For Tech Support call 503-694-2221 Overview EDOS is a powerful device driver program that adds many amazing features to your DOS sessions under Microsoft Windows. It makes your DOS session "Windows-aware," whenever you run DOS in Windows' 386 enhanced mode. EDOS uses none of your conventional memory. It loads entirely in extended memory above 1 megabyte. Once you become accustomed to EDOS, you never want to be without it. EDOS Features EDOS adds several "internal" commands to DOS. These are commands that do not require separate files on your hard disk, but act like a part of DOS itself. These commands allow you to change your DOS session's PIF settings on the fly, set alarms which show a message box in Windows, add memory, start performance timers, disable "dangerous" DOS commands, view and print the Windows Clipboard, and much more. The five DOS Session icons correspond to five PIF files for DOS sessions of 736K, 704K, 640K, 128K, and 50K of memory. You can improve performance in Windows, and open more applications in Windows, by using the smallest DOS session you actually need. All DOS sessions started while EDOS is running -- not just those started with these PIF file icons -- benefit from all features of EDOS. A Windowed DOS session has a menu bar with file, edit, help, view selections and two status indicators, {b} and [X]. These show the state of the Background and Exclusive flags. They are grayed out when the state is off, black if on. They are updated in real-time. The menu bar can be disabled or enabled at any time. There is a SUSPEND menu item, on the system menu. Turns background off and minimizes the session all in one. EDOS also makes it possible for you to exit any DOS session by pressing Alt+F4 , just like a Windows application, instead of typing EXIT and pressing Enter. EDOS has a full, on-line Windows Hypertext Help system. You can run this by clicking on EDOS Help in any DOS session's System menu. For more information, see "What You Can Do With EDOS" in this document. Quick Installation First. Read the README.TXT file on the installation disk before proceeding. It contains hints and information on last minute changes to EDOS you should be aware of. To install EDOS, Windows 3.1 or higher must be running. Place the EDOS diskette in floppy drive A: or B:. Click the File menu in Program Manager (or any Windows "shell" program), then click Run. Type the following command line and press Enter: A:\SETUP or B:\SETUP For further information on the Setup process, see the section "How Setup Works" in this document, or the text file README.TXT on the EDOS diskette. After the installation process you can verify the installation worked properly by clicking on the "Verify" icon in the EDOS DOS session group. What To Do If Windows Won't Run If incompatibilities prevent Windows from running after you install EDOS, you can easily disable EDOS from loading so that you can work out the problem. To do so: Comment out the device=edos.386 line in the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. Comment out the EDOS=EDOSLIB.DLL line in the [drivers] section of SYSTEM.INI. NOTE: A semi-colon at the beginning of the line comments the line. If all else fails call EDOS tech support Quick EDOS Disable To disable EDOS loading, use the disable ICON or see the "How to Remove EDOS" for permanent removal. The disable ICON toggles from disabled to enabled. EDOS Operating Environment A DOS Session consists of one windowed or full screen DOS window and virtual machine. It acts like a single-user computer operating in the MS-DOS environment. Theoretically, anything that is designed to run under DOS, will run in a DOS Session. Unfortunately, many complications can keep this from happening. Although Windows 3.1 performs much better than previous versions running DOS Sessions, it still leaves much to be desired. EDOS adds reliability, functionality , and convenience to operating DOS programs under Windows. Indeed, a DOS application run in a windowed DOS Session with EDOS in control provides features and functionality unavailable under DOS alone. EDOS was developed for the many users who, for whatever reason, need to run in the Windows environment but frequently need to use DOS applications. What You Can Do With EDOS EDOS adds several new commands to DOS sessions. These commands can be typed at a DOS command line or used in batch files, like any other DOS commands. Some examples of ways you can use these features are: Using the EDOS command DOSMEM, you can give a DOS session more memory than it started with! Up to 736 KB. EDOS provides "Smart Exiting." EDOS automatically closes idle DOS sessions when you exit Windows. You can write a batch file to display or change most PIF settings "on-the-fly.". This means you can use a single DEFAULT.PIF file for all DOS applications, but change its settings as required. You can set alarms in DOS sessions, which display dialog message boxes in Windows. You can create batch files to run in background and use the ALARM and EDOSEXIT commands to return to Windows a failed or successful complete message. You can test the performance of various PIF settings on your DOS sessions, using the commands SYSTIME and BOXTIME. By running BOXTIME before and after a certain task, for example, you can see what percentage of CPU time that DOS application is getting from Windows. You can display or print any text in the Windows Clipboard from the DOS command line. Windows' own Clipboard Viewer can't print by itself. Using the BOXSWITCH command, you can disable the possibility of switching away from a DOS session and back to Windows, during critical tasks that must not be interrupted. You can test in a batch file whether or not Windows is running, using the ISWIN command. Additionally, EDOS modifies and disables some DOS commands that are dangerous if run in a DOS session under Windows. This includes CHKDSK/F, FORMAT, FASTOPEN, APPEND, SUBST, and others. And, EDOS allows you to specify DOS commands that you wish to disable. See the section "Disabling Other DOS Commands" in this document. Finally, EDOS features a new system menu for windowed EDOS sessions with; Hypertext Help, an "About EDOS" selection and under Windows 3.1 you can start the PIF editor which automatically starts with the PIF for the current session. For detailed information on each command, see the "Command Reference" section. For a quick summary, see below User Tips Alt+Space windows a DOS session and pops up the system menu. Alt+Enter toggles from Windowed to Full Screen. Alt+Tab will cycle from one task to the next. NOTE: Most people are unaware that WINSTART.BAT can be used to load TSR's that are used only by Windows apps and that ONLY take up conventional memory in the Windows System Virtual Machine. That's right ONLY in Windows. See the ADVANCED.TXT file on the installation disk for more information. Control Menu The control menu is invoked by clicking on the upper left corner of any Windows window frame -- at the left end of the Title Bar -- in the box containing the horizontal bar. It is relatively standard throughout Windows, but has minor changes in DOS Sessions. The EDOS version is even more capable. See the details below: Std. Moving & Sizing - This includes the usual Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize group. In addition EDOS adds Full Screen. This function is also available in the View selection on the EDOS Menu Bar, and sends a windowed DOS Session into Full Screen Mode. Close - This selection closes the DOS Session and its window, like File Exit in the EDOS Menu Bar. It likewise will be grayed out if the Session has a running application. Switch To... - This selection is a standard Windows entry which takes you to the Task Manager. Settings... - This selection is a standard Windows entry which takes you to a Dialog box showing some of the session setting -- display, priority, and tasking options, with a kill task button also. Changes may be made to the values/conditions here, which take effect immediately, but do NOT change the current PIF file permanently. This same Dialog box can be accessed from the EDOS Menu Bar under Settings|Current|Priorities. See Menu Bar below for details. Menu Bar - This is, of course, an EDOS addition. It is a switch; if checked, the EDOS Menu Bar is present. Suspend - Suspends the DOS session and replaces the session window with its icon. The Background Flag is turned off. If you click on the icon the control menu will pop up. You can in turn click on the check marked suspend item which will toggle the background Flag on and reactivate the session. EDOS Menu Bar EDOS now provides a Menu Bar, just below the Title Bar in windowed DOS sessions! In its present implementation, it offers DOS activities valuable performance and convenience improvements unavailable with other products. New... - This selection brings up a File Selection box, allowing selection of drive, directory, and filename, similar to many other places in the Windows environment. Only executable files are appropriate for this function, which is to launch a NEW DOS or Windows Session from the current DOS Session! Pick... - This selection brings up an identical File Selection box, BUT only pastes the FULL Path name of the selected file at the cursor location in the Current Session. The cursor needs to be located where keyboard entry of a filename is expected, of course. This could be at the DOS System prompt, or in a running application for which you need a filename response at that point. Exit - This selection closes the DOS Session and window -- IF you are at the DOS System prompt. It will be grayed out, if you are in a running application. The way to close the Session in that case depends on the PIF parameter settings -- usually by closing the application in its usual way. Mark, Copy, Append, Paste - This essentially is the same capability provided in the Control Menu of a regular windows 3.1 DOS window, BUT it is much more accessible and convenient located at the top of the screen and only ONE level down, rather than two. From an operational and utilitarian view, this makes the copy/paste procedure much more valuable and useable. Finally, all the important scraps of text that one would like to move from one application to another can be done -- and done easily. You will develop a real enthusiasm for the variety of small tasks that can now conveniently be done without retyping or confusion. And note that both the source and the target Sessions can be DOS or Windows in any combination. Make the source Current, Mark the selected block on the screen with your mouse -- point to the upper left corner of the text block desired, press the left mouse button and drag to the lower right corner (everything highlighted will be transferred, so mark carefully) -- choose Copy, and that text will be in the Windows Clipboard. When the text is selected (highlighted) it may be copied by clicking on the right mouse button. Make the target Current, if it is DOS, and place the cursor where you want the text to go; choose Paste and the text will transfer to that location as if it were entered from the keyboard. A Windows session as target will accept the contents of the Clipboard in the usual way, and as a source can Cut as well as Copy to the Clipboard for use by any target Session. The Windows Clipboard, for all we would like it to do, really isn't very capable. You can't tell what's in it at a given time, or how much and there's no way to get a printed record, in Windows or in DOS. EDOS adds some valuable functionality in this area. View Clip... - This selection brings up the Clipboard Viewer on top of the Current DOS Session. Anything the Viewer can do can be accomplished at this point. For example, you can transfer the clipboard contents to a .CLP file. Making and using multiple clipboards in DOS apps is not only possible, but easy. Using CLP files gives the Clipboard a memory. This is an EDOS added function. When using Clip to bring up the Viewer, any .CLP file can be loaded for use in the Current Session. You can paste whatever text is in the Clipboard at the cursor, regardless from where or when it came. The Clipboard Viewer and the .CLP file facility are not EDOS features of course, but EDOS allows DOS Sessions ACCESS to them. Clip Status... - This selection provides an Information box with a character count of the contents of the Clipboard. This gives a forewarning of how much text will be pouring into your application at the cursor, as well as providing a simple means of determining if ANYTHING is in the Clipboard at the moment. Print Clip... - This selection provides a printout of the contents of the Clipboard on the default printer. For best results, you should install in Windows the generic text printer driver in addition to those needed for specific printers. EDOS expects this Driver to be available for this function. Results may be unexpected if it is not. Scroll - This is the same function available in the Control Menu, but at a more convenient location. You may well wonder what this on/off toggle is for. It is not obvious, because it has no purpose in a Maximized Windowed DOS session. However, if your window shows less than the full DOS screen -- there will be an "elevator" scroll bar at the side, the bottom, or both -- then while in Scroll Mode the cursor (arrow keys) will scroll to view hidden portions of the screen. This provides for window view control without a mouse. You'll find that there are some times that the arrow keys are more appropriate or convenient, even if you normally do use a mouse. Full Screen! - This is the same function available in the Control Menu, but again in a more convenient location. Screen Saver! - This selection enables the Windows Screen Saver. When you return in the normal way from the Screen Saver screen, the same session is on top, ready for continuing. BUT NOTE: It is NOT selected. Simply click anywhere in that window as usual to reactivate the Session as the Current one. In the process of invoking the screen-save process, it becomes current. The preceding DOS Session can not automatically be made Current. Remember to reactivate your DOS Session when you return from Screen-Save! 25/50 Lines! - Toggles the DOS session display from 25 to 50 line mode and back. Fonts.. - This is the standard Windows entry in the Control Menu, which has been moved here for greater convenience -- it just seems to make more sense here! The functionality is the same, however. Several DOS session environment settings can be changed from the menu bar. They are: Background! - A yes/no toggle item. When check marked, background is on. This should show the same as the indicator at the right end of the Menu Bar. Like Priority the change is only temporary. See below. Advanced - These are items less often needed and provide more detailed info/control. Priority... - This provides the same Dialog box as the Settings item on the Control Menu and provides the same capability for temporarily changing PIF values. Exclusive - Like Background, above, this is a yes/no toggle, check marked when on, but is much less likely to be used, so it is at this lower level. Again, changes made here are temporary. The next three items are yes/no toggles, check marked when on. The toggle is provided in case a particular feature seems to interfere with a DOS application. Otherwise they serve mostly as status indicators, as do most items in this Advanced Menu. Drag/Drop! - You can drag a file name from the the file manager and drop tit at the command line in your DOS session. Fast Paste! - Toggles on and off the fast paste PIF setting. Run Win Apps! - Toggles on or off the ability to start Windows applications from the DOS command line. Screen Saver! - Starts the Windows screen saver. Kill Task - This provides the same function as on the Control Menu, that of terminating a DOS Session completely and unequivocally, when all else fails. HANDLE WITH CARE! This is the LAST RESORT Panic Button. Even so, ONLY the Current Session is terminated, the rest of the Windows System is not affected. Startup... - This selection invokes the PIF Editor with the Current Session PIF already selected. Any adjustments can be made to the PIF, just as in the PIF Editor normally invoked. PLEASE NOTE, however, that any changes made, if saved upon exit, will NOT take effect until this Session is closed, then restarted. The PIF information is only read during loadtime. EDOS Help - EDOS uses the full facilities of WINHELP, with which you may already be familiar in Windows applications, but has never previously been available in a DOS environment. Hypertext and pop-up definitions of terms are used extensively. Although there may be no end to the possibilities bearing from the implementation of this facility, presently there are seven major selections in the EDOS Help menu. They are self-explanatory, and please note that, as with any Windows Help selection, any entry can be printed on a selected printer, if permanent reference is needed. How? You can use the File entry in the Help System Menu Bar. There is a Print entry located there. If you never noticed, try it. It prints the current topic in graphic mode, and on a color printer, prints the sub-topics and hypertext buttons in green, etc. There are two indicators at the extreme right on the Menu Bar: {b} - when highlighted, indicates that the Session is marked for Background operation; if dimmed, the Session will not operate in the Background when the Session window is inactive. [X] - when highlighted, indicates that the Session is marked for Exclusive operation; if dimmed, the Session is not operating Exclusively, which is normal. Useful examples of Inter-session Communications Using EDOS The Mark/Copy/Append/Paste capability now in DOS Sessions provides far more communication among DOS and Windows activities than ever before. The new EDOS Menu Bar makes them convenient enough to actually use in a production setting. Of course, these functions works only for text, and only that which can be on the screen at one time, but there are a lot of scraps of text that would be desirable to transfer to another location without having to retype -- and get it wrong! A simple example to which all can relate is the name and address. If you provide a format screen in your database, for instance, that is exactly like the form you want it for a letter, open two Sessions.. Open the database in convenient search/find mode using the formatted screen above. Find the proper name & address for your letter, mark and copy it. Then to you word processing Session, place the cursor where you want the text to start, choose Paste, and continue with your letter. Remember if you haven't put anything else in the Clipboard in the meantime, the name and address is still available for the envelope! For low-volume letter writing, this provides a slick, easy , way to access your database, regardless what program it's in. Here's another. Say you have a program you want to write to the author/publisher about. For example, complimentary remarks about EDOS! Instead of scanning through the program in Dump Mode of your favorite Viewer and writing down the Owner name copyright date, version, and if you're lucky address, for later reference, simply mark the block of garbage in which that info is contained, copy, then place it in a text editor to clean it up ( WIN Notepad works fine), copy it back to the Clipboard and paste it into your letter -- or a note program for later reference. Many programs have a on-line help capability at the command line. Either ? or /? or something similar after the program command will often display such help. Have you ever wanted to get a printout of this -- AFTER editing it into a more easily readable or appropriate form for your purpose? For instance, the help screen from PKZIP/PKUNZIP. But, you say, the help takes more that one screen, especially PKUNZIP. So it does. Put as much as will fit on the screen and Pause, copy that much to the Clipboard. Since the present Clipboard has an append feature, we do not have to do this in multi-steps. Edit/Mark/Copy the first part then Edit/Mark/Append the second part. There are more than one way to do most things, but using these tools and procedures for small operations is quick and easy -- much easier than describing them. View, Status & Print - Since view brings up the Clipboard View right on top of what you're doing, you can, while there, save multiple clipboards in effect, by saving .CLP files, recalling them as needed with a load. Several text scraps could be copied in sequence from the same Session, saving each in a .CLP file in turn. Then going to the destination application and retrieving them one at a time through the Clipboard, appending all together. Picking Filenames - How often have you been in an application that has no direct connection with a directory listing at a point where it was asking for a filename? I Know, you can't count the times! This is a real lifesaver in such cases. We are using WIN facilities -- the File Selection Dialog box -- to peek at the directory system aside from the Current application. Unlike NEW, which has its own unique features, this simply pastes the selected filename at the cursor, wherever it may be. This is the COMPLETE path name, so there is NO ambiguity in the reference. Using TSR's with Applications - First word: BEWARE! That being said, many TSR's do work fine when invoked in a Session before the main application, using a batch file. Use of others may prove disastrous. Try them out carefully. The advantage of loading them locally is, they are part of that sessions memory allocation, and they are automatically removed from memory when the session is closed. A few TSR's function in DOS sessions with their usual hotkeys when loaded globally, that is, before Windows. However, Windows most often disables TSR Hotkeys while running. After leaving Windows the hotkeys may work as usual. BUT there may be incompatibilities between the TSR and Windows and an attempt to start the TSR will do strange, incomprehensible things to Windows that may not be immediately apparent. Also, it has been demonstrated painfully, any TSR that pastes data at the cursor of the underlying application through the keyboard buffer will likely interfere with the Clipboard paste into a DOS session or the use of pick. The Session -- or the computer -- may lock. If this happens to you, try turning off Fast Paste. Command Summary New DOS Internal Commands (EDOS Commands) /? Added to the end of an EDOS command, displays Help. Alt+F4 Closes a DOS session. ALTF4 Disables or enables the Alt+F4 key combination. ALARM Sounds an alarm after a specified interval. BACKGROUND Sets Background mode of DOS session. BOXSWITCH Changes ability to switch away from a session. BOXTIME Measures CPU time available to a session. CLIPBOARD* Displays or prints the Windows Clipboard DOSMEM Adds memory to the current DOS session. EDOSEXIT* Returns exit code from EDOS commands. EMS Displays expanded memory settings. EXCLUSIVE Sets Exclusive mode of DOS session. ISWIN* Sets the DOS Errorlevel if Windows is running. PIF Displays the PIF settings for a DOS session. PRIB Changes the Background Priority of a session. PRIF Changes the Foreground Priority of a session. SLICE Sets the Minimum Time Slice allocated by Windows. STATUS or EDOS Displays status information. SYSTIME Measures elapsed time system-wide. XMS Displays extended memory settings. * External (.COM) commands. DOS Commands Modified CHKDSK CHKDSK/F is disabled under Windows. DATE Should be changed only through Control Panel. MEM Additional information is displayed. Print Screen Prints to LPT1, instead of copying to Clipboard. TIME Should be changed only through Control Panel. WIN Disallows attempt to load a new copy of Windows and switches back to the current Windows session. DOS Commands Disabled While in Windows APPEND Confuses Windows as to true path names. ASSIGN Confuses Windows as to true drive letters. CHKDSK /F Scrambles open files under Windows 3.0. FASTOPEN Confuses Windows by buffering directory reads. FDISK Erases and re-partitions hard disks. FORMAT Should be run from Windows File Manager. JOIN Confuses Windows as to true path names. RECOVER Breaks files into small sectors and renames them. SUBST Confuses Windows as to true path names. DOSX Hangs PC, damages disk. Commands You Should Disable Review your utilities for commands that mess about with the structure of your disk. For example, disk organizers and the like. These should not normally be run from windows. In addition, some versions of DOS have special commands reserved for system installation. For example, The SELECT command is used by some versions of DOS to format a hard disk and install the DOS "hidden files," in preparation for the full installation of DOS itself. If you are running Windows on a Network you will probably want to disable network commands like: login, Logout and Attach. Command Reference This section describes each EDOS command in detail. The commands may be typed at the DOS command line, or used in batch files like any other DOS command. Adding a greater-than symbol (>) and a printer port or filename to the end of most EDOS commands will print output to a printer or a text file. /? Adding a slash and a question mark (/?) after any command displays Help text about that command. The command itself does not run. Alt+Enter Alt+Enter toggles between full screen and windowed mode in a EDOS session. Alt+F4 When EDOS is running, pressing the key combination Alt+F4 in a DOS session closes that session, just as it closes any Windows application. The effect in a DOS session is the same as typing EXIT. This key combination can be enabled or disabled from the command line by using the command ALTF4 ON or ALTF4 OFF (see below). ALTF4 ON - ALTF4 OFF Typing ALTF4 OFF disables the EDOS feature of closing a DOS session when the key combination Alt+F4 is pressed. ALTF4 ON turns this feature back on. The ability to close a DOS session with Alt+F4 can be permanently disabled by adding the line: EDOSAltF4=FALSE in the [edos] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. EDOSAltF4=TRUE enables the EDOS' Alt+F4 feature. (Uppercase and lowercase are not important in these lines.) ALARM {{seconds} {"message string"}} The ALARM command causes a message box to become visible after the delay in seconds indicated by the first parameter. An optional message string may be used, which must be enclosed in double quotes. If no message string is used then, the message box will contain the string "Alarm Rings". The message box title is the title and ID number of the DOS session that created the alarm. Several alarms, one per DOS session, may be initiated. BACKGROU[ND] {ON or OFF} Typing BACKGROUND by itself displays whether the current PIF setting allows the DOS session to run in the background (that is, whether the DOS session runs when it is not the current window). Typing BACKGROUND ON changes the PIF setting so the DOS session is allowed to run in the background. BACKGROUND OFF prevents the DOS session from running in the background. The background status is always displayed when this command is used. BOXSWITC[H] {ON or OFF} The BOXSWITCH command enables or disables the ability to switch away from the current DOS session back to Windows (with Alt+Tab or Alt+Esc, for example). Typing BOXSWITCH OFF disables the ability to switch away. You might want to use this command in a batch file before starting some task that should not be interrupted, such as a communications program or IBM 3270 terminal emulation program. BOXSWITCH ON reverses the effect of BOXSWITCH OFF, and enables normal switching from the DOS session to Windows. Using these commands, or typing BOXSWITCH by itself, displays the status of the current DOS session. BOXTIME The BOXTIME command begins and ends a timer that tells you how much clock time has elapsed, and what percentage of that time your DOS session had control of your processor's central processing unit (CPU). Typing BOXTIME the first time sets a system-wide timer and a DOS session (box) timer to zero. Typing BOXTIME a second time displays the elapsed time system-wide (the time you would see on a wall clock), the elapsed time that the DOS session was given by Windows, and the percentage that represents. The elapsed times are displayed in milliseconds. One millisecond is 1/1000 of a second. To convert milliseconds to seconds, if desired, place a decimal point three places from the right end of the number. (Note: The DOS timer cannot measure times smaller than 55 milliseconds.) The BOXTIME command is useful to find out how much time a DOS application is getting under various PIF settings. For example, you might create a PIF file that gives a DOS session 100 units of time when it is in the foreground and 50 units of time in the background (these are the Windows default settings). These settings might or might not give your DOS application enough time to get its work done when minimized or put in the background. Programs that communicate with remote computers, sort databases, or recalculate spreadsheets can benefit from "tuning" PIF settings. Example: To find out what percentage of CPU time the DOS version of Lotus 1-2-3 gets under certain PIF settings, you might start a DOS session and type the following commands: BOXTIME 123 MYSHEET.WK1 Once 1-2-3 is loaded, start a macro that recalculates the spreadsheet over and over. Then press Alt+Tab to return to Windows. After a few moments, press Alt+Tab until Lotus 1-2-3 appears. Stop the macro and exit Windows. At the DOS command line, type BOXTIME. This command will display the percentage of CPU time that Lotus 1-2-3 received from Windows in this situation. If you want the DOS application to get more or less time, change the background setting in the PIF until you get the desired results. The percentage of time that a DOS session gets in the background depends on the PIF settings and on what other DOS applications are running under Windows. The most important PIF settings are: Foreground Priority, Background Priority, Background Execution, and Exclusive Execution. The following Windows settings, which are set in the Control Panel's 386 Enhanced dialog box, are also important: Foreground Priority, Background Priority, and Minimum Time Slice. You can change all of these PIF settings, and the Minimum Time Slice setting, using the following EDOS commands: PRIF, PRIB, BACKGROUND, EXCLUSIVE, and SLICE. See the explanation of these commands elsewhere in this document. You can also track the system-wide time using the EDOS command SYSTIME, which is explained in its own section. CLIPBOAR[D] CLIPBOAR[D] /VIEW CLIPBOAR[D] /V > LPT1 CLIPBOAR[D] /V > filename The CLIPBOARD command reports whether there is any text currently stored in the Windows Clipboard and, if so, how many characters are in memory. The CLIPBOARD /VIEW command (which can be abbreviated as CLIPBOARD/V) displays any text that is in the Clipboard. This text can be sent to any text printer attached to your PC, or any file, by adding a greater-than (>) symbol -- which redirects the output -- and a port name or filename. This is useful because the Windows Clipboard Viewer has no way to send text to a printer or save plain-text files. For example: CLIPBOARD /V > LPT1 sends text from the Clipboard to the current printer on your LPT1 port (Line Printer 1). Most PCs have one to three parallel printer ports -- LPT1, LPT2, LPT3 -- and one to four serial communications ports -- COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4. You can redirect printing to any of these ports that currently has a working text printer. By specifying a valid DOS filename after the greater-than (>) symbol, you can save text in the Clipboard into a text file. For example: CLIPBOARD /V > C:\DATA\MYFILE.TXT saves the text contents of the Clipboard into a file called MYFILE.TXT in the DATA directory of your C: drive. If you do not specify a drive and directory name, DOS saves the file in whatever is the current directory. The output of most EDOS commands can be redirected to a printer or file in the same way. DOSMEM {kilobytes} DOSMEM /P DOSMEM /X Typing DOSMEM by itself displays the amount of memory in the current DOS session. For example: Memory size= 640 K bytes, Free=609K bytes. 0K bytes can be added, From= 2340K DOSMEM followed by a number in kilobytes (K) adds memory, if possible, to the current DOS session. For example: DOSMEM 200 adds 200K to the DOS session. It is a good idea to leave at least 50K unused in the global memory pool. For example, if 172K is left, use no more than 120K. This prevents possible situations where Windows might not be able to switch graphics modes for that DOS session. This information can be useful when setting PIF files for different DOS sessions and applications. The /P switch lets you add memory past the 640KB barrier, up to 704KB. Similarly the /X switch lets you add memory up to 736KB. These extra large EDOS sessions cannot be used to run programs that need graphics support. If you attempt to run such a program, a warning message will display and you will have to kill the session., The /P and /X options can be disabled by using the EDOS640KPlus=0 line in the [edos] section of SYSTEM.INI The /X option can be disabled by using the EDOS704KPlus=0 line in the [edos] section of SYSTEM.INI DOSMEM /V prints a detailed information about the DOS session. It is intended for trouble shooting. If DOSMEM /X or the 736kb icon will not create an oversized DOS session, try installing the EDOSReserveB0=0 setting in SYSTEM.INI. See notes about this switch. In some cases this will let the 736kb sessions work. NOTE: The DOSMEM command can only be used to add memory to a DOS session one time. Further, /P and /X can only be used in a 640kb session. The !DOSMEM!.COM file can be run from a PIF to start an oversized session. It is the recommended method. There is a ADVANCED.TXT file on the installation disk. It contains info about the oversize DOS sessions. For example: !DOSMEM!.COM /p !DOSMEM!.COM /x EDOSEXIT The EDOSEXIT command will return the error code (1 = failure, 0 = success) from the previously executed internal EDOS command. For example, if you use the DOSMEM command to get more memory, and the attempt fails, EDOSEXIT will return a 1 as an error code. If the attempt succeeds EDOSEXIT will return a 0, if EDOS is not installed, EDOSEXIT will return 10. For example, DOSMEM /P EDOSEXIT IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO DOSMEM_FAILED NOTE: See the EXITCODE.BAT in the EDOS subdirectory for a examples of using EDOSEXIT. EMS The EMS command displays the Expanded Memory Settings in the PIF for the current DOS session. An example of the display of the EMS command is as follows: EMS Required= 0K, Limit= 1024K, Locked=N EMS Free= 0K, EMS Total= 0K, Page Frame Address= E000 hex Expanded memory settings cannot be changed once the session has started. See the related command, XMS, which displays eXtended Memory Settings. NOTE: See the ADVANCED.TXT file for more information about Windows and EMS. EXCLUSIV[E] {ON or OFF} The EXCLUSIVE command allows you to display or change the ability of the current DOS session to claim 100% of the PC's central processing unit (CPU) time, when the DOS session is running full-screen. Typing EXCLUSIVE by itself displays only the message "Exclusive ON" or "Exclusive OFF," whichever setting is in effect. EXCLUSIVE ON immediately suspends any programs that may be in the background, including Windows itself. Windows maintains a small segment of memory to look for signs that you are closing or switching away from the current DOS session (with Alt+Tab or Alt+Esc, for example). This can cause communications programs in the background to lose data or their connection with another computer system. Don't use EXCLUSIVE ON if you want such communications programs to continue to run in the background. EXCLUSIVE OFF returns the DOS session to the Foreground and Background settings that are already set in the PIF file for that DOS session. Applications in the background, including Windows, begin receiving time again. NOTE: When a full-screen DOS session is windowed -- as with the key combination Alt+Enter -- it does not run in Exclusive mode, regardless of the Exclusive setting. A windowed DOS session, which is possible only in Windows 386 enhanced mode, gets only as much time as Windows allows it and all other applications. ISWIN The ISWIN command sets the DOS Errorlevel, depending on whether Windows is running or not. If you are in a DOS session under Windows, ISWIN sets the Errorlevel to a value of 3 to indicate that Windows 3.x is running. If Windows is not running, ISWIN sets the Errorlevel to a value of zero (0). Certain DOS commands -- such as CHKDSK/F, ASSIGN and FASTOPEN -- should not be used if Windows is running. (See the sections on DOS Commands Modified and Disabled later in this document.) You can use ISWIN to test for this in a batch file, and avoid using dangerous DOS commands if Windows is running. For example, the following short batch file, ASSIGNAB.BAT, avoids assigning floppy drive A: to the letter B: (as you would do to install software in drive B: that recognizes only drive A:) if Windows is running: ECHO OFF ISWIN IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 3 ASSIGN A=B This batch file keeps the command ASSIGN A=B from running under Windows, because the condition "If the Errorlevel is not 3 or higher" is FALSE when Windows is running. But it would be better to inform the user as to why the command did not work. Therefore, the following batch file would be another, better way to handle this: ECHO OFF ISWIN IF ERRORLEVEL 3 GOTO UNDERWIN ASSIGN A=B GOTO END :UNDERWIN ALARM 1 "You must exit Windows before running Assign" :END You can, of course, substitute for "ASSIGN A=B" any DOS command or application that you don't want to run under Windows. PIF The PIF command displays the Program Information File settings for the current DOS session. Following is an example of the PIF command display: DOS Session ID # 2 Exec Cmd. = C:\WINDOWS\EDOS\BIGDOS.PIF Program = C:\COMMAND.COM Command Tail = /E:512 Work Directory = C: DOS Required= 128K, Limit= 640K, Locked=? EMS Required= 0K, Limit= 0K, Locked=N XMS Required= 0K, Limit= 0K, Locked=N Text Emulate No Trap Text No Trap Low Res Graphics No Trap High Res Graphics Video Text Mode=16k Retain Allocation VDD Bits = 009F , VM Status 00006000 Video Type = VIDEOVGA ===================================== This information is primarily intended for programmers and advanced users who need control over a variety of PIF settings. An explanation of each PIF setting is available in the Windows manual. Or you can run the Windows PIF Editor, place the cursor in an option box and press F1 to display Help on that option. PRIB {priority} The PRIB (Priority Background) command allows you to display or change the Background Execution priority of the current DOS session. Typing PRIB by itself displays the current Background Priority. Typing PRIB followed by a number, such as PRIB 200, sets the Background Priority for the current DOS session to that number, regardless of the PIF setting for that session. The Background Priority of a DOS session can be any number from 1 to 10000. (10000 is a special, high priority flag) If you increase a DOS session's Background Priority to 10000, it theoretically gets all CPU time from Windows until the DOS application becomes "idle." Then, Windows starts giving some time to other applications in the background. The amount of time Windows actually gives a DOS session set to 10000 varies depending upon the application. A DOS session's Background Priority can be reduced to zero (totally suspended when in the background) by using the EDOS command BACKGROUND OFF. You can also set Background Execution off in the DOS session's PIF file, or by using the System menu while the DOS session is windowed. When you turn the Background Execution box off, using any of the methods, Windows ignores the DOS session's current setting for Background Priority. PRIF {priority} The PRIF (Priority Foreground) command allows you to display or change the Foreground Execution priority of the current DOS session. Typing PRIF by itself displays the current Foreground Priority. Typing PRIF followed by a number, such as PRIF 2000, sets the Foreground Priority for the current DOS session to that number, regardless of the PIF setting for that session. The Foreground Priority of a DOS session can be any number from 1 to 10000. If you increase a DOS session's Foreground Priority to 10000, it theoretically gets all CPU time from Windows until the DOS application becomes "idle." Then, Windows starts giving some time to other applications in the background. The amount of time Windows actually gives a DOS session set to 10000 varies depending upon the application. A DOS session's foreground priority can be increased so no other applications will run at all in the background by using the EDOS command EXCLUSIVE. You can also set the Exclusive Execution box on in a DOS session's PIF file, or using the System menu while the DOS session is windowed. When you turn the Exclusive Execution box on, using any of the methods, Windows ignores the DOS session's current setting for Foreground Priority, and gives the DOS session all CPU time while it is running full-screen. SLICE {millseconds] The SLICE command allows you to display or change the Minimum Time Slice that Windows uses when allocating time to DOS sessions and the Windows System session. Typing SLICE by itself displays the current setting for Minimum Time Slice. (Windows currently defaults to 20 milliseconds -- 0.020 seconds or 1/50th of a second -- unless you change it.) Typing SLICE followed by a number, such as SLICE 10, changes the Minimum Time Slice to that number, in milliseconds. You can seriously slow down the performance of Windows and DOS sessions if you set the Minimum Time Slice too high or too low. Windows uses the Minimum Time Slice to make sure that each session gets enough time to do meaningful work before Windows switches the CPU to some other application. A Minimum Time Slice of 20 means that each application gets at least 1/50th of a second before Windows switches away from it. On a 386-based PC or higher, applications may not need this long to get useful work done. This is particularly true if only one application is doing any meaningful work at a time (no applications are, say, printing in the background). You may get better overall performance by changing Minimum Time Slice to 15, 10, or 5. You can test the effect of your change by using the BOXTIME command to see how much CPU time your DOS sessions are getting from Windows. The Minimum Time Slice setting can also be changed through the Control Panel's 386 Enhanced dialog box. The icon for this dialog box only appears in the Control Panel if Windows is running in 386 enhanced mode. STATUS STATUS /L STATUS /V STATUS/X The STATUS or (EDOS) commands displays the status of all Windows and DOS sessions, in various levels of detail. Typing STATUS by itself displays brief information on the current DOS session, as well as the session in which Windows itself is running. The information shown includes the current PIF settings for Foreground and Background Priority, Background and Exclusive Execution, Memory in Use (Mapped) and Memory Available (Not Mapped). STATUS/L lists this information for all the sessions currently running. This includes any other DOS sessions that are running, in addition to the one in which the command was typed. NOTE: EDOS itself starts a tiny, invisible DOS session, which is necessary to enable EDOS features. For this reason, you will always see at least one DOS session other than the one you are currently using. The invisible EDOS session is identified as ID #1, while the Windows session is always ID #0. Therefore, your current DOS session will be numbered ID #2 or higher. STATUS/V is a verbose listing, which displays all status information. This display is intended only for programmers or advanced users, and looks similar to the following: Enhanced DOS for Windows Version 3.50E Free Memory: No Lock or Fix= 17676K, Lockable= 5988K Swap File Size= 8192 K, Type= DOS/BIOS Total Paging Mem= 27632K, Free = 17676K In Use Total= 9956 Kc, Contig=Y Windows Physical Memory Total= 7668K, Free= 1676K Physical UnLocked(in use)= 4340Kc, Unlocked= 6016K Real Physical Memory Base= 640K, Extended= 7552K, Total = 8192K EMS Free= 0K, EMS Total= 0K, Page Frame Address= E000 hex PageOutCount= 1 Xlate Buffer Segment= D900hex, Size 8192 bytes. First DOS Segment=2200h Global Min. Time Slice= 5 ms. Current DOS Session Background=N, Exclusive=N Foreground Priority=1000, Background Priority= 100, CPU Time= 100% Perhaps the most important information in this verbose listing is the Windows Physical Memory Total and Free. Physical Memory, which in this example is 7668K, is the total amount of RAM (conventional and extended) that Windows has to run programs in. Free memory is the amount of this physical memory that is left for Windows to open more programs or data. When free memory falls to zero, Windows is forced to use hard disk space (virtual memory) to satisfy all requests to open more programs or data. This seriously slows performance. STATUS /X indicates whether EDOSLIB is installed, loaded and working. SYSTIME The SYSTIME command begins and ends a timer that tells you how much clock time has elapsed. Typing SYSTIME the first time sets a system-wide timer to zero. Typing SYSTIME a second time displays the elapsed time system-wide. (This is the same time you would see on a wall clock.) The elapsed times are displayed in milliseconds. One millisecond is 1/1000 of a second. To convert milliseconds to seconds, if desired, place a decimal point three places from the right end of the number. A related, and more powerful command, is BOXTIME. BOXTIME measures elapsed system time, plus measures the time that the current DOS session received from Windows -- in milliseconds and as a percentage of total system time. See the description of BOXTIME earlier in this document. XMS The XMS command displays the eXtended Memory Settings in the PIF for the current DOS session. An example of the display of the XMS command is as follows: XMS Required= 0K, Limit= 1024K, Locked=N Extended memory settings cannot be changed once the session has started. See the related command , EMS, which displays Expanded Memory Settings. DOS Commands Modified Under Windows EDOS modifies the behavior of a few DOS commands for best use under Windows. EDOS also totally disables some DOS commands, which are described later in this document in the section "DOS Commands Disabled Under Windows." The modification, and the reason for each, is described below. CHKDSK The command CHKDSK /F is not allowed to run. Other uses of CHKDSK are not modified. CHKDSK /F scrambles open files under Windows. DATE The system date is displayed, but cannot be changed from the command line. The system date should always be changed using the Windows Control Panel's Date/Time dialog box (when Windows is running). This prevents Windows applications from becoming confused. MEM When EDOS is running, the MEM command provides additional information that is not displayed by the MEM command in DOS 4.x and 5.x. The most useful information in this display is Windows Physical Memory Total and Free. When Free falls to zero, Windows performance slows significantly, as requests to open more programs or data are forced to use disk space (virtual memory) instead of RAM. For more information, see the explanation of the STATUS command earlier in this document. The information displayed by the EDOS MEM command is similar to the following: Windows Memory Information Total Paging Mem= 27632K, Free = 17548K In Use Total= 10084 Kc, Contig=Y Windows Physical Memory Total= 7668K, Free= 1608K Physical UnLocked(in use)= 4404Kc, Unlocked= 6012K Real Physical Memory Base= 640K, Extended= 7552K, Total = 8192K DOS Memory Information 655360 bytes total conventional memory 655360 bytes available to MS-DOS 512720 largest executable program size 0 bytes total EMS memory 0 bytes free EMS memory 7733248 bytes total contiguous extended memory 0 bytes available contiguous extended memory 0 bytes available XMS memory High Memory Area in use Print Screen Under EDOS, pressing the Print Screen (PrtScr) key in a DOS session always prints the DOS screen to the printer on LPT1. Under Windows, pressing Print Screen in a DOS session only copies the screen into the Windows Clipboard, and does not print anything. If you wish to copy the screen of a DOS session into the Clipboard, press Alt+PrintScreen, which copies all text of a full-screen DOS session into the Clipboard. If the DOS session is windowed, Alt+PrintScreen copies the DOS session screen into the Clipboard. It can then be pasted into other Windows applications. NOTE: The behavior of Print Screen can be changed. See the EDOSPrtScr switch. TIME The system time is displayed, but cannot be changed from the command line. The system time should always be changed using the Windows Control Panel's Date/Time dialog box (when Windows is running). This prevents Windows applications from becoming confused. WIN The WIN command takes you back to Windows desktop. DOS Commands Disabled Under Windows EDOS disables the following DOS commands while Windows is running. These commands have negative effects if used in a DOS session under Windows. In some cases, these commands work fine as long as they are used before Windows is started, but not in a DOS session. It is still possible for a user to run some commands that have been disabled in this way. For example, if you include a complete path in front of the command (as in C:\DOS\CHKDSK /F) it usually will run. If you wish to prevent this absolutely (instead of guarding against casual errors, as EDOS is designed to do), contact the publishers of EDOS for a copy of WINSAFE. This utility traps the actions of commands such as CHKDSK /F, instead of watching the command line for disabled commands. APPEND AP PEND makes the contents of one directory appear to actually exist in whatever is the current directory. This is useful for programs that do not recognize multiple directories. Unfortunately, APPEND works only for disk reads. Programs that write data may write it into the incorrect directory. APPEND confuses Windows as to the actual location of directories. This command should not be used while Windows is running. ASSIGN ASSIGN changes one drive letter so it appears to be another drive letter. The command ASSIGN A=B, for example, makes commands to drive A: actually occur to drive B:. This is useful when installing software in drive B: that does not recognize floppy drives other than A:. This command confuses Windows about the true drive letters in use on a PC. This command should not be used while Windows is running. CHKDSK /F CHKDSK /F is used to "fix" files that are corrupted. But under Windows, it actually corrupts files that are currently open, as several files may be when Windows is running. CHKDSK /F is disabled, but other uses of CHKDSK are not modified. DOSX DOSX.EXE is very dangerous to run from inside Windows. It can cause corruption of your disk and GREAT DAMAGE. Be very careful that you don't accidently run it from Norton Desktop or similar shell, such that you have it selected and then bump the enter key. Suggest that if you do not run Windows in Standard mode that you delete DOSX.EXE from your disk. DOSX has been added to the list of commands disabled by EDOS. FASTOPEN FASTOPEN provides small buffers for directory reads. These buffers confuse Windows. This command should not be used while Windows is running. FDISK FDISK partitions a hard drive, erasing all data on it. This command obviously should not be used while Windows is running. FORMAT The FORMAT command erases both hard disks and floppy diskettes. Formatting diskettes should be done using the Windows File Manager, which does not allow accidental formatting of hard disks. Formatting hard disks should not be done while Windows is running. JOIN The JOIN command makes a directory on one drive appear to actually be a directory on another drive. This is useful for programs that can change directories but not drives. JOIN confuses Windows as to the actual location of directories. This command should not be executed after Windows is started. RECOVER RECOVER is intended to be used only on disks that are severely corrupted. It cuts files into small sectors and renames them FILE0001.REC, FILE0002.REC, and so on. This is useful if a disk is so corrupted that data can be recovered only be examining every sector manually and recombining the files. This command should not be used while Windows is running, and has almost no legitimate use by PC users. SUBST The SUBST command makes the contents of one directory appear to actually be in the root directory of another drive letter (usually a nonexistent hard drive letter). This is useful for programs that cannot change directories but can change drives. SUBST confuses Windows as to the true location of directories. It should not be executed after Windows is started.. Disabling Other DOS Commands It is possible to use EDOS to disable up to 20 DOS commands under Windows, in addition to the ones described above. This is accomplished by adding a line to the [edos] section of the SYSTEM.INI file, as described in the section "[edos] Settings in SYSTEM.INI" elsewhere in this document. For example, The SELECT command is used by some versions of DOS to format a hard disk and install the DOS "hidden files," in preparation for the full installation of DOS itself. Other versions, notably 4DOS, do not use SELECT in this way. Therefore, it has not been crippled by EDOS. You, however, might choose to do so. [edos] Settings In SYSTEM.INI Several settings may be customized in the [edos] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. Ordinarily you will not need to set any switches. The information is provided only in the interests of completeness. Unless otherwise noted, you can use True or 1 to turn a feature on and False or 0 to turn a feature off. There are also several SYSTEM.INI switches intended for tracking down bugs in Windows. These switches are not documented in the manual, but are available if you need technical support.When EDOS is installed, switches are set as follows: [edos] EDOSAltF4=TRUE EDOSPrtScr=TRUE EDOSInbrdPC=FALSE EDOSCommand= These statements are not case-sensitive. Changes can be made to these settings with any text editor (such as Notepad or DOS5 EDIT), but not with word processors that save files in special non-text formats. DOSPromptExitInstruc= DOSPromptExitInstruc=False will disable the exit to windows message that displays in every DOS session in Windows 3.1. EDOS640KPlus= EDOS640KPlus=True Enables 704k and 736k DOS sessions. EDOS704KPlus= EDOS704KPlus=True Enables 736k DOS sessions. NOTE: DOS sessions over 640k cannot run applications in graphics mode, since they are stealing memory needed for graphic display. EDOSAltF4= The EDOSAltF4= statement controls whether EDOS closes the current DOS session when Alt+F4 is pressed, as Windows does with Windows applications. To disable this behavior, and force DOS sessions to be closed by typing EXIT, change TRUE to FALSE. EDOSCommand= The EDOSCommand= statement is used to disable DOS command lines from executing while Windows is running. For example, to disable the command "SK" (in order to disable Sidekick from running under Windows), add a line as follows: [edos] EDOSCommand=SK Similarly to disable both Sidekick and the Norton Utilities the following EDOS Commands would be used. EDOSCommand=SK EDOSCommand=NU It is still possible for a user to run some commands that have been disabled in this way. For example, if you include a complete path in front of the command (as in C:\DOS\CHKDSK /F) it usually will run. If you wish to prevent this absolutely (instead of guarding against casual errors, as EDOS is designed to do), contact the publishers of EDOS for a copy of WINSAFE. This utility traps the actions of commands such as CHKDSK /F, instead of watching the command line for disabled commands. NOTE: Up to 20 commands can be disabled. EDOSCtrlP= EDOSCtrlP=False Disables CTRL+P which allows for copying screen output to the printer. EDOSDisable= EDOSDisable=0 disables/enables EDOS loading. True and False cannot be used for this command. Use 0 or 1. EDOSExecWinApp= EDOSExecWinApp=True Enables executing Windows applications from the DOS command line. EDOSFaultFlag= EDOSFaultFlag=True Enables ring zero fault messages EDOSHookFatalOK= EDOSHookFatalOK=True Enables default fatal error message. EDOSNumMsg= EDOSNumMsg=n Number of alarms allowed. The default is 1. Do not increase. EDOSPrtScr= The EDOSPrtScr= statement controls whether EDOS sends the current DOS screen to the printer on the LPT1 port when the user presses the PrintScreen key. To disable this behavior, change TRUE to FALSE. This sends the current DOS screen into the Windows Clipboard, without printing it, when the user presses the PrintScreen key. This is the same behavior Windows exhibits when EDOS is not running at all. Ctrl+P in full screen or windowed mode is not effected by this option. Ctrl+P toggles on and off printing of text displayed or typed on the screen. EDOSReserveB0= EDOSReserveB0=True Enables/disables global reserving of B000-B7FF NOTE: Try setting to False if over 704k won't work. EDOSWarnShare EDOSWarnShare=True Enables Share Warning Message at startup How Setup Works Windows 3.1 and DOS 3.30 or higher must be running when you install EDOS. To install EDOS, place the EDOS diskette in floppy drive A: or B:. Click the File menu in Program Manager (or any Windows "shell" program), then click Run. Type the following command line and press Enter: A:\SETUP or B:\SETUP EDOS is run by placing the command EDOS in the DRIVERS= line of the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI, and the line EDOS=EDOSLIB.DLL in the [drivers] section of SYSTEM.INI as follows: [boot] drivers=EDOS {other drivers here} [drivers] EDOS=EDOSLIB.DLL These steps are performed automatically by the EDOS Setup program. It is not necessary for you to change these lines. This description is provided solely for your information. NOTE: EDOS Setup automatically creates a DOS Session group window in the Windows Program Manager. If the Program Manager is not running when you install EDOS, this group may not be created and EDOS' five DOS Session icons will not be inserted into that window. Setup Log The setup program keeps a log of system changes that it makes in a file called "INSTALL.LOG." You can review this log to de-install EDOS or general trouble shooting. All files from the install are put in the \WINDOWS\EDOS subdirectory. QEMM Setup will warn if you have QEMM installed. It and other similar memory managers should exclude the space from B000-B7FF from their use. Don't use the NX switch, if you want DOS sessions greater than 640k. SHARE The "Share is not loaded message" should be ignored in a network environment. If you receive sharing violations when you have share installed, run SHARE /?, to see the options. Suggest that you make /F:4000 or more and /L:200. If share is loaded, you will not be able to run a Windows app from the command line, if it is already running. SCSI Drives Some SCSI drives from DPT, Future Domain and Western Digital use some address space near 639k. Such use will prevent your creating oversize DOS sessions(over 640k). Two of these manufacturers have a device driver that will move this to an Upper Memory Block(UMB). Contact your driver manufacturer for details. Stack Space The stack space in a DOS session is only about 4900 bytes. If you get message boxes that refer to WINOLDAP failing, this may be stack overflow. In some cases stack overflow can occur and and damage the data segment without actually hitting the end of the segment. This could result in an error condition that is NOT an OBVIOUS stack problem. There is a utility on the disk "stacksiz.exe" that will change the DOS session stack to about 8100 bytes. If you use it, it will prompt you with instructions for it's proper and safe use. EDOS also has code that checks whenever a DOS session terminates to see if the session EVER came within 300 bytes of using ALL the stack space. If this occurs you will receive a message box to that effect. Contact EDOS tech support for instructions OR use the stacksiz utility yourself. Print Drivers You should install the "Generic / Text Only" printer driver, that the "print clip" menu item will use, if available. This menu item also requires that the print spooler be enabled, if it is to work. 50/25 Line Display The 50 and 25 line menu items do not change lines correctly with all VGA display adapters. In addition, there are dumb screen switchers similar to "MODE CON: lines=50". Because of this, changing screen lines does not always result in a screen "that will make you burst with pride". The Files That EDOS Installs EDOS installs most of its files into a sub directory under the main Windows directory (the directory that contains WIN.COM, WIN.INI, etc.). In this location, it is easy to locate the files on the DOS Path, but they do not interfere with future updates to Windows itself. Additionally, the files EDOSEXIT.COM, ISWIN.COM and CLIPBOAR.COM are installed in the main Windows directory, but can be relocated as long as they are in a directory on the DOS Path. The following is a list of all files EDOS installs to your hard disk: Installed in Windows directory ISWIN.COM External command to detect Windows. CLIPBOAR.COM External command to view Clipboard text. EDOSEXIT.COM Returns exit codes from internal EDOS commands. Installed in EDOS directory !DOSMEM!.COM Used by oversized DOS session PIFs. BIGDOS.PIF PIF file that establishes a 640K DOS session. DOS128.PIF PIF file that establishes a 128K DOS session. DOSSMAL.PIF PIF file for the smallest possible, 64K DOS session. EDOS.386** Enhanced DOS for Windows virtual device driver. EDOS.INI Copy to Windows directory to change EDOS defaults. EDOS704K.PIF 704kb DOS session. EDOS736K.PIF 736kb DOS session. EDOSLIB.DLL** Dynamic Link Library (DLL) device driver. EDOSDIS.EXE Disable/Enable loading EDOS. EDOSLIB.HLP Help file for EDOS library. Uses WINHELP.EXE. EDOS.HLP Installation and general information Help file. TESTEDOS.BAT Batch file to demonstrate and test EDOS. VERIFY.EXE Verifies correct installation of EDOS. STACKSIZ.EXE Stack size changer. E704KBAT.* 704kb PIF and batch files SYSTEM.EDB Backup of SYSTEM.INI. Batch Files Used to Test EDOS Functions TESTEDOS.BAT TSTISWIN.BAT TESTALL.BAT Batch FIles to De-Install EDOS KILL.BAT Removes old, unused EDOS files from previous versions. REMOVE.BAT Deletes EDOS files and directory ** NOTE: If your hard disk is nearing capacity and you want to delete files, be careful. You cannot delete EDOSLIB.DLL or EDOS.386 without totally disabling EDOS functions. You cannot delete the .BAT, .COM, and .PIF files without losing their functionality. You can, however, delete the .HLP files and .WRI files after printing them. This will eliminate on-line documentation, of course. The following files are not installed, but are available on diskette if needed: B:\ EDOS.EXE Starts a small Windowed DOS session. EDOS.TXT Basic how-to-install and troubleshooting information. SETUP.EXE Installation and setup program for EDOS. METER.DLL Windows 3.x library used by SETUP.EXE SETUP.INF Information needed by SETUP.EXE. DRWATSON.EXE Windows diagnostic tool. MEM.COM Use with DOS 3.3, to prevent bad command message. B:\SHARE - Documentation on Share DOS4XX.TXT SHARE.MSG SHARE1.TXT README.TXT B:\SYSTEM COMMDLG.DLL User installable replacement dialogs This file contains templates and code that generate the common: OPEN, SAVE, SAVEAS, etc. dialog boxes. We have enclosed a special version for you. In the January 18,1993 issue of InfoWorld, Brian Livingston's column discusses improvements to COMMDLG.DLL. The file that we have provided you incorporates improvements suggested in his article. Note: that EDOS uses almost the same identical dialog boxes for PICK/NEW. These improvements are IMPRESSSIVE. Enjoy! To install COMMDLG.DLL, copy the file from the diskette, in the system subdirectory, to your Windows\system subdirectory. You might want to make a backup copy of COMMDLG.DLL (ie. COMMDLG.OLD). Before you copy in the new version. To test the new dialog box. Run Windows Write.EXE and choose FILE/OPEN. Notice the improvement. Hooray for Brian Livingston! What a suggestion. After this is done, ALL dialog boxes that use COMMDLG.DLL, will have the NEW LOOK. After you have tried this, you may want to soup your car up too, using 100 octane aviation fuel. DON'T! B:\V86_API - Programmers Test Programs and Source Code TESTV86.COM Demonstrates DOS programmer's API. message box. TESTV86.ASM Programmer's API source code. TSTWINEX.COM Demo running a Window's Application. TSTWINEX.ASM README.TXT E704KBAT.PIF E704KBAT.PIF, is a sample pif for a an oversize DOS session that runs a batch file. E704KBAT.BAT just prompts you to enter a key, but it could be any other kind of batch file. It ends by starting up %COMSPEC%, so that you end up in command.com. EDOS.INI EDOS.INI contains the following line: libhelp=\edos\edoslib.hlp When EDOS finds an EDOS.INI file, these lines indicate that EDOSLIB and EDOS Help reside in subdirectories under the main Windows directory. You can hard-code these lines so these files can reside in other directories -- perhaps on a network. Reinstalling EDOS Over a Beta Version If you have an old or shareware version of EDOS (prior to EDOS Version 3.0), do the following: 1. Remove the EDOS Control icon from your DOS Session group window. 2. Examine WIN.INI with a text editor for mentions of EDOS.EXE or EDOSLIB.EXE and remove them. 3. Remove EDOSCTL.EXE from the LOAD= or RUN= lines of WIN.INI, and delete this file from your hard disk. EDOSCTL.EXE and EDOSLIB.EXE should never run at the same time. EDOS Setup should take care of the above steps for you automatically. But taking these steps prior to installing EDOS will eliminate several dialog boxes and prevent potential errors. How To Remove EDOS If you need to remove or un-install EDOS for any reason, you can easily do so by following these steps: 1. To immediately disable EDOS from affecting Windows or your DOS sessions: Comment out the device=edos.386 line in the [386enh] section of SYSTEM.INI. Remove the word "EDOS" from the DRIVERS= line in the [boot] section of SYSTEM.INI, and remove the line EDOS=EDOSLIB.EXE from the [drivers] section of SYSTEM.INI. (You can comment out lines in WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI by placing a semicolon at the beginning of the line, if you prefer.) 2. To completely delete EDOS files from your system: Minimize the DOS Session group window in Program Manage, then select it by clicking it with a mouse until it's title is highlighted. Then click File Delete on the Program Manager menu. Delete the EDOS directory, which is usually in a sub directory under your Windows directory, then delete the files listed earlier in this document in the section "The Files EDOS Installs."