Legacy DOS Application Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter emflagg
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emflagg

Hello to all,

I recently installed Works 2.0 on an emachine T6420 running XP Home
with a E15T4 monitor. When the program opens everything is in
gibberish. When I installed the same program on another XP box and a
box running Windows Me everything ran OK. I created shortcuts from the
desk top in all cases. My cousin has been using this application for 15
years and he says he is not about to try anything new. Any suggestions
on how to fix this problem would be greatfully appreciated.

Mike
 
Hello Mike,

wow. Works 2.0 <g>

Bring up Help and Support (from the XP menus). Search on "create custom startup files for an MS-DOS-based program".
& "Set up two shortcuts for an MS-DOS program "
"Create or change a PIF"


Have your friend take a look at requirements for running Works 2 , with a special focus in looking at contents of Config.nt & autoexec.nt
(these have different names & slightly different location that the Win Me system)

Review the contents of your Autoexec.nt and config.nt in your \Windows\system32 (or \WINNT\system32) folder.

(to be sure to see all folders)
Check the Windows Explorer "View" options --- set it to show you all folders; all system folders; & hidden files.
Bring up Windows Explorer / Tools / Folder Options/ select VIEW Tab and look at all of settings listed.

"CHECK" (turn on) Display the contents of system folders.

Under column, Hidden files and folders----choose ( *select* ) Show hidden files and folders.
Next, un-check Hide extensions for known file types.
Next un-check Hide protected operating system files.
 
Hello to all,

I recently installed Works 2.0 on an emachine T6420 running XP Home
with a E15T4 monitor. When the program opens everything is in
gibberish. When I installed the same program on another XP box and a
box running Windows Me everything ran OK. I created shortcuts from the
desk top in all cases. My cousin has been using this application for
15 years and he says he is not about to try anything new. Any
suggestions on how to fix this problem would be greatfully
appreciated.

Mike
Click to expand...


I'm almost certain it's because his graphics card doesn't support VESA.

I'll bet it's because MSWorks 2.0 has the option of running in either Text
Mode or Graphics Mode... and if it does have a "Graphics Mode", I'll be it's
VESA.

I have the same problem with Quattro Pro 2.0 for DOS... Run's fine in Text
Mode, but looks "gibberish" in Graphics Mode (VESA).

Have you tried to switch to Text Mode (you'll have to follow the Alt-Menu
commands from memory because you won't be able to see it while running in
Graphics Mode)?

You might also consider running DOSBox (a VESA & SoundBlaster emulator).

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/information.php?page=0

--
Kendall F. Stratton III
Fort Fairfield, Maine USA
k3@(86_the_Spam)Maine.rr.com
http://home.maine.rr.com/k3

"Support Bacteria - It's the only culture some people have!"
 
Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Please excuse my ignorance, but what is VESA
and what does DOSBOX do?

Regards,
Mike
 
Hi,

Thank you very much for your reply. When I go over to my cousin's
house, I will follow through on your suggestions. What should I be
looking for exactly?

Best regards,
Mike
 
Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Please excuse my ignorance, but what is VESA
and what does DOSBOX do?

Regards,
Mike
Click to expand...


VESA is an old video standard from the late 80's. Many of today's newer
video cards don't support VESA.

DOSBox is a DOS emulator that lets you run those old DOS programs that
refuse to run under WinXP and/or with newer hardware. It emulates old video
& sound cards.

I just upgraded to WinXP Pro last month (from Win98SE).

I love playing Wolfenstein 3D, but I couldn't get any midi sounds thru WinXP
Pro until I ran it with DOSBox.

I created an automated spreadsheet (with lots of macros) using Quattro Pro
2.0 for DOS years ago and had trouble running it in "Graphics Mode" (which
is necessary to get 29 rows per screen) with the new Nvidia graphics card
until I ran it with DOSBox to emulate VESA.

DOSBox (with D-Fend v2 as a front-end) has been a life saver.

DOSBox -> http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/information.php?page=0
D-Fend -> http://members.home.nl/mabus/index.htm

--
Kendall F. Stratton III
Fort Fairfield, Maine USA
k3@(86_the_Spam)Maine.rr.com
http://home.maine.rr.com/k3

"Support Bacteria - It's the only culture some people have!"
 
Hi Mike,
Look at the contents in these two text files (at the location I noted before) :
config.nt
autoexec.nt

Config.nt should have the following lines (disregarding any remarks lines [marked as REM ]

dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40
 
Hi Kendall,

Thank you very much for your reply and for the information about VESA
and DOSBOX. This problem exist on my cousin's new emachine, so when I
go over to his house tomorrow I will take DOSBOX with be and give it a
try. I've read over the installation procedure with DOSBOX and I was
wondering if you have to go throught the mounting procedure every time
you run Works 2 or can you just do it one time and the program
remembers your settings or can you create a batch file that will do
everything automatically?

Thank you in advance for your help and to everyone who responded to my
plea for help.

Mike
 
Hi Maurice,

Thank you for your reply. When I go over to my cousin's house tomorrow
I will look at the files you mentioned.

Best regards,
Mike
 
Hi Kendall,

Thank you very much for your reply and for the information about VESA
and DOSBOX. This problem exist on my cousin's new emachine, so when I
go over to his house tomorrow I will take DOSBOX with be and give it a
try. I've read over the installation procedure with DOSBOX and I was
wondering if you have to go throught the mounting procedure every time
you run Works 2 or can you just do it one time and the program
remembers your settings or can you create a batch file that will do
everything automatically?

Thank you in advance for your help and to everyone who responded to my
plea for help.

Mike
Click to expand...

Be sure to take a copy of "D-Fend v2" (http://members.home.nl/mabus/) (the
GUI frontend for DOSBox) with you... it's much easier to create "profiles"
for the DOS applications that use DOSBox -- you don't have to remember the
syntax for all the switches.

AFA "mounting", you'll set that up once in the "profile" to run MSWorks...
I'd mount "C:\Program Files\MSWorks" as Drive C and "C:\My
Documents\MSWorks" as Drive D (of course your paths will be different than
mine). After that, you just have to run that "profile" which will mount the
drives for you.

Simply install DOSBox, then install D-Fend, then run D-Fend and create a
"profile" to run MSWorks, then copy a shortcut to the profile onto his
desktop and Voila! It's pretty easy.

Email me [when you're at his PC] if you need help.

Good Luck!

--
Kendall F. Stratton III
Fort Fairfield, Maine USA
k3@(86_the_Spam)Maine.rr.com
http://home.maine.rr.com/k3

"Support Bacteria - It's the only culture some people have!"
 
Hi Kendall,

Thank you very much for the information. I download D-Fend v2.0 62.42
and will try it out.

Regards,
Mike
 
Hi Kendall,

I installed D-Fend and DOSBOX and everything worked ok, but I have a
couple of questions perhaps you can help me with? First, how do you get
the program to run in full screen. I checked all of the appropriate
boxes and the only thing I got was a small screen surrounded by a black
frame about 2 inches wide. I would like the application to take up the
full screen. Secondly, D-Fend does not work all the time. When I click
on my shortcut nothing happens and I have to reboot to get it to work.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

Best regards,
Mike
 
Hi Kendall,

I installed D-Fend and DOSBOX and everything worked ok, but I have a
couple of questions perhaps you can help me with? First, how do you
get the program to run in full screen. I checked all of the
appropriate boxes and the only thing I got was a small screen
surrounded by a black frame about 2 inches wide. I would like the
application to take up the full screen. Secondly, D-Fend does not
work all the time. When I click on my shortcut nothing happens and I
have to reboot to get it to work.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

Best regards,
Mike
Click to expand...

What you'll have to do is adjust your monitor (using the buttons on the
front of it) for Full-Screen DOS apps while the application is running.
Once you do that, your monitor will retain those settings for the next time
you run a DOS application in Full-Screen.

--
Kendall F. Stratton III
Fort Fairfield, Maine USA
k3@(86_the_Spam)Maine.rr.com
http://home.maine.rr.com/k3

"Support Bacteria - It's the only culture some people have!"
 
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