MS-DOS

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Rhymes
  • Start date Start date
J

John Rhymes

Just got a new laptop with Windows XP.
On the old PC with Windows 98, I used a number of programs
I had written using MS-DOS.
On the old PC, when you click on Start/Shut Down, there was
an option to "Restart in MS-DOS". That's not available on
Windows XP.
So, how do I get to use my MS-DOS programs on Windows XP?
Thanks,
John
New Orleans
 
I rather suspect Mr. Candy is having an off day otherwise
he wouldn't give such a smart ass answer. XP does not
contain DOS. It is not written on or over DOS so therefore
will not run a true DOS program. DOS is ancient and like
the dinosaurs has seen it's day and is dead. You can try
to run a program in compatability mode and if it isn't
pure DOS then most of it may or may not work. Right click
on the program and then click properties and look for the
compatability tab. There you can choose many options. The
closest thing in XP that "looks like" DOS is the Command
line interface which is only a DOS emulator. Good luck.
 
a/ his problem was he copied the pif file rather than the program file.

b/ You can keep saying Dos programs won't work, but they do. Compatability has no effect on Dos programs as they call Dos functions not windows functions (which compatability affects)

c/ XP does contain Dos. It will run 99.99% of true dos program.

Perhaps you should stop answering questions about Dos as you lie and you know you lie.
 
a/ his problem was he copied the pif file rather than the program
file.

b/ You can keep saying Dos programs won't work, but they do.
Compatability has no effect on Dos programs as they call Dos functions
not windows functions (which compatability affects)
Click to expand...
Many DOS programs will work. The ones that won't are the ones that try
to make direct hardware calls, Which XP won't allow.
c/ XP does contain Dos. It will run 99.99% of true dos program.
Click to expand...
XP does NOT have DOS. It has a DOS Emulator
Perhaps you should stop answering questions about Dos as you lie and
you know you lie.
Click to expand...

Prehaps you shouldn't answer questions of which you have no clue.

--

David

Programmers write "Help Files" for a reason. use them.

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"

http://www.HeroicStories.com/
http://www.thisistrue.com/
 
For a start. Dos programs CAN access hardware direct. Just like 9x it requires a virtual device driver. Ever wondered why your keyboard works and the screen works in a dos program. Because MS supplies virtual device drivers for common hardware. There are very, very few dos programs that don't make hardware calls.

Emulator is a pretty strong word. The Dos VM run native code (unlike on Alpha where it is a 80486 emulator).

Are you aware that Dos also had a hardware abstraction layer too.

What is Dos. Dos is a set of API calls. By this definition XP does have Dos. Dos 5 to be precise.

Next you'll be telling me XP doesn't have windows. If you want to claim no dos the same logic can be used to say it doesn't have windows. As windows is just one of a number of possible sub systems running on the NT operating system..
 
For a start. Dos programs CAN access hardware direct. Just like 9x it
requires a virtual device driver. Ever wondered why your keyboard
works and the screen works in a dos program. Because MS supplies
virtual device drivers for common hardware. There are very, very few
dos programs that don't make hardware calls.
Click to expand...

that is the problem. DOS makes direct hardware calls and NT does not
allow direct hardware calls. All suchs calls must be passed to the NT
kernal. DOS programs that require direct access to hardware will not
work. DOS programs that do not require direct hardware access should run
fine.
Emulator is a pretty strong word. The Dos VM run native code (unlike
on Alpha where it is a 80486 emulator).

Are you aware that Dos also had a hardware abstraction layer too.

What is Dos. Dos is a set of API calls. By this definition XP does
have Dos. Dos 5 to be precise.
Click to expand...

DOS 5?? You mean MS is going backwards? The last full DOS ( Without
GUI ) was 6.22 and win98/ME used DOS 7.
Next you'll be telling me XP doesn't have windows. If you want to
claim no dos the same logic can be used to say it doesn't have
windows. As windows is just one of a number of possible sub systems
running on the NT operating system..
Click to expand...

XP does have Windows. XP is Windows.

--

David

Programmers write "Help Files" for a reason. use them.

"Due to Viewer dicretion...
Graphic violence is advised"

http://www.HeroicStories.com/
http://www.thisistrue.com/
 
There's almost no compatability issues between various Dos versions as far as programs go. The big leaps was to dos 3.3 and from 3.3 (maily in end user features). But nearly all dos programs are designed for Dos 3.3 or higher. The Dos in NT is to allow compatability with Dos programs. It does get updated from version to version of NT but remains essentially the same as NT 3.1 (I've not used this version) or 3.51.
 
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