D
DavidB
If I can't use WordPerfect 5.0, I am out of business. Will Vista run
DOS programs as transparantly and as well as Win98?
DOS programs as transparantly and as well as Win98?
C
Carl Farrington
DavidB said:
No. Whether or not it will run what you want is a different question though
and the only way to find out is to try it or to get someone else to try it.
K
-Karl
Try making a shortcut to the app and configure the shortcut to run in
compatibility mode. My guess is that you will still see issues. I
don't know of any other DOS emulators out there other than DOSBOX but
you can try that. My question to you is why on earth are you still
using DOS versions of an app? DOS is quite dead except for the
utilities. If you still need to use dos, setup a Virtual PC. But why
when Windows has such nice new versions? That's like saying you still
drive a horse and buggy around town instead of a Honda.
compatibility mode. My guess is that you will still see issues. I
don't know of any other DOS emulators out there other than DOSBOX but
you can try that. My question to you is why on earth are you still
using DOS versions of an app? DOS is quite dead except for the
utilities. If you still need to use dos, setup a Virtual PC. But why
when Windows has such nice new versions? That's like saying you still
drive a horse and buggy around town instead of a Honda.
C
Carl Farrington
DavidB said:
There is a freely available program called DOSBox which may run Word Perfect
5, under Vista.
A
Andrew McLaren
DavidB said:
Hi David,
I general terms, yes: 32-bit Vista can run DOS applications (64-bit Vista
cannot run DOS apps - this applies to all 64-bit versions of Windows: XP,
Server 2003, Vista & Server 2008).
However, specific DOS apps may encounter various compatibility issues, when
running on Vista.
According to Edward Mendelson's popular WordPerfect user site, WordPerfect
for DOS may hit several problems running on Vista:
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/index.html
If you are using the Vista "Aero" interface (the fancy graphics they show in
all the advertisements) then you cannot run a DOS application full-screen;
DOS apps can only run in a window, under Aero. For WordPerfect, this might
result in an unacceptably small display, if you're used to running it
full-screen. In order to run DOS apps full-screen, you would need to use a
non-WDDM graphics driver, such as an XP driver; and you'd lose the fancy
graphics (if they matter, at all).
One possible workaround would be to use Virtual PC:
Virtual PC 2007
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
This is a free download from Microsoft. You can create a "Virtual Machine"
to run Windows 98 or DOS, and your WordPerfect 5.0; and run the VM as an
application on your Vista desktop. Since the resource requirements for
Windows 98 or DOS are pretty light, this won't require large amounts of
extra memory etc, for performance to be good. This way, you can keep
WordPerfect running in the highly compatible environment of Windows 98, but
still take advantage of the new features in Vista.
Be aware also Corel have not released an iFilter for WordPerfect 5.x files,
so the Search facility in Vista won't be able to search your WordPerfect 5.0
files. The closest you could come would be to treat them as plain text
files, and index them that way.
I guess you're already aware but, Corel WordPerfect X3 runs fine on Vista,
as a native Windows application; and it offers a "WordPerfect Classic" mode
which very closely resembles WordPerfect 5.1 (keystrokes, white text on blue
screen, macros etc).
Hope it helps,
T
throwitout
However VPC only supports running on Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate
host systems. Home Basic, and Home premium are not supported (same as
XP Home) for no apparent reason. Instead of upgrading to Ultimate,
save the money and buy a windows version of Word Perfect.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/virtualpc/sysreq.mspx
other options include
-Dosbox as mentioned by others. Probably the easiest.
-Virtual Box which worked fine on my Celeron under XP, but my Turion
BSODs under Vista whenever I tried to run it. Never figured out what
the problem was.
http://www.virtualbox.org/
King of virtualization remains VMWare.
Their free products are:
-VMWare server:
http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
-VMWare Player:
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
M
Mr. Arnold
throwitout said:
I have seen posters in other NG(s) state that they have gotten VPC to run on
the non business classed versions on the Vista O/S.
M
MICHAEL
throwitout said:
VPC 2007 is not "supported" on Home, but it *will* run just fine.
-Michael
A
Andrew Rossmann
This is not always true. It appears to be driver dependent. The stock
Vista drivers supposedly support full-screen DOS or console-mode program
with Aero, but the ATI/AMD and nVidia drivers don't.
A
ato_zee
Does VPC run continually, consuming resources, or does it
only run when specific programs run. I've got some XP
32bit programs that won't install under Vista Ultimate 64bit.
The program vendors say they don't support 64bit Vista.
A
Andrew Rossmann
It only runs when you want it. It starts up like a program, but runs a
second copy of Windows (or Linux, or OS/2, or whatever.) From that
virtual mode, you can then run other programs.
D
DavidB
Thank you, Andrew. Could I also set up a Vista machine to dual boot
with DOS loaded on a separate partition? Are there disadvantages to
this idea (I have never used a dual-boot arrangement before.)
On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:29:23 +1100, "Andrew McLaren"
|> If I can't use WordPerfect 5.0, I am out of business. Will Vista run
|> DOS programs as transparantly and as well as Win98?
|
|
|Hi David,
|
|I general terms, yes: 32-bit Vista can run DOS applications (64-bit Vista
|cannot run DOS apps - this applies to all 64-bit versions of Windows: XP,
|Server 2003, Vista & Server 2008).
|
|However, specific DOS apps may encounter various compatibility issues, when
|running on Vista.
|
|According to Edward Mendelson's popular WordPerfect user site, WordPerfect
|for DOS may hit several problems running on Vista:
|
| http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/index.html
|
|If you are using the Vista "Aero" interface (the fancy graphics they show in
|all the advertisements) then you cannot run a DOS application full-screen;
|DOS apps can only run in a window, under Aero. For WordPerfect, this might
|result in an unacceptably small display, if you're used to running it
|full-screen. In order to run DOS apps full-screen, you would need to use a
|non-WDDM graphics driver, such as an XP driver; and you'd lose the fancy
|graphics (if they matter, at all).
|
|One possible workaround would be to use Virtual PC:
|
| Virtual PC 2007
| http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
|
|This is a free download from Microsoft. You can create a "Virtual Machine"
|to run Windows 98 or DOS, and your WordPerfect 5.0; and run the VM as an
|application on your Vista desktop. Since the resource requirements for
|Windows 98 or DOS are pretty light, this won't require large amounts of
|extra memory etc, for performance to be good. This way, you can keep
|WordPerfect running in the highly compatible environment of Windows 98, but
|still take advantage of the new features in Vista.
|
|Be aware also Corel have not released an iFilter for WordPerfect 5.x files,
|so the Search facility in Vista won't be able to search your WordPerfect 5.0
|files. The closest you could come would be to treat them as plain text
|files, and index them that way.
|
|I guess you're already aware but, Corel WordPerfect X3 runs fine on Vista,
|as a native Windows application; and it offers a "WordPerfect Classic" mode
|which very closely resembles WordPerfect 5.1 (keystrokes, white text on blue
|screen, macros etc).
|
|Hope it helps,
|
|--
|Andrew McLaren
|amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au
|
|
with DOS loaded on a separate partition? Are there disadvantages to
this idea (I have never used a dual-boot arrangement before.)
On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:29:23 +1100, "Andrew McLaren"
|> If I can't use WordPerfect 5.0, I am out of business. Will Vista run
|> DOS programs as transparantly and as well as Win98?
|
|
|Hi David,
|
|I general terms, yes: 32-bit Vista can run DOS applications (64-bit Vista
|cannot run DOS apps - this applies to all 64-bit versions of Windows: XP,
|Server 2003, Vista & Server 2008).
|
|However, specific DOS apps may encounter various compatibility issues, when
|running on Vista.
|
|According to Edward Mendelson's popular WordPerfect user site, WordPerfect
|for DOS may hit several problems running on Vista:
|
| http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/index.html
|
|If you are using the Vista "Aero" interface (the fancy graphics they show in
|all the advertisements) then you cannot run a DOS application full-screen;
|DOS apps can only run in a window, under Aero. For WordPerfect, this might
|result in an unacceptably small display, if you're used to running it
|full-screen. In order to run DOS apps full-screen, you would need to use a
|non-WDDM graphics driver, such as an XP driver; and you'd lose the fancy
|graphics (if they matter, at all).
|
|One possible workaround would be to use Virtual PC:
|
| Virtual PC 2007
| http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
|
|This is a free download from Microsoft. You can create a "Virtual Machine"
|to run Windows 98 or DOS, and your WordPerfect 5.0; and run the VM as an
|application on your Vista desktop. Since the resource requirements for
|Windows 98 or DOS are pretty light, this won't require large amounts of
|extra memory etc, for performance to be good. This way, you can keep
|WordPerfect running in the highly compatible environment of Windows 98, but
|still take advantage of the new features in Vista.
|
|Be aware also Corel have not released an iFilter for WordPerfect 5.x files,
|so the Search facility in Vista won't be able to search your WordPerfect 5.0
|files. The closest you could come would be to treat them as plain text
|files, and index them that way.
|
|I guess you're already aware but, Corel WordPerfect X3 runs fine on Vista,
|as a native Windows application; and it offers a "WordPerfect Classic" mode
|which very closely resembles WordPerfect 5.1 (keystrokes, white text on blue
|screen, macros etc).
|
|Hope it helps,
|
|--
|Andrew McLaren
|amclar (at) optusnet dot com dot au
|
|
K
Ken Blake, MVP
Better yet, install WordPerfect X3, the latest Windows version, which
works just fine on Vista, and handles files from WP 5.0 without a
problem. It can be used both for the existing files as well as any new
word processing work.
A
ato_zee
Many thanks.
A
Andrew McLaren
Andrew Rossmann said:
Well, to be exact ... WDDM drivers do not permit DOS apps to run
full-screen. I recall it was something to do with limited support for Int
10h - no full screen mode would be returned in the list of available VGA
modes. A graphics driver for Vista which does *not* use the WDDM driver
model may be able to display DOS apps full screen. Vista's built-in
"Standard VGA" driver is such a driver (but then, it doesn't support Aero
composition, etc).
Drivers built according to pre-WDDM guidelines have been named "XDDM" in
retrospect ("XP Ddisplay Driver Model"). XDDM drivers, whether built for XP
or Vista, can usually display DOS apps full-screen.
See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/926657 for example.
Cheers,
A
Andrew McLaren
DavidB said:
Dual-booting DOS and Vista *might* be possible, but I would discourage it.
Setting up a DOS/Vista dual-boot won't be straightforward. If you install
Vista on top of XP, for example, Vista can recognise XP and automatically
configure a dual-boot arrangement. But Vista doesn't recognise a DOS
installation, it just overwrites the boot sector and leaves your DOS
partition inaccessible. Vista boot utilities like EasyBCD have "limited"
support for DOS (see
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Supported+Operating+Systems) but I
don't know how limited, "limited" really is. It won't be easy.
And the main downside to dual-booting is that it is a lousy way to use your
computer (in my own experience). When I'm working, even on a fairly focussed
task, I find I usually flip over to Google or Wikipaedia to look something
up; check my email; look at IM; check my calendar, look at the exchange
rate, check the TV guide, listen to music, write down some scratch ideas in
a note, run calculator to do some sums, etc etc .. all on top of writing in
the word processor. Whereas, if you dual-boot, you're very squarely in one
environment, or teh other - you can't just suddenly say "Oh I'll check my
email" because you'd have to shut everything down, reboot, check email, shut
everything down again, reboot back into your first environment, etc. Or
you'll want to grab a file, and realise it is on your Vista NTFS partition,
not on your DOS FAT partition, so you can't reach it from DOS, only from
Vista. And so on. It's not a comfortable configuration.
Since the advent of VMWare and Virtal PC, I have totally abandonded all
dual-booting - it's just too clumsy. Running a virtual machine is a far
easier way to get the best of both environments, at the same time. If you
have WordPerfect running in a DOS VM, for example, you can still alt-tab
across to email, or the web browser etc, and then alt-tab back into
WordPerfect, all in realtime. Both VMWare and Virtual PC allow guest and
host to share folders, so you can move files back and forth between DOS and
Vista while you work.
The best solution would be to bite the bullet and move to WordPerfec X3, as
others have also suggested; but I realise that may not be as easy as it
sounds. If you really need to stay with WordPerfect 5.0, then I suspect
you'll find running it in a DOS VM will be a far better solution than
attempting to dual-boot DOS.
(BTW I can recommend the upgrade to WordPerfect 5.1, at least ... I upgraded
in 1989, and never looked back
Cheers,