 3- If you have "Toss Your DOS" upgrade version, find CONFIG.SYS file on Working Disk 1, and REM out the "DEVICE=UPGRADE.sys" line. Edit in lines to set BUFFERS=31 and FILES=20 also BREAK= ON. Full version doesn't have a CONFIG.sys file so create one with above lines. If you use a HD driver like DiskManager, Vfeature or Speedstor, add a DEVICE= line for it and copy your driver onto Working Disk 1. 4- Rename AUTOEXEC.bat to something like AUTO.bat 5- Create new AUTOEXEC.bat containing PROMPT=$p$g. 6- With Working Disk 1 in drive A:, warm boot. (CTRL-ALT-DEL) 7- Low-level format your HD using whatever means you have or if you have SpinRite II (later version than 1.1) you can wait till later to refresh your low-level. Remember, you can't low-level format IDE drives (nor SCSI I think). 8- Partition and high-level format the HD using DRD5 FDISK or your 3rd party package (DM, Vf, Ss etc.). If your 3rd party partitioning soft ware asks if you want it to put the BOOT SECTOR on the drive, let DRD's FDISK do it. FDISK does BOTH partitioning and high-level format. 9- Put Working Disk 2 in drive A: and type INSTALL /D. 10- Follow along with DR DOS install program. If you are using Disk Manager by OnTrack and accepted its normal partition scheme, then you probably have a C: drive that is only about 1 Meg. in size. If so, one of the first messages you see will be an error message saying that there is not enough room on your hard disk to install DR DOS. Of course, you know that there is plenty of space on one of your partitions, so ignore the message, hit and a few screens down the road you will be asked where to put DR DOS's files. Just arrow key up and type in the drive:\directory where you have room enough (about 1.5MB including ViewMAX). Smooth sailing from there. Install ViewMAX right along with the rest DO NOT SKIP! as it is difficult to do later. It is also difficult to change the ViewMAX configuration later. They should have a separate INSTALL for it. Write and tell them or leave a message on CompuServe (GO DRFORUM). 11- Restore your files and programs to the HD and you're in business. DO NOT restore your old MS DOS files to the HD. Known Problems: Lantastic, some old Sierra games, Super Writer, Carousel, Stacker (see msgs. on CI$) and probably others that I am unaware of. Use Back & Forth intead of Carousel, it's better anyway. Ver. 1.71 or later works fine. For Back&Forth, if using DR DOS's memory manager use MEMMAX -U and turn off HISTORY. If you use a 3rd party memory manager with B & F then you don't have to use MEMMAX but you still have to turn DRD5's HISTORY off because B & F has its own. If WordPerfect acts up, try MEMMAX -L. When you see that it works, create batch file to start WP thusly: MEMMAX -L WP (lines that invoke your program) See "Release Notes" MEMMAX +L about MEMMAX. (This will also work on most programs that fail to run and return an error message like "Packed File Corrupt"). A program that comes with LZEXE called UPACK will also solve this problem by undoing the damage that Mickeysoft's EXEPAK did. It now seems that there is a problem with some programs packed with PKLITE. (PC Tools 7) Supposedly there is a file lurking somewhere in the IBM??? fora called LOWFIX.zip that takes care of some of these problems, but I don't know how. There is a rumor that there is a file out there in BBS land that acts like MesS-DOS 5's SETVER program and allows DRD5 to tell other lies to applications than just Ver. 3.31. If you know of such a beastie, please upload it here for all to share and also the LOWFIX.zip. **--> New Info- There is a workaround for the Stacker problem and Lantastic also works properly for some. In the June issue of BYTE, Jerry Pournelle said that there was a "Business Upgrade" of DR DOS that fixes the Lantastic problem, but I've never heard of it. The SuperWriter problem was fixed with the Feb. 91 release of DRD5. MORE MISCELLANEOUS INFO: -- EMM386 is used for 386s. HIDOS.SYS is used for 286s, 286 NEAT or to move the kernal when you use a 3rd party memory manager like 386MAX or QEMM or when you want to run Windows3 or DESQview on a 386. When you use HIDOS.sys to move the kernal high when using a 3rd party mem. manager, it provides no other services. That means that HILOAD, HIDEVICE and HIDOS=ON do not work. If you want it all, Windows, EMS, XMS, move the kernal high and INT15 extended memory, you will have to use either 386^MAX or QEMM. If you use the HIMEM .SYS that comes with windows, you can get XMS, INT15 extended and move the kernal high. That is all. No HILOAD, HIDEVICE or HIDOS=ON. I hope that clears things up. - The best combination for Windows3 is DRD5 using 386MAX ver. 5.1 or greater as the memory manager. See "Release Notes." - The best combination for DESQview is DRD5 using QEMM (>=5.11) as memory manager. In fact, DR DOS is the only extant DOS that will move its kernal into UPPER memory and leave the HMA alone for DV to occupy. QuarterDeck should make the radical move of recommending DR DOS 5 for users of DV!! - The CHKDSK.COM that comes with the "Toss Your DOS" pkg. does not report correct free memory (other functions OK). Use MEM instead. You will be able to get a revised version on CI$ or direct from DRI. - CACHE program is slow and slows video speed. Use your favorite third party cache instead (IMO HyperDisk is best, PC KWIK second). Latest version of PC Kwik is known to have significant bugs. - I recently installed my first upgrade pkg. for a customer and it seems that the ANSI.SYS is also flaky. Since it is slow too, use NANSI.SYS faster, smaller and bug-free. Or if you have Ultra- Vision, use its ANSI driver. All work well with DRD5. - When using a Logitech Serial Mouse, choose the BUS MOUSE option (#1, I think) in your ViewMAX installation. I don't know why, but it works. - Why does DR DOS 5 report ver. 3.31 to certain utility programs? This is one of the most often asked questions on the DRFORUM. Compaq DOS ver. 3.31 was the first version of MesS-DOS to support large hard disk partitions (above 32 Meg.). This became the standard large partition method for all later versions of DOS. By reporting v. 3.31 to programs that need to know what type of partitions they will be working with, the programs will be able to work correctly. If you type ver at the command line, the proper version (DR DOS 5.0) will be returned. Following is a CONFIG.SYS that shows how to use DRD5's built-in conditional operators to have many choices of configuration at boot time. *--> N.B. I HAVE NOT YET TESTED SOME OF THE CONFIGURATIONS, SO DON'T TAKE THEM LITERALLY. The order of the lines is correct though, to the best of my knowledge. I am continuing to vary the line order to see what happens. You don't really know 'till you've tried... BACK UP YOUR DISK BEFORE EXPERIMENTING -- you have been warned! SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM C:\ /P /E:256 DEVICE=DMDRVR.BIN ;(Disk Manager device driver) :START ?"Do you want to run DR DOS 5.0 (Y/N)?" GOTO DRD5 ?"Do you want to run DR DOS 5.0 w/ 386MAX (Y/N)?" GOTO DRDMAX ?"Do you want to run DR DOS 5.0 w/ QEMM (Y/N)?" GOTO DRDQM ?"Do you want to run MPC-386 (Y/N)?" GOTO COMMON ?"Do you want to run Windows (Y/N)?" GOTO WIN3 ?"Do you want to run Windows w/ 386MAX (Y/N)?" GOTO WINMAX ?"Do you want to run a minimal configuration (Y/N)?" GOTO BARE ?"DO YOU WANT TO START OVER (Y/N)?" GOTO START GOTO START ;(This forces you to make a choice from above.) :DRD5 DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.SYS /E=EA00-F400 /F=AUTO /K=4608 /B=FFFF /R=AUTO DEVICE=C:\UTILITY\HYPERKX.EXE XS C:1024 K V ;(Loads HyperDisk Cache) HIDEVICE=C:\UV\ANSI-UV.SYS ;(" Ultravision ANSI driver.) HIDEVICE=C:\DOS\VDISK.SYS 1024 512 64 /E HIDEVICE=C:\UTILITY\MOUSE.SYS SER 1 ;(Logitech Mouse driver) HIDOS=OFF (You may use ON here if you have room enough in upper memory.) (remember to leave some room in Upper for overhead.) GOTO COMMON ;(Jumps to a list of commands that is the same for most configs.) :DRDMAX DEVICE=d:\utility\386MAX.SYS pro=d:\utility\386max.pro ;(see . *.pro file at end) DEVICE=d:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF ;(Loads DR DOS kernal into HMA.) DEVICE=d:\UTILITY\HYPERKX.EXE XS C:1024 K V DEVICE=d:\UTILITY\386load.sys size=1968 prgreg=3 flexframe . prog=C:\uv\ansi-uv.sys DEVICE=d:\UTILITY\386DISK.SYS 1024 512 64 /EMS DEVICE=d:\utility\mouse.sys GOTO COMMON :DRDQM DEVICE=D:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS MEMORY=4992 MAPS=4 NOVIDEOFILL RAM ROM device=D:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF ;(Loads DRD5 kernal into HMA.) ;(Could use /B=AUTO to load kernal ;into UPPER mem. for DV.) DEVICE=D:\UTILITY\HYPER386.EXE XS C:1024 K V ;(Loads itself high) device=D:\uv\ansi-uv.sys ;(Drivers probably could be loaded high.) DEVICE=D:\UTILITY\VDISK.SYS 1024 512 64 /E DEVICE=D:\utility\mouse.sys GOTO COMMON :WIN3 device=E:\win3\himem.sys device=D:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF device=D:\utility\hyper386.exe XS C:512 K V device=D:\dos\nansi.sys GOTO COMMON :WINMAX Device=D:\utility\386MAX.SYS pro=E:\win3\386max.pro device=D:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF DEVICE=D:\UTILITY\HYPER386.EXE XS C:1024 K V device=D:\UTILITY\386load.sys size=1968 prgreg=3 flexframe prog=D:\uv\ansi-uv.sys DEVICE=D:\UTILITY\386DISK.SYS 1024 512 64 /EMS EVICE=D:\utility\mouse.sys DEVICE=D:\DOS\NANSI.SYS GOTO COMMON :BARE device=D:\DOS\NANSI.sys buffers = 31 files = 40 fastopen = 0 lastdrive=G break = on history = ON, 256, OFF GOTO END :COMMON BREAK=ON buffers=5 FILES=40 FCBS=4,4 FASTOPEN=0 LASTDRIVE=G HISTORY=ON, 256, OFF COUNTRY=001,,D:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS GOTO END :END :WIN3 device=D:\win3\himem.sys /INT15=512 ;I have set aside a place in UPPER . ;RAM for HyperDisk by excluding EA00- . ;F400 in SYSTEM.ini file in 386 . ;enhanced section, read Win3 manual! . ;The /INT15 switch sets aside 512k of . ;extended memory for HyperDisk Cache. device=c:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF device=c:\utility\hyperkx.exe XS C:512 K V device=c:\dos\nansi.sys GOTO COMMON :WINMAX Device=c:\utility\386MAX.SYS pro=d:\win3\386max.pro device=c:\dos\hidos.sys /B=FFFF DEVICE=C:\UTILITY\HYPERKX.EXE XS C:1024 K V device=C:\UTILITY\386load.sys size=1968 prgreg=3 flexframe (cont. next line) prog=C:\uv\ansi-uv.sys DEVICE=C:\UTILITY\386DISK.SYS 1024 512 64 /EMS(probably could load these high) DEVICE=c:\utility\mouse.sys DEVICE=C:\DOS\NANSI.SYS GOTO COMMON (CONFIG.SYS, cont'd) REM -- BARE used for running defragger, FDISK, SpinRite or other REM program that doesn't get along with caches, TSRs etc. :BARE device=c:\dos\nansi.sys buffers = 30 files = 40 lastdrive=F break = on history = ON, 256, OFF GOTO END :COMMON BREAK=ON BUFFERS=5 ;-- Buffers set to 5 because I use HyperDisk H_D cache. FILES=40 FCBS=4,4 FASTOPEN=0 LASTDRIVE=G HISTORY=ON, 256, OFF COUNTRY=001,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS GOTO END :END Next is my AUTOEXEC. BAT that shows how I implemented a boot time selection there as well. REM -- AUTOEXEC.BAT starts here. @echo off cls prompt $p$g path c:\;d:\dos;d:\utility;d:\pctools type AUTO.MNU REM -- ENDS here. Next is the menu called above: REM MNU Starts here. Autoexec Menu ---------------------------------------------------------------- | To run DR DOS normally, type: DO NORM | | To run DR DOS w/ 386MAX, type: DO DMAX | | To run a minimal confinguration of DR DOS, type: DO BARE | | To run Windows, type: DO WIN3 | | To run Windows w/ 386MAX, type: DO WMAX | | To run Concurrent DOS, type: DO CDOS | ---------------------------------------------------------------- REM MNU Ends here. I use DO.COM that allows me to keep all my .BAT files in one large file and call the one I want by typing "DO xxxx." I have not yet implemented the 386MAX choices, but you will get the idea: REM -- Beginning of BATCH.LOG bare @echo off PROMPT $e[7m$h$P$G verify ON path c:\;c:\dos;c:\utility;c:\uv;c:\pctools cls cdos @echo off LOADSYS ASK cpath path=%bootdrv%;\386-mpc;\386-mpc\auto-x; \386-mpc\communix;\386-mpc\graphics;\386-mpc\spool; c:\mpcutils;c:\utility;d:\;e:\;f:\ cls cpm echo off cls echo echo **************************************************************** ************** echo echo THE MPC-3 SHELL FOR DIGITAL RESEARCH CP/M WILL NOW BE LOADED echo echo TO RETURN TO THE MPC-3 MENUS, PLEASE TYPE exit AT THE PROMPT AND PRESS ENTER echo echo Thank You! echo echo **************************************************************** ************** echo pause cpm.exe dos echo off cls c:\mpcutils\reboot >nul ipath path = c:\;c:\uv;c:\dos;c:\utility;c:\pctools cls (BATCH.LOG cont'd) ni c: cd c:\norton path = c:\;c:\nortutil;c:\dos ni cd c:\ do ipath norm @echo off PATH C:\;c:\DOS;c:\UTILITY;c:\uv;c:\PCTOOLS VERIFY OFF PROMPT $e[1;37;44m$h$P$G HILOAD C:\UTILITY\logimenu.COM C:\UTILITY\click C:\UV\UV MEMMAX +U >NUL mode con: rate=24 delay=2 echo on cls om click out logimenu out mouse out pct PCSHELL/RT DESKTOP/R/CS cls rb c: cd \ path c:\;c:\rbase;c:\dos;c:\utility cd rbase rbase cd \ c: do ipath smauto prompt $p$g break on verify on cls win3 @echo off verify OFF path c:\;D:\WIN3;c:\dos;c:\utility;c:\uv;c:\pctools set TEMP=C:\TEMP cls win (BATCH.LOG cont'd); wmax @echo off verify OFF path c:\;D:\WIN3;c:\dos;c:\utility;c:\uv;c:\pctools set TEMP=C:\TEMP cls win w2k c: cd c:\ws2000 cd e:\book path c:\;c:\ws2000 ws2 cd e:\ cd c:\ do ipath w3path path = c:\;d:\win3;c:\uv;c:\dos;c:\utility;c:\pctools cls REM End of BATCH.LOG. Following is the 386MAX.pro file used with DRD5 that sets various tuning parameters for that memory manager at boot time: NOWIN3 ; UPDATE ==> Do not install WINDOWS 3.0 support code SHADOWRAM USE=B000-B800 ; INSTALL ==> recover RAM in MDA region EXCLUDE=EA00-F400 ;Sets aside place for HyperDisk cache that ;loads itself into UPPER ram. You may have ;to exclude more or less space depending on ;the version you use and cache size. USE=F400-F600 ; INSTALL ==> recover fill regions in ROM USE=FC00-FE00 ; INSTALL ==> recover fill regions in ROM ; This profile created automatically by INSTALL PRGREG=3 ; Load 386MAX.SYS into this program region EXT=640 -> Study 386MAX manual and readme.docs (LOTS of them) on disk before fiddling with this file. This is all on a plain vanilla 386-20 clone that I put together myself. Now eight Megs of RAM, Phoenix BIOS, all ROM shadowing disabled in setup, all shadow RAM enabled.