DOS Screen Size

[Guest]

I have been running an old DOS program under Windows XP for several years. I
lost my hard drive and had to replace it. I re-installed the DOS program.
I can get it to run OK, but I can't get the window size larger than the top
half of my screen with its width about 70% of the screen width. I have
tried various combinations of the Shortcut properties (Compatibility, Screen,
Font, etc.), but I still cannot resolve the problem. I can resize it smaller
by dragging the double arrows, but when I try to make it larger it stops at
the orginal size it came up as.

 

[Guest]

Try this, when it starts press ALT / ENTER.

 

[Uwe Sieber]

I have been running an old DOS program under Windows XP for several years. I
lost my hard drive and had to replace it. I re-installed the DOS program.
I can get it to run OK, but I can't get the window size larger than the top
half of my screen with its width about 70% of the screen width. I have
tried various combinations of the Shortcut properties (Compatibility, Screen,
Font, etc.), but I still cannot resolve the problem. I can resize it smaller
by dragging the double arrows, but when I try to make it larger it stops at
the orginal size it came up as.

The size of the DOS box is the result of the number of
chars per line, number of lines and the size of the
characters. All this can be set in the DOS box properties
found thru the DOS boxes system menu -> Properties.
DOS applications may reset the layout to 80x25 characters
which is the DOS default.

Here are some useful hints:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/dosfon_e.html


Greetings from Germany

Uwe

 

[Guest]

Thanks Steve, works great now. Out of curiosity, do you know why I have to
press Alt/Enter now but I didn't before my hard drive crash? Could it have
anything to do with XP Service Pack 2? I had a few other strange things
happen: I couldn't install Win Fax Pro and Epson Scanner -- both of them
just stopped during the installation. They were running fine before my hard
drive crash. I uninstalled Service Pack 2, installed both programs OK, then
reinstalled SP2. Every thing is fine now.

 

[RDSchaefer]

Locate the .PIF file, right-click on it, click on properties, click on
Screen tab, select Full-screen, then click OK.

 

[Guest]

I tried that, RD. It doesn't help. The screen is still scrunched up in the
top half of my monitor -- the bottom half is black. I notice I never have
access to "Initial size" -- does that mean anything? The Alt/Enter method
works.

 

[Stevo]

I have the same problem with a program designed to run in full screen
DOS. I tried to change compatibilty, screen size, yada yada yada. I
cannot find how to change the font size...

 

[Guest]

I finally got mine to work without the Alt/Enter combination. Try this:
Right click the title bar for Properties.
On the Options tab: Cursor Size: Small Display Options: Window.
On the Font tab: Size: 10x18 Font: Raster Fonts
I was then able to drag it right and down. It fills the screen width, but
still leaves about an inch at the bottom. I like it better than the
Alt/Enter full screen because I now get the Windows title bar and can jump
around in other windows.

 

[Stevo]

It didn't work. I think it's because I am using a program (DVM
Manager) that was designed to be run in full screen, but on Windows
XP, the "Full Screen" window is only half of the screen.
It goes into a full screen like mode and covers the entire screen
with black. I think that i'lljust stick to running it on my Win 98.
Thanks for trying to help!

Stevo

 

[David Candy]

Did you read the manual. You have to do the same things as in Dos.

 

[Rob van Albada]

It didn't work. I think it's because I am using a program (DVM
Manager) that was designed to be run in full screen, but on Windows
XP, the "Full Screen" window is only half of the screen.

Fortunately not so.
Right-click the DOS icon, click Settings, select 'Options'-tab, select
'Full Screen'.

This will give you full screen DOS.

However it will not guarantee that your DOS programmes will run under
XP. Mine (an extended, 32-bit DOS) won't. Over 100,000 lines of
sourcecode cannot be used under XP!
I am now running these essential programmes on an old 98-laptop.


Kind regards,

Rob van Albada.

 

[David Candy]

No it won't.

 

[Rob van Albada]

No it won't.

Eh? Do you mean (1) It does not give me a full screen DOS
or (2) although I now have full screen
DOS the old program will not
run properly?

In either case, I'm afraid this is remains a mystery to me.

Anyway, kind regards,

Rob van Albada, Amsterdam.

 

[David Candy]

I mean you must give details to allow diagnosis. Like what the manual says for the program. If I was sitting in front of your computer it would take 5 seconds to fix (without the manual).

But I hate hypotheticals. Try typing

command
mode 80,25
c:\somewhere\yourprogramname.exe (but in short name form cause command doesn't do long names)

Without the manual I can't tell if it your program that needs adjusting or Command that needs adjusting. Your program is not setting the screen and assumes it's 80x25 (I think I can't see what you can). Dos program often didn't. But Dos programs used 3 different ways of writing to screen - Dos, BIOS, or direct (with Dos slow and direct fast). Big commercial programs one could choose which of the three ways. Also some had switches to tell the program what to set the screen for (and some had options dialog, or setup programs, or just didn't think about it - and some required the mode command.)

It's all hypothetical.