Legacy DOS application

[El Marko]

We have a number of users here with many many projects that depend on DOS
software for CAD purposes.

Right now we are in the process of upgrading our users to newer machines.
However, the advances in hardware are proving to be problematic for the DOS
software. Each of these machines use a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X as
a primary. They also come with Intel onboard video adapters as a backup. We
have tried running the app on both of these adapters and neither one with
display any text correctly. It has been suggested we downgrade our video
hardware, although I fear that may adversely affect the other applications
that run on these workstations. Plus, since this is the XP operating system,
I am unsure if a downgrade sufficient enough to run the program will be
compatible with XP.

Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated

 

[David Candy]

Dos programs require their own video drivers. For most (like a text editor) it's so simple you wouldn't give it the name driver (but conceptually). Also drivers can access direct, via BIOS (on motherboard) or via Dos. There is a common standard called vesa bios (that's refering to BIOS on the card). Try reading the manual of the application and see what's available (some high end programs have drivers for specific cards (which won't help you), VESA, Dos and BIOS. You have to get one with good quality that will work in XP. Try asking the programmers or user group for that application.

 

[Haggis]

have you tried the compatibility functions (limit to 256 colors , etc ?)


Dos programs require their own video drivers. For most (like a text editor)
it's so simple you wouldn't give it the name driver (but conceptually). Also
drivers can access direct, via BIOS (on motherboard) or via Dos. There is a
common standard called vesa bios (that's refering to BIOS on the card). Try
reading the manual of the application and see what's available (some high
end programs have drivers for specific cards (which won't help you), VESA,
Dos and BIOS. You have to get one with good quality that will work in XP.
Try asking the programmers or user group for that application.

 

[Billy]

Compatibility mode.
How to.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;292533&Product=winxp
Additional toolkit.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;294895

 

[El Marko]

OKay, the latest I have on this from the program manufacturer is that the
IBM 8x14 font driver has to be loaded as the program starts. I think this
would involve editing the autoexec.nt and config.nt files, right? Where do I
find these font drivers? And where is a KB article on properly editing the
above files?

 

[Rob Schneider]

Does the program manufacturer have advice about how to make their
product work in XP? If not, what are their recommendations?

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

OKay, the latest I have on this from the program manufacturer is that the
IBM 8x14 font driver has to be loaded as the program starts. I think this
would involve editing the autoexec.nt and config.nt files, right? Where do I
find these font drivers? And where is a KB article on properly editing the
above files?

 

[El Marko]

No, they won't support the program anymore because they feel it is obsolete.
Be that as it may, I'm still stuck with a Board Layout department that still
uses this quite frequently. Again, the only thing they will tell me is to
load the IBM 8x14 font drivers somehow.

Does the program manufacturer have advice about how to make their
product work in XP? If not, what are their recommendations?

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[Rob Schneider]

Too bad. There may be a solution about these fonts. Don't know. Maybe
run these on stand-alone machine and not try to get them to run inside
of XP?

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[David Candy]

Look in the program for something called that. It should be in the manual what you have to do.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:14:28 +0000, Rob Schneider

Too bad. There may be a solution about these fonts.

Rt-click the .exe (or .pif shortcut to it), Properties.
Font tab, Raster only, choose the size you want

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Dreams are stack dumps of the soul

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 11:38:11 -0600, "El Marko"

However, the advances in hardware are proving to be problematic for the DOS
software. Each of these machines use a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X as
a primary. They also come with Intel onboard video adapters as a backup. We
have tried running the app on both of these adapters and neither one with
display any text correctly.

Oh - that could be ANSI vs. OEM character sets. If so, try running
the DOS app in full-screen mode so it uses the hardware's OEM fonts
rather than the windowed emulation's ANSI fonts.

SVGA cards and chipsets vary in support for "DOS" text modes; some
fail to render text properly in (say) 80x35 character mode (e.g.
DOSShell and ATi chipset SVGA cards).

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Dreams are stack dumps of the soul