63 replies to this topic

[wendy]

Tape = distribution media (eg tar = tape archive).

Source tape is a distribution that contains the source and utilities for building DOS. A version for MS-DOS 6.00 (OEM) has been doing the rounds. This version contains 1.11 of compress.exe.

You can find v 1.02 of compress.exe in one of the fox 2.6 addons. This renames to $ sign.

Vers 2.0 of compress.exe is found generally in the SDK and derived sources.

Versions for compress/expand seen

compress: KWAJ 102, 111; SZDD 200 ; MSCF 250

decomp: KWAJ 102, 120, 140;

expand; KWAJ 200, 201, SZDD 1xx, 201, 250, MSCF 250

lzexpand.dll KWAJ 311, SZDD 300, 310, 311.

[was_jaclaz]

Smallish update .

Version 2.0 dated 1992-03-23 15259 bytes is inside CP0982.EXE
google for the filename or here:
http://www.isomedia....ft/WINUTILS.HTM


The one here:
http://bin-login.nam...t/msc1/?C=S;O=A
appears to be version 1.11 1993-02-10 36592 bytes

The one here (found through this: http://www.filewatch...q=compress.exe) :
http://www.filewatch...31v302.0.0.html
appears to be version 1.02 1992-04-19 55751 bytes


Dates seem to be inaccurate, but who cares? Most probably the original ones have been changed during uploads/transfers.

jaclaz

[mr_]

They still keep releasing DOS stuff, so a ridgy-didge MS-DOS is the done thing here.

Who releases DOS stuff? You do not mean ms?

[Panarchy]

Didn't MS-DOS go to v8?

[was_jaclaz]

Didn't MS-DOS go to v8?

Actually, NO, at least not as "DOS".

DOS went as far as 6.22, which was the last "full" release with no GUI attached, that you could buy a license for.

The DOS that came with Windows 95/98 is DOS 7.x.

The DOS of Me (and of the XP boot floppy) is 8.0.

jaclaz

[wendy]

There are three sources of DOS-version: what it says on the box, what truever and dosver say, and what command.com say.

the version of command.com prints out a string, like "MS-DOS 5.00". In DOS 5, 6 this is pretty much MS-DOS %s, where this variable derives from the kernel. You can teach Command.com from 6.22 to run under windows nt, and reports as ms-dos 5.00 (although the command starts as saying DOS 6.22).

The truename version is usually fixed, although PC-DOS 7.00 had a fix that allowed it to pretend that it was 6.30 (for QEMM's sake).

The Box name is only a guide to what is inside.

We look at windows 9x. Since it is in Microsoft's interest to hide that these are DOS 7 and Windows 4, Command.com's ver returns 'Windows 9x 4.10.1999' or whatever. None the less, the DOS has to be a real DOS for compatibility, reports 7.00, 7.10, or 8,00. It really is these versions of DOS. Likewise, the DOS emulated in NT/2K/XP really is MS-DOS 5.00 (it runs 5.00 utilities straight out of the box).

DOS 7.0, 7,1 and 8.0 are a transition from traditional DOS to windows loader, along with transition from older hardware to new hardware. You take your pick.

DOS 7.0 is too much like old DOS, but does not support modern hardware or the new file systems.

DOS 7.1 is a 1996 DOS (re-released as a kernel fix in 1998 and 1999), that supports the new fat32 partition (large partitions), along with retaining a high compatibility with older DOS.

DOS 8.0 is a 2000 release, does not add anything to DOS 7.1, except the ability to load windows really fast. It makes windows run better, (the fault in ME is not the DOS but a lot of extra cruft upstairs), but at the loss of any DOS compatibility. It's not really a stand-alone DOS.

[tikbalang]

what files or settings is responsible for creating the %windir% variable? i have "windir=c:\windows" and "winbootdir=c:\windows" in msdos.sys.

i'm trying to start win98se and wfwg311 from a fat32 drive and both are complaining about "cannot run on this type of dos" -- something to that effect. win98se and wfwg311 were from zipfiles. i used to be able to just unzip them to a fat32 drive, boot msdos 7.10 (patched with 3xstart) from a floppy, and then go to their respective dirs and start them with "win".

the difference now is i no longer have a floppy drive so i use a bootcd with floppy emulation. is this why %windir% is not appearing? how can i fake it?

[Panarchy]

I'm not sure if DOS can handle environmental variables within directory names.

wendy: Once again, great post.

[wendy]

Up to pcdos 7.x, Windir was set by win.com

Beginning with msdos 7.0, windir is set by io.sys reading msdos.sys

DOS, any version from 2 on, is quite capable of handling environment variables in paths, eg cd %windir% works nicely.

[Panarchy]

Guess I was wrong...

[tikbalang]

Beginning with msdos 7.0, windir is set by io.sys reading msdos.sys

i'm still not getting it. here's my msdos.sys:

; MSDOS.SYS



[Paths]

WinDir=C:\WINDOWS

WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS

HostWinBootDrv=C



[Options]

AutoScan=1

BootDelay=0

BootGUI=0

BootKeys=1

BootMulti=0

BootWarn=0

DBLSpace=0

DRVSpace=0

DisableLog=1

DoubleBuffer=1

LoadTop=1

Logo=1

SystemReg=0

WinVer=4.10.2222

[wendy]

You are probably doing the wrong thing, like drawing lots of files from Win98se. This is mine, based on the support from Wenegier's DOS 7.10 stuff.

;MS-DOS 7.10 System Configuration File

;(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp 1981-1999



[Options]

AutoScan=0

BootDelay=2

BootGUI=0

BootMenu=0

BootMulti=0

BootSafe=0

BootWarn=0

DoubleBuffer=0

Logo=1

SystemReg=0

;

;For compatiblity with Windows 9x GUI only:



[Paths]

WinDir=.

WinBootDir=.

HostWinBootDrv=C



;  You could use WINBOOTDIR=c:\msdos

You need an autoexec and config with this, assume DOS files are in c:\msdos.

DOS=HIGH,UMB,NOAUTO

DEVICE=C:\MSDOS\HIMEM.SYS

REM use the IFSHLP from Win9x (they're all the same)

DEVICE=C:\MSDOS\IFSHLP.SYS

LASTDRIVE=Z

FILES=90

BUFFERS=10

Autoexec.bat is pretty standard.

IF "%1"==ENV GOTO ENV

@ECHO OFF

PROMPT $p$g

REM don't include windows in path

:ENV

PATH=C:\MSDOS; 

SET TMP=C:\TEMP

SET TEMP=C:\TEMP

(etc)

Windows is launched by batch files. Win31 and Win95 Win98 are all launched by batches like this (change path drive for different windows. This is to do with DOS 7.1 not working like previous DOS versions.

cd \

PATH=C:\WIN311;%PATH%

C:\WIN311\WIN

CD \

CLS

For Windows 3.1, don't use it's IFSHLP.SYS (disable 32b file access). You can use share via vshare.386.

For Windows 95, you need to replace DOS files by the Win98 versions. Share.exe won't work here, but you can use share. You may need to fiddle the environment too.

Win98 works without probs.

You can boot W3.11 and then exit, and then start W98.

[tikbalang]

Up to pcdos 7.x, Windir was set by win.com

Beginning with msdos 7.0, windir is set by io.sys reading msdos.sys

the two statements above caused me to panic. according to mdgx of msfn forums, %windir% only appears after windows has started.

problem solved. i reverted my xms3 driver from xmgr.sys to himem.sys and both win16 and win9x started normally. thank you for your inputs.

[dencorso]

I disagree with the compressed nature of IO.SYS in WinME, consider this: [...]

wendy, with all due respect, there's nothing to disagree to. Open any of the various Windows ME winboot.sys/io.sys with your favorite hexeditor and search for "Starting Windows". You won't find it anywhere... yet you know it's there, for it pops up on every boot. If that's not proof enough, search also for the Microsoft copyright notice, and you won't find it, although you know it's there also. Nor you'll find the classic "NUL. CON.AUX.PRN" (where each dot stands for 0x00): it's compressed, all right. Hexadecimal inspection leaves no doubt about it.

[was_jaclaz]

wendy, with all due respect, there's nothing to disagree to. Open any of the various Windows ME winboot.sys/io.sys with your favorite hexeditor and search for "Starting Windows". You won't find it anywhere... yet you know it's there, for it pops up on every boot. If that's not proof enough, search also for the Microsoft copyright notice, and you won't find it, although you know it's there also. Nor you'll find the classic "NUL. CON.AUX.PRN" (where each dot stands for 0x00): it's compressed, all right. Hexadecimal inspection leaves no doubt about it.

Well, just fror the record, and ONLY from a "logical" point of view, the above means that it is not "readable" i.e. it may be encrypted, but not compressed.

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Well, just fror the record, and ONLY from a "logical" point of view, the above means that it is not "readable" i.e. it may be encrypted, but not compressed.

Sure. Now, one cannot compress without encrypting. And winboot.ebd from WinME contains most, if not all, the funcionality found in IO.SYS from Win 98SE, plus its own embedded version of himem.sys, in a binary about half the size... To me that means it's compressed.

[wendy]

One should understand in Windows ME, that IO.SYS is intended to load straight into Windows, without fiddling around in real mode support. This is why it has no fewer than four different versions [two for setup only], and that the different versions of IO.SYS are for different ends.

This is why, for example, Windows ME Sys can not be used against a floppy disk: it can't necessarily figure out which version of io.sys to use!

The WinmeDOS program reactivates support for DOS+Windows by modifying the floppy IO.SYS for use on the hard disk, along with modifying command,com and some win utilities.

Comparing the size of IO.SYS from 800 (ME), 803 (WinXP), against the Tihiy version of 713 (Microsoft fix for 98, 98se), we see

IO.SYS sizes + patches.
713 122896 Tihiy, Phelum, W3Start
800 110080 Phelum
800 116736 EBD
903 116736 (from WinXP)

Tihiy removes the startup bitmap, while Phelum and W3start are inline patches.

[tikbalang]

what are the differences between HIMEM.SYS versions of winme and win98? in terms of filesize, winme version is smaller at 32711B while win98 version is 33191B. both say the same version: "Windows XMS Driver Version 3.95". is there any advantage of one over the other?

ANSI.SYS are also different.

[was_jaclaz]

DoS 8.x version (Windows ME) should be 3.99:
http://www.mdgx.com/newtip20.htm

jaclaz

[wendy]

Windows 9x is essentially an OS with five different versions, in which different things have been updated, and other things left alone. The DOS subsystem was updated in OS/R 1 [7.0], OS/R 2 [7.1], and OS/R 5 [8.0] (ME). The 98-versions OS/R 3 and OS/R 4 are pretty much unchanged for OS/R 2, with some bug fixes.

Many of the DOS apps are totally unchanged. In the reference collection , files like himem.sys change only the internal copywrite strings. They are all version 3.95. [putting a 9 in the tenths version is usually a mark of a beta].

I tend to avoid DOS from Windows ME, because it was never intended to be a general purpose DOS in the manner of say DOS 6.30. SYS can't make a floppy disk, because it does not know which of the four IO.SYS it ought copy. The DOS 7.x SYS do not have this problems, because there is only one IO.SYS.

HIMEM.SYS etc, are built into ME's IO.SYS, so there is no particular functionality for this driver in Windows ME. It's a straight copy, with a few copyright strings, of Windows 98's version.

There is in fact, no fundemental difference between HIMEM.SYS in any of these versions, save for bug fixes. One must understand that Windows does not actually use the memory API provided by HIMEM, except as an underlying driver for the Windows XMM driver. HIMEM already is more advanced than XMM, so there is little point updating it.

[was_jaclaz]

HIMEM.SYS etc, are built into ME's IO.SYS, so there is no particular functionality for this driver in Windows ME..

I also had this idea:
http://www.911cd.net...o...16745&st=13
but it is probably not fully correct.

To clarify the above, it seems like HIMEM.SYS is not "built in" or "embedded" inside IO.SYS, but rather (as opposed to DOS 5/6/7.x/Win9x, where it needed to be loaded through CONFIG.SYS) it is loaded by default from IO.SYS:
http://www.mdgx.com/newtip20.htm

HIMEM.SYS 3.10 is included with MS-DOS 6.xx (6.00 up to 6.22).
HIMEM.SYS 3.95 is included with Windows 95/98 (a.k.a MS-DOS 7.00/7.10).
HIMEM.SYS 3.99 is included with Windows ME (a.k.a. MS-DOS 8.00), and is loaded automatically from IO.SYS, rendering the CONFIG.SYS HIMEM.SYS line obsolete.

http://www.mdgx.com/msdos.htm

Hidden features, oddities + BUGs I discovered:
ONLY IF "BootGUI=0" under the MSDOS.SYS [Options] section, you will notice these changes at bootup:

• ...
• F5, F6, Shift = COMMAND.COM, DBLBUFF.SYS, HIMEM.SYS and IFSHLP.SYS load from IO.SYS, bypassing their CONFIG.SYS lines (if any). If COMMAND.COM NOT found in %winbootdir% (specified on the "WinBootDir=" MSDOS.SYS line under the [Paths] section, usually C:\WINDOWS) or in the root directory of the boot drive (usually C:\), or/and HIMEM.SYS and/or IFSHLP.SYS NOT found in %winbootdir%, the bootup routine defaults to "Safe mode command prompt only" (native/real/true/pure MS-DOS mode with NO devices/drivers/TSRs loaded in memory).
• ...

....

jaclaz

[tikbalang]

i can't catch the version display of himem.sys when booting but when you look inside the binaries, the text ""Windows XMS Driver Version 3.95"" is present in both versions.

[Jack57]

Hello all

i have a question about having a azerty keyboard on running PCDOS 7.1

i have read a lot of things but without results

i change the autoexec and config file like this

in autoexec
keyb fr,,c:\windows\command\keyboard.sys
or
A:keyb fr,, A:keyboard.sys
or
LH keyb fr

in config.sys
Country=033,850,C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\country.sys
or
COUNTRY=033,850,COUNTRY.SYS

when i'm running PCDOS and i tape keyb fr it works but i would like to have it at the beginning

thanks to help me

@++
Jack57

[ktp]

Assuming you are running from diskette, and all files in a:\:

config.sys:
device=a:\display.sys con=(ega,,1)
country=033,850,a:\country.sys

autoexec.bat:
a:\mode.com con cp prepare=((850) ega.cpi)
a:\mode.com con cp select=850
a:\keyb.com fr,,a:\keyboard.sys
a:\doskey

Adapt the paths if you are running form hard disk or the MS-DOS files are at different location.

[Jack57]

RE Hello

in reality it's an image floppie of Norton goback removal with Pcdos that i run from a liveCD
and there is on this image floppie exe that interest me like chkdsk ,scandisk or fdisk etc...

this is the config.sys
[codebox][menu] menuitem=GBPROGU, To unhook GoBack (for typical machines) menuitem=GBPROGR, To repair the Master Boot Record (for typical machines) menuitem=PCDOS, To Load IDE (typical) CD-ROM Drivers and exit to the command prompt menuitem=SCSI, To Load SCSI CD-ROM Drivers and exit to the command prompt [GBPROGU] [GBPROGR] [PCDOS] [COMMON] DEVICE=himem.sys /testmem:off dos=high,umb files=30 DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 DEVICE=btdosm.sys DEVICE=flashpt.sys DEVICE=btcdrom.sys /D:mscd001 LASTDRIVE=Z SHELL=a:\COMMAND.COM /F /P [SCSI] DEVICE=aspi2dos.sys DEVICE=aspi8dos.sys DEVICE=aspi4dos.sys DEVICE=aspi8u2.sys DEVICE=aspicd.sys /D:mscd001[/codebox] and this is the AUTOEXEC.BAT [codebox]@echo off set CDROM= LH \MSCDEX.EXE /D:mscd001 /L:R FOR %%i IN (R S T U V W X Y Z) DO if exist %%i:\GB_PROG.EXE set CDROM=%%i path=a:\;%CDROM%:\ cls goto %config% :GBPROGU echo ***************************************************************** echo This Utility will allow you to remove Norton GoBack from your echo system's partition table. If you do not want to do this, please echo remove the CD-ROM from the drive now and restart your computer. echo. pause echo. echo Unhooking GoBack from MBR... echo. GB_PROG.exe /u echo. echo Norton GoBack has been removed from the partition table. echo Please restart your computer. goto END :GBPROGR echo ***************************************************************** echo This Utility will allow you to repair the MBR. If you do not want echo to repair the MBR, please remove the CD-ROM from the drive now echo and restart your computer. echo. pauseecho.echo Repairing the MBR...echo.GB_PROG.exe /recho.echo The MBR has been repaired. Please restart your computer.goto END:SCSIgoto END :PCDOS goto END :END echo. Echo The active CR-ROM drive is %CDROM%:\ echo. [/codebox] not easy to know where put the right line command as config.sys: device=a:\display.sys con=(ega,,1) country=033,850,a:\country.sys

autoexec.bat:
a:\mode.com con cp prepare=((850) ega.cpi)
a:\mode.com con cp select=850
a:\keyb.com fr,,a:\keyboard.sys
a:\doskey

i try this without sucess

@++

Jack57